Designed to encourage settlement in what is now the Parry Sound District, the Rosseau-Nipissing Road was authorized by the government in 1864. A survey was completed the following year by J.S. Dennis, Provincial Land Surveyor, and construction began in 1866. Commencing at the Parry Sound Road, about a mile northwest of Rousseau (now Rosseau), it ran 67 miles northward to the South River, terminating here at Nipissing, then a tiny settlement. By 1873 the road was open for winter traffic and two years later was considered negotiable by wheeled vehicles. Although the road lost its importance after the railway between Gravenhurst and Callander was built in 1886, most of it is still used by local traffic.

Location

At the Nipissing Township Museum, Highway 654 and Beatty Street, Nipissing

Themes

• Communities
• Transportation systems and communications