by Edward Phelps in Gateway to Bluewaterland

(1987)   Upon exploring the history of Sarnia, one finds its development comparable to that of a person. Chapter One (From Hunting Ground to County Seat) chronicled the birth and early years of Sarnia – its childhood, if you will. The next stop in Sarnia’s growth towards maturity came in 1857 with its incorporation as a town.

The act of incorporation was far more than just a formality for Sarnia. Town status conferred a variety of rights and privileges as defined by Upper Canada Municipal Corporation Acts. The boundaries of the new town were ratified and Sarnia was now in a position to hold its first municipal election. Sarnia had evolved from a village to a town and, as such, began a period of further growth and prosperity.

At the time of incorporation Sarnia was undergoing rapid expansion of its docks and commercial industry. This expansion necessitated an improved system of transportation since, in spite of Sarnia’s progress and growing influence over the Lambton County region, the town was still fairly inaccessible to the outside world. In 1858 the Great Western Railway completed its line between Sarnia and London. Up to this time, the trip to London could only be made on the most severe roads imaginable, and might take as long as 18 hours. The new line was not only a great step forward in terms of recreational travel, it also proved to be immensely valuable for the transportation of produce and goods in the region. Despite the undeniable benefits it brought to Sarnia, the new Great Western line would soon be overshadowed by the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1859.

Unlike the Great Western, the Grand Trunk maintained a vast network of lines which, upon its arrival in Sarnia, would link the new town not only with other commercial centres in southwestern Ontario but., via Toronto and Montréal, with Portland ,Maine as well. This, in turn, would give Sarnia access to the entire Atlantic seaboard.

While the Great Western Station was located in Sarnia at the foot of Cromwell Street, the Grand Trunk station was set up a few miles north in what would later become Point Edward. Since this is the narrowest and fastest point of the St. Clair River, the water rarely froze over and fairies could connect with Port Huron all year round.

The distance between the two stations was bridged first in 1875 when a private, horse-drawn street railway opened, and then again in 1883 when the amalgamation of the Great Western and Grand Trunk brought about a new short connection between Point Edward and Sarnia.

In the years preceding the arrival of the railroads, Sarnia’s growth rate had been at a virtual standstill with land speculators choosing to wait and sell at higher prices rather than develop their holdings. It is clear, however, that the railroads were only one of two major factors responsible  for Sarnia’s renewed prosperity – the other being the discovery of oil in Enniskillen Township.

Many consider Oil Springs in Enniskillen Township to be the birthplace of North America’s oil industry. At the height of rock production there were about 1000 wells in the area which, in turn, gave birth to a large number of refineries all over Lambton County.

While the discovery at Oil Springs is of undeniable import to the history of Sarnia, one must not overestimate  the scope of the prosperity mentioned above. Many of the wells in the region dried up quickly or never yielded at all, and by April 1870, just 80 wells were in operation, only 50 of which turned a profit. During this period a great number of refineries collapsed or were absorbed by the larger interests. The Dominion Oil Refinery, led by oil entrepreneur Thurston G. Hall, was typical of the times. After the refinery was established it was rebuilt under Hall’s guidance. He then lost it, but would come back later to remanage it.

All this activity attracted the attention of the Standard Oil Company which would, as a result, lead to the development of the “Chemical Valley.”  Thus ,this dynamic.period In the region’s early history holds a prominent position in the many events which would eventually shape Sarnia’s future.

When one looks back at Sarnia’s history, the events of the most profound significance seem clear. Yet to a person living in the latter half of the 19th century, the importance of the new railroad lines and the discovery of oil might have easily been overshadowed by affairs of more immediate interest. In her diary, a Mrs. Cameron of Sarnia called September 13, 1860, “the most memorable day in our history and one of the most lovely ever witnessed here.” She was referring to the visit of Albert Prince of Wales.

The Prince arrived aboard the Royal Standard at the Great Western Wharf around 8:00 a.m. After the traditional speeches and pleasantries were exchanged, the Prince was greeted by various Indian chiefs and warriors. The Prince took a marked interest in one chieaf in particular who was 103 years old, blind and infirm. Albert stepped forward and, with the greatest respect to the old chief, placed a medal around his neck.

