by Mike Bradley (2005) Norma O’Brien, widow of the late veteran City Councillor Pat O’Brien, is a long-time friend of mine. She, like many others, has been following with great interest, the restoration of the former Sarnia Hotel in downtown Sarnia by local businessman Pat Coutu into four beautiful modern [...]
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 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 George Mathewson for The Sarnia Journal (2014) City councillors seemed to surprise even themselves last week by granting the condemned Cull Drain Bridge a second chance at life. In a unanimous vote, city council agreed to spend $230,000 to demolish the bridge but save its steel trusses, which will [...]
by George Mathewson for The Sarnia Journal (2014) It’s an old rusty bridge that goes nowhere. Yet on June 4, the gymnasium of Bright’s Grove Public School filled up with a standing-room only crowd of nearly 200 vocal residents eager to talk about the Cull Drain Bridge. The scenic bridge [...]
by Paul Morden for the Sarnia Observer (2012) The future of a more than century-old steel bridge on Sarnia’s lakefront is undetermined, for now. Built in 1910, the span crosses the Cull Drain, also known as Perch Creek, on Old Lakeshore Road, but has only been used by pedestrians and [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer William Nisbet led what may have been the most unpopular Council in Sarnia's history. In fact, eight of his nine Councillors were swept from Office by angry voters fed up with high taxes. Nisbet, who was elected our 39th Chief Magistrate in 1919, [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer In 1996, when Sarnia Councillors voted to impose special fees on automatic teller machines, they were accused of setting a dangerous precedent. In fact, Mayor Mike Bradley and his Aldermen faced so much criticism from the banking community that they quickly reversed themselves. [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He may have been the most intriguing character who ever wielded a gavel at Sarnia City Hall. Thomas Dohefty, who was elected our 36th Mayor in 1916, was nothing short of a genius when it came to the creation of mechanical devices. Indeed, [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He was the first Sarnia Mayor to face an international crisis. William Robert Paul became our 35th Chief Magistrate in 1915, just as the First World War was beginning to heat up. Warfare isn’t normally considered a municipal matter but with more than [...]
