by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to call Charles Taylor the father of the Chemical Valley.
That’s because Sarnia’s ninth Mayor was at the Head of Council when it gave the Bushnell Oil Company permission to build the community’s first oil refinery.
Taylor, a local businessman, was acclaimed Chief Magistrate in 1870.
At his urging, Bushnell built its refinery within Town limits just one year later.
It was a small operation, even compared to the Imperial Oil refinery that would appear a couple of decades later, but it was a start. And it heralded a growth period for Sarnia.
Oil had been discovered in Enniskillen Township a few years earlier but, until Mayor Taylor came along, all the benefits from the local black gold had flowed to central Lambton County.
Although he lobbied hard to get the Bushnell refinery, his popularity didn’t take off until after Council agreed to repair a dock at the foot of George Street, thereby allowing residents to get their pails into the St. Clair River. The move, which seems so trivial today, made a real difference in an era when Sarnians still lacked indoor plumbing.
Taylor became so popular, in fact, that he was acclaimed three more times, becoming the first Mayor to serve four Years.
During his administration Council spent much of its time installing sidewalks on London Road, Wellington Street and Front Street.
The municipality also agreed to let the Town Hall be used as a high school because, minutes of a Town Council meeting show, educators had “not been able to find any other suitable place”.
Taylor, who didn’t seek re-election in 1874, died at his Sarnia home on August 20, 1906. He was 77.