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• Indian Flint Bed, The
  Some two miles west of here, on the shoreline of Lake Huron, are outcroppings of chert. Nodules of this material, released by ice and water erosion, provided the Indians with highly prized flint for their arrow points, spearheads and scrapers. Archaeological investigations in the area have disclosed numerous campsites where the nodules were fractured and chipped into desired forms. Carbon dating has indicated that these "workshops" were in existence some 2,700 years ago, and they...

• Grand Bend
  Grand Bend derived its name from a hairpin turn in the Ausable (Aux Sables) River a short distance inland from Lake Huron where sand dunes blocked the river's outlet to the lake. Frequent flooding hampered farming in the region; nevertheless, a small milling community developed at the "Grand Bend" in the 1830s. In response to a local petition, the township cut a new riverbed directly to the lake along an old portage route in 1892...

• Founding of Sarnia, The
  The French-speaking families of Ignace Cazelet, Jean-Baptiste Paré and Joseph LaForge arrived here 1807-1810. Other settlers, many of Scottish descent, came in 1832-1834 following the 1829 survey of Sarnia Township. A community called "The Rapids", renamed Port Sarnia in 1836, soon developed and among its prominent early residents were Richard Vidal, George Durand and the Hon. Malcolm Cameron. Called Sarnia after 1856, the village flourished, stimulated by regional lumbering activity, nearby oil discoveries and the...

• Froome and Field Talfourd
  Froome (1807-1902) and Field (1815-74) Talfourd emigrated from England in 1832, and in the following year took up adjoining lots here in Moore Township. Froome had previously served in H.M.S. Ariadne under Captain Frederick Marryat, the author. Field soon moved to the United States, then back to England, where he became an accomplished portraitist. Froome purchased his brother's lot and laid out the townplot of "Froomefield" on the combined property in 1836. He later became...

• Canada's First Commune
  In 1829, Henry Jones of Devon, England, a retired purser in the Royal Navy, brought a group of more than 50 emigrants from the United Kingdom to this area where he established a settlement on a 1,000-acre tract of land on Lake Huron. An early supporter and dedicated follower of Robert Owen, the well-known British social reformer, Jones named the settlement "maxwell" and organized the community on the basis of common ownership and collective living...

• Donald Allerton Johnston 1874-1957
  Born on a nearby farm, Johnston became a co-founder and, in 1915, the first president of the world's first Kiwanis Club. He spent his childhood in this area, and in 1892 emigrated to Detroit, Michigan. Employed in the insurance business, he gained prominence in that field, and assisted in forming a club of local businessmen that became the first Kiwanis Club. Johnston served as an international trustee 1916-18 and governor of Michigan Kiwanis in 1923...

• Founding of Arkona, The
  By 1836, the earliest settlers on the site of Arkona, notably Henry Utter, Nial Eastman and John Smith, had located in this vicinity. Within three years, Utter, the first to arrive, had constructed a grist-mill around which a small community, the Eastman Settlement gradually developed. About 1851, a post office was opened, a village plot laid out and the village became known as "Smithfield." Situated at an important road junction and serving a fertile region...

• Founding of Forest, The
  In 1858, Timothy Resseguie laid out the first village lots, and the opening of a railway station here in 1859 on the recently completed Grand Trunk line from Guelph to Sarnia provided the nucleus around which this community grew. A general store was opened and it was followed by other commercial enterprises. An Anglican church was established in 1861 and, the following year, a post office was opened. Grist-mills and sawmills were constructed and the...

• Founding of Petrolia, The
  Following the discovery of oil at Oil Springs in 1857, prospectors extended their search to the entire township of Enniskillen. At the site of Petrolia, which contained two small settlements with post offices named Durance and Ennis, a well was brought into production in 1860. The following year, a small refinery was opened and the Durance post office renamed "Petrolea." At first, eclipsed by Oil Springs, the community developed slowly. However, in 1865-66, a series...

