Courtesy of Sarnia Lambton Economic Partnership (2015) Imperial Oil Products & Chemicals Division has deep roots in Lambton County. Its corporate history dates to September 8, 1880, when 16 Canadians involved in the early oil industry combined their resources to form the Imperial Oil Company. The original head office was [...]
(from 1957 Progress Edition of The Observer) (1957) The crunch of the bulldozer, the whine of the crane, the roar of the truck, the staccato of the air compressor and hammer are all sounds which tell of Sarnia’s continuing expansion. Steel-helmeted construction workers are pushing up more of the weird [...]
by George Mathewson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Imagine Sarnia without Canatara Park. No sandy beach. No leafy paths. No bandshell or animal farm. Well, the crown jewel in Sarnia’s park system would likely be a gaping crater or buried under a sprawling subdivision today if it hadn’t been for [...]
by Paul Morden for the Sarnia Observer (2014) William and Maud Hanna was a Sarnia power couple when the community celebrated becoming a city a century ago. William Hanna was born in Adelaide Township in 1862 but moved with his family in 1871 to a farm in what was then [...]
by Tara Jeffrey for the Sarnia Observer (2014) The city of Sarnia has been shaped by number of notable politicians, from familiar figures like former prime minister Alexander Mackenzie, to long forgotten names like 19th century mayor Thomas George Johnston. Some notable names from the history books include: Cameron was [...]
by Skip Gillham special to the Observer (2012) The former tanker Imperial Sarnia, once common around the local waterfront, is headed for scrapping in Port Colborne. Known as the fuel storage barge Provmar Terminal II at Hamilton since 1987, the ship was due at the scrap berth of International Marine [...]
by Paul Morden for the Sarnia Observer (2014) Sarnia was actually Canada’s second, or perhaps even third, Chemical Valley. By 1914, the year Sarnia became a city, its Imperial Oil refinery employed 1,200 workers, covered nearly 110 acres on the St. Clair River and manufactured products ranging from kerosene to [...]
by the Sarnia Observer (2003) When officials from the Imperial Oil company came before Sarnia council in 1897 seeking a tax break in exchange for expanding its refinery, town officials considered it too good a deal to pass up. So did The Observer, which praised the deal, declaring it would [...]
by Scott Stephenson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) The last big construction boom in the Chemical Valley occurred almost 30 years ago [Editor’s Note-story written in 2003], fueled by the creation of Petrosar. As the country moved out of the 1960s and into the 1970s, Sarnia’s petrochemical industry was ailing. [...]
