Thomas W. Burgess, Bala's first settler, brought his family here to "Musquosh Falls" in 1868, probably aboard the steamer "Wenonah." Burgess opened a sawmill and store to serve the pioneers attracted by Muskoka's free land grants. A post office, named after Bala in Wales and with Burgess as postmaster, was established in 1872. That year, the Musquosh Road linked Bala with Gravenhurst and, by the 1880s, the settlement was benefiting from a growing tourist trade. Railways reached Bala by 1907, and it became one of Muskoka's most accessible tourist resorts. When it was incorporated as a town in 1914, Dr. A.M. Burgess, a son of the community's founder, became the first mayor.

Location

In Bala Falls Park near the Moon River bridge, Highway 169, Bala

Themes

• Communities
• Industry and trade
• Transportation systems and communications