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• Lieutenant-Colonel John By, R.E.
  Born in London, England, about 1779, By graduated from the Royal Military academy, Woolwich, in 1799. He was attached to the Royal Engineers in Canada (1802-1811) and later served in the Peninsular War. By was sent to Canada in 1826 to superintend the construction of an Ottawa River - Lake Ontario waterway from "Bytown" (Ottawa) to Kingston. The 123-mile-long Rideau Canal, built as a military route and incorporating 47 locks, 16 lakes, two rivers, and...

• Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill 1855-1935
  Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill was the founder of the Canadian Navy. Born in Guelph, Ontario, he attended Upper Canada College and in 1869, entered the Royal Navy in Britain. In 1908, he returned to Canada to advise Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the creation of a Canadian navy. He served as the first director of the naval service from 1910-1920 and saw the new navy safely through a period of limited resources and...

• Chaffey's Mills
  Prominent early millers in Eastern Ontario, Benjamin and Samuel Chaffey were born in Somerset, England and came to Upper Canada in 1816. After settling briefly in Perth they moved to Elizabethtown (Brockville) where they operated mercantile and milling ventures. Encouraged by local residents to establish mills along the Rideau River, they chose this location in 1820. Samuel settled here soon after, effecting many improvements to the site. By 1827 an extensive complex including a distillery...

• Founding of Newboro, The
  The settlement of this area was begun during the building of the Rideau Canal in 1826-32, when a major construction camp was located here at the Isthmus. In 1833, Benjamin Tett, owner of a nearby sawmill, opened a store and, three years later, a post office named Newborough was established. A small community, including several stores, gradually developed as a trade centre for the region's lumber industry and agriculture. About 1850, a tannery was established...

• Red Brick School, The
  Opened in 1887, this charming two-room brick school, built by local contractor Fred Taber, replaced a smaller wood-frame building. School Section No. 5 in South Crosby is a very early example of the late 19th century campaign to improve Ontario's system of public education through the construction of better buildings. Committed to fostering social, moral and economic progress through formal classroom instruction, the province's Department of Education encouraged late Victorian era school boards to erect...

• James Philips
  Born about 1800, Philips settled here in 1825 and soon opened a store and tavern. He became active in politics and, as a Reformer, rose to local prominence during the elections in Leeds between 1834 and 1836. These contests were marked by clashes between Ogle R. Gowan's Orangemen and the Reformers and by a level of violence and intimidation unsurpassed in Upper Canada's electoral history. Philips served on the Reformers' Committee of Vigilance and Management...

• Royal Sappers and Miners, The
  In 1827, the Royal Sappers and Miners, the special construction corps of the British Army, raised the 7th and 15th Companies to serve in the building of the Rideau Canal. Comprising 160 skilled craftsmen and labourers under the Royal Engineers, the companies arrived that year in Bytown, where they built military structures and locks. The 7th Company was transferred in 1829 to assist in the completion of the canal here at the Isthmus, the only...