While it is undeniable that the princes visit to Sarnia did not change the entire scheme of the town’s development, one nevertheless finds a special human component here  –  the sort of intimacy which is lacking in the rapid growth of the railroads and oil industry. The image of the Prince of Wales stooping before the blind chief remains one of the most poignant in Sarnia’s history.

The enthusiastic response to Prince Albert’s  visit exemplifies a concrete sense of community which had developed in Sarnia. Everyone had readily joined together to celebrate and honour the Prince during his stay. This sense of community would soon become evident again; however, this time under less happy circumstances.

In the mid-1860s, the Fenian movement was at its height. The Fenians were an Irish group based in the United States, whose main objective was to end British rule in Ireland. They believed that they could achieve their goals by attacking both Ireland and the British North American possessions. The assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee in Ottawa prove to the people of Canada that the Fenian threat must be taken seriously. As a border settlement, Sarnia had to confront the possibility of a Fenian invasion. In 1866 the citizens of Sarnia found themselves in the midst of a military fever. The first armed detachments arrived in Sarnia in January 1866, and over the next few years about 4,000 men were quartered in Sarnia at various times. The locomotives of both the Grand Trunk and Great Western railroads were kept in a state of constant readiness in case of an evacuation. Alexander House, the old Hall’s Hotel, and many private homes served as barracks for the troops during this turbulent period.

Despite the frequent rumours and false alarms, however, an attack never came. At the time, there were reports of a Sarnia panic and heavy cannon eating of Sarnia.. These events were completely unfounded as the Sarnia Observer frequently maintained:… Not a half a dozen of the inhabitants have lost an hours sleep through fear of a Fenian raid.

The Fenian scare of the 1860s brought the people of Sarnia together like now nothing else before. Sarnia’s citizens proved that they were not only ready to defend Canada, but also their ever-growing town which had made so many great advances in the last several decades.

As the Fenian threat faded from people’s minds, the citizens of Sarnia joined together once again – this time in an atmosphere directed towards far more enjoyable purposes. On July 1, 1867, Sarnia hosted a day of celebration and rejoicing to mark the Confederation of Canada.

The festivities began around 11:00 a.m. with the march of the two Moore Infantry Companies and the Sarnia Infantry and Artillery Companies from the town Hall to the parade grounds. This was followed by a procession which included the Sarnia Bank, the town clerk in a carriage bearing Her Majesty’s proclamation, as well as “four  young virgins in white, in a carriage… as representatives of the four Provinces,” according to the Sarnia Observer.

Throughout the remainder of Sarnia’s first Dominion Day various speeches were given, including one by Alexander Mackenzie, Esq., who praised Canada’s new nationhood over that of the United States in that this one was “bloodless.”  About 430 that afternoon the cornerstone of the new Presbyterian Church was laid and the celebrations began to wind down. Canada’s first birthday came to a close that evening with the grand fireworks display over the St. Clair River, the first of its kind in Sarnia.

The arrival of the railroad lines in the late 1850s meant a great upsurge of commercial traffic in an out of Sarnia. As a result, Sarnia’s role as a port city also gained a new prominence. The federal government acknowledged Sarnia’s importance as a commercial port in 1872 when it gave a subsidy to the Beatty Transportation Company to carry mail, passengers and freight to points along the St. Clair River.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Sarnia’s harbour sheltered any number of different varieties of vessels. The sailing ship was still in evidence at the time, though soon it would yield to the more practical steam vessels. At any given moment one might have found several types of sailing vessels in the harbour, boasting two or three masts and incredibly intricate rigging reminiscent of an earlier time. Whenever one of these vessels arrived, an occasional daring boy might swim out to the sagging tow l line draped in the water and use it as a makeshift tightrope to climb aboard. The aggrieved sailors would then chase the boy off the ship, especially if they employed a woman cook, since bathing suits were not as popular then as they are today. With the passing years, however, Sarnia’s harbour became far less accessible to spirited children, and the sail gave way to the smokestack as the 19th century drew to a close.

 

On November 3, 1882, one of the largest crowds ever assembled in Sarnia came to celebrate the launch of James Beatty’s new ship, the United Empire. The steamer was the finest of its class and confirmed the practical advantages of steam over sail.

