by Stephen Huebl (2005) Over the past 100 years, the Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce has played an active and vital role in Sarnia Lambton's growth. But even before its official incorporation in 1905, the Chamber can trace its roots back to the late 1800s. It all started on Feb. [...]
by Rob Ferguson for the Toronto Star (2015) For less than the price of a fixer-upper in Toronto, you can own a stately piece of Canadian history in Scotland for 287,000 pounds — or about 594,900 loonies. It’s the birthplace of Canada’s second prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie, who was born [...]
by George Mathewson for The Sarnia Journal The Sarnia Farmers' Market supplied residents with food from local market garden for 91 years, until the downtown site was destroyed by a tornado. The current Ontario Street market opened four months later. Photo courtesy of Dorothy Alexander If you’ve been to the [...]
by Lawrence A. Crich (1986) Any attempt to get a clear picture of education in Sarnia prior to 1860 is met with frustration. This can probably be better understood when one realizes that the first Sarnia Board of Education was formed only in 1851 and the first recorded surviving minutes [...]
by Brian Bolt for the Sarnia (2001) In its glory days in the late 1800s, the former Belchamber Hotel building was a downtown Sarnia landmark reputed to be one of the finest hotels in Ontario. Today, while the historic four-storey building at 178 Front St. N. isn’t about to revisit [...]
By Jean Elford for the Sarnia Gazette (1961) Everyone familiar with downtown Sarnia refers to building number 176 on the east side of Front Street south of Lochiel as the Belchamber. It has been called that ever since James Belchamber had it built as a hotel in 1866. The name [...]
by the Sarnia Gazette (1970) When General Ulysses S. Grant stayed overnight in Point Edward [Editor’s Note: in 1865] he had a choice of six hotels…one of which was the Holder’s Hotel on Michigan Avenue…still going strong today as a popular oasis for village and other beer drinkers. Built in [...]
by Jean Elford for the Sarnia Gazette (1971) When a small ship flounders in a Great Lakes storm, there is generally not a sailor left to tell what happened. In a tragic loss of the Kate Bully on October 4, 1869, however, four of the crew of ten survived the [...]
by R.W. Ford (1987) Stretching for over 30 kilometres along the St. Clair River from the southern tip of Lake Huron to the village of Sombra lies the largest concentration of petroleum and chemical industry in Canada. Some 25 kilometres inland ancient oil wells grudgingly yield a few barrels of [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He was our first crusader against immorality. Robert Sinclair Gurd, Sarnia's eighth Mayor, took over as Head of Council at a time when prostitution and public drunkenness were rife on the streets of what was still a very young community. The lawlessness apparently [...]
