By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
He lost the fight to have it built in Sarnia, but Mayor Fred Pelling did play a role in getting the Bluewater Bridge off the ground.
Born near Kitchener in 1890, Pelling lived in Brantford and Toronto before moving to Sarnia to take a position in the drafting department at Imperial Oil.
He became interested in municipal politics during the Great Depression and was elected our 55th Mayor in 1937. Re-elected in 1938, he was in office when the bridge opened in October of that year.
“Pelling was deeply involved” in the bridge project, according to local historian Eric Poersch.
But at first he wasn’t a big backer of the scheme. “He was Mayor when City Council refused to support the idea of building the bridge in Point Edward”, Mr. Poersch said.
Council wanted a car tunnel built instead, so American tourists could be easily lured into the City’s downtown.
When authorities balked at the $7.5 million price tag for a tunnel, Mayor Pelling pressed for a bridge that would connect downtown Port Huron to Sarnia’s core. Under the plan, the bridge would have crossed Sarnia Bay, entering Canada approximately at the location of the MacLean Centre in Centennial Park.
But senior government officials insisted on the Point Edward site because a bridge there could be built for just $3.3 million compared to $4.8 million for the crossing City Council envisioned.
Mayor Pelling lobbied for the Village site after coming to the conclusion it was “better to have the bridge built there than no bridge at all”, Mr. Poersch said.
Although the Reeve of Point Edward was “the driving force” behind the project, Mayor Pelling did assist in getting it off the ground, he said.
After leaving office Pelling continued to be active in the Community, both as a member of St. George’s Anglican Church and Sarnia Lions Club.
Along with his wife, Laura, he had two children.
He worked at Imperial Oil for 30 years, retiring in 1954.
Pelling died on March 25, 1960, at age 70.