The new steam vessels would eventually dominate Sarnia’s harbour, crowding out the undeniably graceful but anachronistic sailing ships. In addition to the new passenger and freight vessels, the number of tugs and ferries in the harbour steadily increased as well.

Probably the most well remembered of all the ferries was the Sarnia, a paddle-wheeler which began service in 1860. She was said to be the slowest vessel afloat, but Sarnians always held a great affection for her. The Sarnia burned in Port Huron in 1879, and the ferry service was carried on by the Mystic, the Grace Dormer, and a few others – efficient and reliable vessels, without a doubt, but somehow lacking the appeal that the Sarnia and her age maintained.

As advances were made in transportation, Sarnia began to take on a new look Charlotte Vidal Nisbet maintained:

There was nothing very imposing about any of the buildings in the 1860s. I suppose that the Durand Block was the only large building on the whole length of Front Street. There were a few other brick buildings but most of the shops were of wood, and some of them very small.

In light of the prosperity brought by the new rail lines, however, this quiet small town environment would soon give way to a prosperous period of urban growth.

The early 1870s saw the demise of many of the older and inferior frame structures, and Sarnia’s growing commercial success was exemplified by the construction of many larger, more handsome buildings. Several new banks and churches opened during this period of rapid development. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (whose cornerstone was laid on the day of Canada’s Confederation) opened in 1868 at the cost of $16,740. The early 1880s also saw the erection of Central Methodist, St. George’s, the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, as well as Sarnia’s first Baptist church, which stood at the corner of Vidal and Lochiel Streets and was torn down in 1953.

In addition to the various commercial interests which emerged at this time, one of the most prominent example of Sarnia’s rapid progress also made its appearance. In 1875 the George Street pumping station was built, and its importance to the people of Sarnia at that time cannot be underestimated. No longer were Sarnia’s citizens dependent on their own wells and water barrels; and, indeed, this advance would change the face of the town. With readily available water for gardens and pastures, cows would no longer wander in the streets, and the protective fences surrounding each home slowly disappeared. In this way, Sarnia’s residential district became far more appealing to the tourists and visitors passing through town.

In the same year that the waterworks were built, the Sarnia Street Railway Company built a line from Davis Street to Point Edward. The line consisted of one horse-drawn passenger car and was quite popular with the people of the time in light of the poor conditions of the unpaved roads and sidewalks.

In addition to the rapid advances in Sarnia’s urban development, this period also saw a great prosperity for the town’s industrial sector. As a centre for industry, Sarnia has been called unique in its unprecedented good fortune. During this period,  there were no serious labour disputes or, with one or two exceptions, industrial failures of any particular magnitude.

George Russell opened up the Sarnia Brewery in 1862 and sold his beer and ale throughout Southwestern Ontario in wooden kegs. The year 1870 witnessed the establishment of the wholesaling grocery firm of Thomas Kenny and Company whose later management would play a major part in the formation of National Grocers Limited. A year later Sarnia was introduced to soda pop by a man named John Smith, who was to be the forerunner of several companies that would eventually become Sarnia’s present day bottlers of Pepsi-Cola products, Sarnia Beverages Limited. Then, in 1874, Finlay McGibbon established his lumber business which eventually grew to be one of Ontario’s largest. Aside from countless others, three major companies came into prominence during this period: the King Milling Company, the John Goodison Thresher Company, and the Doherty Manufacturing Company.

By 1845 Sarnia had its first flour mill, built by James Flintoft on the site where the Polysar building now stands. Flintoft soon sold his mill to Malcolm Cameron, and Cameron, in turn, sold it to in Ingersoll man, James King, in 1871 King opened the mill under the name King’s Mills until he incorporated it as the King Milling Company in 1892. By 1925 the mill was turning out 300 barrels of flour per day, a tremendous increase compared to its initial output of 50 barrels per day in 1845. Much of this flour was exported to Great Britain. Bonnie Doon, White Satin, and The Queen were the popular products made by the King Milling Company. In 1962 a huge fire with flames leaping up to more than 100 feet gutted the mill and put an untimely end to the King Milling Company. The remains of the buildings were razed four years later.

