By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer His name was Ebenezer but he was no Scrooge. In fact, when it came to caring for the sick and the poor, Sarnia Mayor Ebenezer Pool Watson never asked, “are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?” Instead, the Community's 19th Chief Magistrate [...]
by Lawrence A. Crich (1986) No history of early education in Sarnia would be complete without some mention of the efforts of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in Upper Canada on the St. Clair Indian Reserve. The Reserve then covered a much greater area than its modern counterpart stretching north [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Upper Canada’s last Frontier (1982) Lambton had three railway lines when the question of bonusing the Erie and Huron arose. This line was to extend north from Erieau on Lake Erie to Sarnia. As well as giving local service, it was to be a [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Upper Canada’s Last Frontier (1982) The opening of a line between Port Huron and Chicago in 1879 brought a great increase in traffic to both the Great Western and the Grand Trunk. Three years later, the two lines amalgamated under the Grand Trunk name [...]
by Charlotte Vidal Nisbet for the Sarnia Observer [Editors Note: A 1941 story describing a fire that wrecked the Sarnia waterfront in 1896] (1941) The only Sunday morning that I know of when the bells of St. Andrew’s Church were silent and there was no gathering of our people for [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Canada West’s Last Frontier The earliest ferry to run between Sarnia and Port Huron was a sailboat. A Sarnia named Crampton got a license to run her in 1836. In the 1840s a horse-powered ferry began to run with George Moffat in charge. Julius [...]
Story courtesy of the Lambton County Archives (2015) The popular Tashmoo, also known as the “Glass Hack,” was a beloved ship that provided passenger service between Detroit, Port Huron and Sarnia. The speedy paddle wheeler took countless Lambton residents on pleasant excursions down the St. Clair River between 1901 and [...]
by Scott Stephenson for the Sarnia Observer (2003) The history of firefighting in the city predates even The Observer. The first public meeting held to organize some type of fire protection for the community was held in 1840 and resulted in the creation of the St. Clair #1 Volunteer Fire [...]
by Karen Robinet for the Sarnia Observer (2003) “I have always held those political opinions which point to the universal brotherhood of man, no matter in what rank of life he may have taken his origin.” Alexander Mackenzie, Canada’s first Liberal prime minister and editor of the Lambton Shield newspaper, [...]
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 [...]
