The development of Sturgeon Falls began in 1881 with the arrival of Canadian Pacific Railway construction teams and the opening of a post office. About a year earlier, the community's first permanent settler, James Holditch, had acquired land here on the Sturgeon River about two miles north-east of a former Hudson's Bay Company post, which he later purchased. The erection of sawmills and the rapid growth of the lumbering and pulp-paper industries stimulated the development of the village and attracted many French-Canadian settlers to the area. Some of the most prominent were Joseph Michaud, Zotique Mageau, Georges Lévesque, J.D. Cockburn and J.A. Lévis. In 1895, with a population of about 850, Sturgeon Falls was incorporated as a Town.

Location

At a rest stop with a lookout over the falls at the Champlain Bridge Lookout, First Street (Highway 17), Sturgeon Falls

Themes

• Communities
• Franco-Ontarian heritage
• Industry and trade
• Transportation systems and communications