Canadian History (Page 3)

After the failure of the wheat trade, the economy of Oakville needed a new anchor. The established agricultural infrastructure allowed many farmers to switch to fruit crops, mainly strawberries. But heavier industries did contribute to Oakville’s economy beyond shipbuildings and milling. Manufacturing was one of the biggest industries next to farming to shore up Oakville’s economy. Lumber and lumber products such as barrels, ships, and baskets were significant players. Foundries would produce metal parts for carriages and ships. But Oakville became home to the largest producer of kerosene. Abraham Gesner, a Canadian scientist, developed a method of distilling coal oil in 1846. This produced aRead More →

When it comes to projects like this one, there is always an anchor subject, a building or a place that I want to capture on silver in large format in case something happens to that building. A slice of time preserved in some level of permanence. My project on Milton was the old P.L. Robertson plant, and for Oakville, it is the Oakville High School. The education system in Upper Canada followed the patterns of the English education system. But that should not be a surprise. If you grew up reading stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder or visited a living history museum, often a showpieceRead More →

The central railways offered long-distance travel but lacked the local service that many in Oakville and around Ontario needed. Personal automobiles were not a thing, and most roads were still dirt, with only a few paved in any meaningful way. Enter the Interurban railways, also known as radial railways. These small-scale services travelled out from a central station, radiating into surrounding communities. And provided some of the earliest forms of mass transit in the province. The earliest radial railway operators began services in 1890; these systems were used to steam or electrical motive power. Running small, often single carriage trails along a preset route fromRead More →

Last year I completed a project about Ontario’s railway heritage. Still, one location I had sadly missed was Oakville, as there is no historic railway station in the community, as both Oakville and Bronte had been replaced in the 20th century. But this massive railway viaduct over the Sixteen Mile Creek caught my eye, not only because I’ve travelled over it many times, but because it looked old. The railway was both a boost and a problem for the growing community of Oakville by the mid-century. The railway would open up a faster means of moving both people, mostly goods, across the province. And aRead More →

Canada, despite being mainly an Anglo-European construct, today, our country is a rich tapestry of many cultures that had all come and called Canada home. And not just as a melting pot; each culture adds more to the whole. But this certainly has accelerated in the post-World War II world, but even in the earliest days of Upper Canada, many who sought freedom made the arduous journey north. In 1791, Sir John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieuteant-Governor of Upper Canada, signed the Act to Reduce Slavery in Upper Canada. In the British Empire, slavery was still a thing, and the slave trade was alive andRead More →

While Oakville never reached the level of trade that flowed in and out of the ports at Toronto, Kingston, and Montreal, it proved to be one of the largest ports in Trafalgar Township. And it was the perfect location with easy access to larger ports to the south of the United States and had access to the Welland Canal and St. Lawerence. Trafalgar Township had two significant exports, the first being agriculture and the second timber. And Oakville was in the perfect position to support this resource economy. And these two complimented each other; as the wood was felled, it not only provided for buildingRead More →

These days, the postal service is a strange mix between nostalgia and a necessary evil. In a world where communication is almost instant and much faster than a regular postal service. A world where postal service wasn’t always offered in your community and when it could only arrive once a week. Even with the troubles we face with Canada Post, would to someone from the early years of Oakville seem like a luxury? The first postal service in Canada was established in 1763 as a branch of the Royal Mail service. Mail would run between Montreal and Quebec City twice per month in the summerRead More →

What we know today about crossing the border is a standardised process that is relatively modern. Of course, we all experience what could only be described as a nerve-racking experience when faced by border agents in a post-9/11 world, some more than others for reasons other than their nationality and skin colour. But the 19th Century had far fewer controls over the border, and people crossed it unharassed (mostly) or requiring documentation. But the one thing that got a lot of investigation was trade, specifically the collection of tariffs and duties, which often fell to a leading citizen in a town named a port-of-entry byRead More →

Like the Chisholms, their grand estate overlooking the harbour is directly tied to the town’s history. And while nearly lost, the town’s efforts and the local historical society have ensured that the home still stands today. The estate of Earchless started not as a home but rather in a more humble manner. William Chisholm already had a home in Nelson Township and had no desire to move to Oakville. But he did need to establish some businesses in Oakville. In addition to the shipyard and a tavern, he established a general store that acted as a customs house. The earliest section of the home wasRead More →