• Founding of Point Edward, The
  In 1838, John Slocum, a native of New York, established a commercial fishery on the site of a former military reserve here where the St. Clair River flows out of Lake Huron. The area remained sparsely populated until 1859, when it became the crossing point into the U.S. for the Grand Trunk Railway. Rapid development followed and, in 1864, a town plan was laid out for the community called Point Edward, reportedly after Queen Victoria's...

• Founding of Thedford, The
  In 1858, during the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway through this region, Nelson Southworth purchased land here on this line, donated a site for a station and laid out a village plot that he named Thedford. The hamlet that developed, however, took the name of the depot, Widder Station, which opened to serve the nearby village of Widder. During the 1860s, Widder Station grew steadily as a shipping point for square timber, lumber, grain...

• Pauline McGibbon 1910-2001
  The first woman to hold a vice-regal office in Canada, Pauline Emily Mills, was born in Sarnia, Ontario in 1910. After local schooling and a degree at Victoria College, University of Toronto, she married Donald Walker McGibbon in 1935. A life-long volunteer and supporter of the arts, Mrs. McGibbon became president of the Dominion Drama Festival in 1948 and national president of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire in 1963. She was...

• International Boundary, The
  The nearby concrete marker, erected in 1911, is one of a series used by surveyors to determine the exact boundary between Canada and the United States. Les Orioles de St. Clair River was originally designated as a boundary line by treaty in 1783. The first detailed survey from St. Regis on the St. Lawrence to Lake of the Woods was carried out under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, 1814. It was directed by...

• Joseph Russell Little 1812-1880
  Joseph Little came to Warwick Township from Ireland in 1833 to manage the estate of a large landowner. The poverty of many pioneers so shocked him that, indifferent to his own comfort, he gradually gave away his savings, wages, clothing, even his employers' profits, to those in need. A fervent adherent of Wesleyan Methodism, Little had a natural ability in leading song and prayer. As an itinerant lay preacher, he helped establish many Methodist congregations...

• Mackenzie House and Family
  Constructed about 1861, this house is a fine example of a blend of several Revival styles termed Ontario Classic Architecture, popular throughout the province during the second half of the nineteenth century. It was built for John Mackenzie, a prominent local merchant and member of a Scottish immigrant family that had settled in Port Sarnia in 1847. By the 1860's he and his six brothers had become firmly established with extensive business interests throughout the...

• Old Trinity 1842-1881
  The first Anglican church in Lambton was built on this site 1841-42 and, for many years, its bright tin steeple served as a guide to mariners on the St. Clair River. The land was donated by Thomas Sutherland who had founded the community of Sutherland's Landing (now Mooretown) in 1833. The first rector was the Reverend Alexander Pyne, and it was consecrated by Bishop John Strachan in 1845. In 1863 a new church was built and the original Trinity demolished in 1881.

• Ontario's Oil Refining Industry
  Stimulated by the discovery of significant oil deposits in Enniskillen Township, Ontario's first commercial refineries were erected in 1857-62 at Sarnia, Oil Springs, "petrolea" and Hamilton. The industry, developed to produce coal-oil and lubricants, was plagued by explosive fires, market fluctuations and problems of refining. In 1880, to counter growing American competition, several companies joined to form Imperial Oil. In 1898, however, seeking expansion capital, it sold a majority interest to Standard Oil, an American...

• St. Clair Tunnel, The
  The first international submarine railway tunnel in North America was built here, 1889-91, by the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada. It connects Sarnia with Port Huron, Michigan. To compete with U.S. railways for the lucrative Chicago and mid-western freight and passenger traffic, the Grand Trunk required uninterrupted access to these areas. A ferry service across the St Clair was considered unsatisfactory and a bridge impracticable. The tunnel and its approaches, over two miles long...

• Voyage of the Griffon 1679, The
  First ship to sail Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, the "Griffon", probably 40-45 feet long, was built by Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, several miles above Niagara Falls in 1679. La Salle came to New France in 1667, became seigneur of Cataracoui (Kingston), engaged in the fur trade and sought a western route to China. In August, 1679, the "Griffon" sailed from the Niagara River with La Salle and a company of about thirty-three...