Originally called the Sarnia Agricultural Implement Manufacturing Company, the John Goodison Thresher Company was founded in 1881 by J.F. Craig on the block defined by Mitton and, Maria, Essex and MacKenzie streets. This company was to become internationally famous in agricultural circles and was attracted to Sarnia because of the town’s superior railroad facilities. Craig disposed of his interests in the Company to John Goodison in 1887. In 1889 threshing machine production commenced and saw 70 men turnout 25 machines. Abiding by its trade slogan “Good goods and a square deal,” the John Goodison Thresher Company flourished and sold its products throughout North America and as far abroad as Argentina. By 1925 the plant manufactured 300 threshing machines, many of which were exported to the Canadian prairies by rail via Chicago. The company moved to expanded facilities on Clifford Street in 1935. The John Goodison Thresher Company outgrew the city and relocated in Toronto in 1951, thus ending a long and productive history in Sarnia.

The early 1880s saw the founding of another of Sarnia’s  major industrial endeavors – the Doherty Manufacturing Company. Thomas Doherty established his stove works in 1881 on Wellington Street between Vidal and Queen streets. His cooking and heating stoves were sold throughout Canada and the northern United States. Doherty was a very inventive and enterprising man and had patents on several engine designs as well as a patented  special formula for the steel he used in his stoves called De Carbon Steel. In 1900 he also invented a gasoline automobile. The Doherty Manufacturing Company remained a steady producer of its famous stoves until the 1940s when it found it was having trouble competing with other stove works from the larger centres. In May 1947 it closed its doors and the building was demolished in 1982 to make way for a senior citizens complex.

Even though Sarnia was undergoing a time of great prosperity and growth, the town was not without its share of crime and scandal – the Charles  Hand incident being among the most famous. On June 9, 1886, Sarnia was shocked by the dynamiting of J.G. McCrae’s residents as well as the burning of the home of Thomas Huston. Both of these men were prominent temperance officials and extreme advocates of the Scott Act which, among other things, prohibited the sale of distilled spirits in hotels. This caused hotel keepers to become very bitter towards the temperance movement since their main source of income had become illegal. So bitter were they, in fact, that Charles A. Hand, owner of the Rossin House, allegedly arranged the dynamiting of McCrae’s house and the burning of Huston’s. Hand also allegedly conspired to have inspector Palmer blown up because Palmer had charged him with countless liquor violations. In March 1888, after a thorough investigation, Charles Hand was put on trial.

Although evidence indicated Hand’s guilt, the jury could not reach a decision. Some of the jurors may have been bribed; however, there is not conclusive evidence to support this possibility. In any event, the case of Charles Hand stands out as one of the most interesting of its day.

While one cannot deny the importance of industry, transportation, and urban progress during this period, a great source of Sarnia’s pride lies embodied in one person – Alexander Mackenzie. Often called “Sarnia’s prime minister,”  Mackenzie was born in Scotland in 1822. At the age of 20, Mackenzie emigrated to Canada and, five years later in 1847, he and his family settled in Sarnia

In the 1850s Mackenzie became politically active and founded the Lambton Shield which supported George Brown’s Reform movement. Though the paper quickly folded, Mackenzie’s political ambitions remained undeterred, and he went on to win a seat as a Reform candidate in the Legislative Assembly of Canada in 1861.

In 1867 he became the representative for Lambton County in Canada’s first House of Commons. In 1872 he became the first leader of the Canadian Liberal Party and, after John a Macdonald was swept from power due to a railway construction scandal, Mackenzie became Canada’s second prime minister.

Mackenzie would lead the country until 1878, at which time Macdonald would once again be elected as prime minister. In 1880 Mackenzie was offered a knighthood which he refused. Continuing his political career into his late 60s, Mackenzie died in 1892, shortly after his 70th birthday, and was returned to Sarnia and buried in the Lakeview Cemetery.

The latter half of the 19th century saw Sarnia emerge as a prominent centre of business and industry in Southwestern Ontario. The town made rapid advances, both in its capacity to compete in the outside world, as well as in its ability to serve the constant demands of its own citizens. At the time the County of Lambton Gazetteer and General Business Directory summed it up best: “In a word, Sarnia may be denominated a flourishing town.”