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4 plaques found that match your criteria
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Founding of Belle River, The
The settlement of this area began following the survey in 1793 of the lots fronting on the Belle River, among the early settlers were many French Canadians from the vicinity of the Detroit River. When the Great Western Railway was constructed, 1852-53, a station name Belle River was opened here. By 1855 a steam grist-mill and sawmill had been erected by Luc Ouellette and others, and a community known as Rochester soon developed. It was... -
Founding of Stoney Point, The
French-speaking settlers from the Detroit-Sandwich area and Lower Canada (Quebec) were the first to locate in Tilbury West Township after it was surveyed in 1824. They established farms along Lake St. Clair and later near the Tecumseh Road and by 1851 formed a community called Stoney Point. After the arrival of the railway in 1854, the village developed into a market and industrial centre serving an agricultural and lumbering hinterland. In 1881, Stoney Point and... -
First Baptist Church, Puce
The origins of First Baptist Church go back to the 1840s, when black settlers from the United States began to form a farming community in this area. Their numbers increased during the 1850s when the Refugee Home Society purchased lands along the Puce River to sell to freedom-seekers from the American South. Religion played an important role in community life. At first Baptists and Methodists worshipped in the same building, but by the early 1860s... -
Puce River Black Community
While the first Blacks arrived in the Puce River area during the 1830s, the community owed its existence largely to the Refugee Home Society. This abolitionist organization led by Henry and Mary Bibb offered support to escaped slaves who travelled to this area from the United States through the Underground Railroad by providing opportunities for land ownership and self-sufficiency. Beginning in 1852, families purchased 25-acre farms in Sandwich and Maidstone Townships, from the Society, which...