by Phil Egan (2015) He left a trail of chaos and human misery in his wake, yet he was a “charming rogue” who managed to fool almost everyone he ever met. Norman J. “Red” Ryan and his companions swathed a trail of criminal activities from Montreal to Minneapolis, but it [...]
by Charles Phelps writing in A History of Blackwell Church & Community, 1880-1980 (1980) The Purdy family has been fishing commercially in Lake Huron for more than 75 years. The 1911 Sarnia and Port Huron Directory lists the name, “Purdy, Milton B., fisherman, lives 310 Nelson.” Later, his son, William [...]
by Charles Phelps (1980) From the 1870s the Blackwell Sideroad was the dividing line between School Section Three (Bright’s Grove School) and School Section Six (Clark’s School at Murphy Road). The children from Blackwell Sideroad east went to S.S. No. 3 and the children from Blackwell Sideroad west attended S.S. [...]
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 George Mathewson for The Sarnia Journal (2015) With its graceful spire and 37 stained glass windows, Our Lady of Mercy Church has been one of Sarnia’s finest buildings since its inception 137 years ago. But to my mind, one of its nicest features is the warm, yellow brick from [...]
