Port Burwell, Ontario

Last updated

Canada Southern Ontario location map 2.png
Red pog.svg
Port Burwell
Location of Port Burwell in Southern Ontario

Port Burwell is a community on the north shore of Lake Erie, in the Municipality of Bayham in Elgin County, Ontario, Canada. [1] [2] It is situated at the mouth of Big Otter Creek, which stretches more than forty miles north through Bayham to Tillsonburg and Otterville, and the harbour at Port Burwell was of historic importance in the development of landlocked Oxford County.

Contents

History

Drawing of Port Burwell harbour by Mahlon Burwell, 1840 1840 drawing.pdf
Drawing of Port Burwell harbour by Mahlon Burwell, 1840
Mahlon Burwell (1783-1846) Mahlon Burwell (1783-1846).png
Mahlon Burwell (1783-1846)
1840 Light House, circa 1910 Black and white postcard of the wooden lighthouse at the top of the harbour at Port Burwell, ON. The road runs down to the bridge over Otter Creek.jpg
1840 Light House, circa 1910
Trinity Church with congregation, Port Burwell, Ontario, circa 1890 Trinity Church, Port Burwell circa 1890.png
Trinity Church with congregation, Port Burwell, Ontario, circa 1890
Port Burwell, lots 10, 11 and 12, Concession 1, Bayham Township. 1877 map, showing locations of Market Square, Lighthouse, School House, Odd Fellows' Hall, raceway for sawmills on island in Otter Creek, and English (Anglican), Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches in village Port Burwell 1877.jpg
Port Burwell, lots 10, 11 and 12, Concession 1, Bayham Township. 1877 map, showing locations of Market Square, Lighthouse, School House, Odd Fellows' Hall, raceway for sawmills on island in Otter Creek, and English (Anglican), Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches in village

In 1810, besides finishing a government contract for the survey of a large part of what became known as the Talbot Road in response to petitions from land grant recipient Colonel Thomas Talbot, Mahlon Burwell (1783–1846) received instructions to survey the vacant land between Houghton and Yarmouth townships, and to divide it into two townships, under the names of Malahide and Bayham. The work was done and in 1811, Malahide and Bayham were made part of the county of Middlesex. In making this survey, Burwell selected for himself a block of land in Bayham at the mouth of Big Otter Creek, the site of what became Port Burwell. [3]

Writing of that region to the Surveyor General in June 1815, he said "Otter creek discharges more Water than all the small Rivers which disembogue themselves into the North side of lake Erie excepting the Grand River. When a few drifts are cleared out of it, Boats may descend from the Mills in Norwich [at what is now Otterville, in Oxford County] to its mouth, at almost any Season of the year. There are beautiful Groves of White Pine Timber, on each side of the Creek, interspersed with Groves of other Timber, alternately; there is therefore no doubt, but what ere long considerable quantities of Lumber will be conveyed down that stream, from Norwich and other places to the Lake. It would appear as if Nature had intended the mouth of Big-Otter Creek for a place of greater importance than any other in the District of London. In my mind it is highly probable that such will be the case before many years. I am about to lay out what Land I own on the East side of the mouth in a Town Plot." He urged the government to use an adjacent lot held as a reserve for the same purpose, and "if it should meet with the approbation of His Excellency the Provisional Lieutenant Governor, it would much facilitate the future growth of that part of the Province, to have it laid out by the Government, for a Town at the mouth of Big Otter Creek." [4]

Nothing was done by the government, but Burwell and his family kept up interest in the development opportunity at the mouth of Otter Creek and the potential water route north into Oxford County, particularly as Mahlon Burwell served as the elected representative for Oxford and Middlesex from 1812 to 1820. Although he had ownership of the township lots on both sides of the creek mouth – lots 10 and 11 in concession 1 of Bayham township – he needed lot 12 as well to form the village site, and it was a lot reserved by the government under the Clergy Reserve system. Burwell was able to lease the lot in 1818, but it was another twelve years before he could purchase it. [5] He finally opened up a town plot on his land in 1830 that became known as Port Burwell. His brother John petitioned the government in 1848 to improve the harbour, and to add Bayham to Oxford County so it would have a waterfront port, and to build a road north into Oxford from Port Burwell. [6] The government again did not agree, but the Legislative Assembly passed legislation giving special powers to a new harbour company in 1849, and a private company was formed to build the road. Known as the Ingersoll and Port Burwell Plank and Gravel Road, it was completed in 1852 and was the basis for what eventually became Ontario Highway 19, stretching from Port Burwell north through the length of Oxford County to St Marys at the south end of Perth County. [7]

View of lakefront beaches at Port Burwell - the compact 'east beach' in front of the village is free; the miles-long 'west beach' seen to the left requires paid provincial park admission. Ontario Elgin county with Big Otter Creek river Port Burwell and Lake Erie IMG 1852.JPG
View of lakefront beaches at Port Burwell - the compact 'east beach' in front of the village is free; the miles-long 'west beach' seen to the left requires paid provincial park admission.
McConnell Nursery Catalogue 1919. By 1968, the company was mailing out a million copies of its annual catalogue nation-wide to support its mail-order business. McConnell Nursery Co. Ltd. materials BHL47313494.jpg
McConnell Nursery Catalogue 1919. By 1968, the company was mailing out a million copies of its annual catalogue nation-wide to support its mail-order business.
Extract from 1927 tourist brochure describing features of Port Burwell, Ontario 1927 tourism.pdf
Extract from 1927 tourist brochure describing features of Port Burwell, Ontario
Port Burwell harbour circa 1920. Fishing nets drying on racks around fish packing sheds lining pier; railway yard behind them; steamer Ashtabula at end of pier delivering rail cars loaded with coal from Pennsylvania; 1840 lighthouse and village on tableland overlooking scene Port Burwell harbour circa 1910.jpg
Port Burwell harbour circa 1920. Fishing nets drying on racks around fish packing sheds lining pier; railway yard behind them; steamer Ashtabula at end of pier delivering rail cars loaded with coal from Pennsylvania; 1840 lighthouse and village on tableland overlooking scene
Typical modern fish tug at Port Burwell - enclosed design found to be safest and most efficient for Lake Erie fishery of walleye and yellow perch. 15-04-19 019 Side view of modern fish tug, AMANDA MAY at dock in Port Burwell, Ontario Canada.jpg
Typical modern fish tug at Port Burwell - enclosed design found to be safest and most efficient for Lake Erie fishery of walleye and yellow perch.
Long sandy shoreline at Port Burwell Provincial Park Port Burwell Provincial Park - panoramio.jpg
Long sandy shoreline at Port Burwell Provincial Park
Retired Canadian Navy sub HMCS Ojibwa now part of the Museum of Naval History at Port Burwell HMCS Ojibwa side.jpg
Retired Canadian Navy sub HMCS Ojibwa now part of the Museum of Naval History at Port Burwell
Wind farm turbines in tobacco fields around Port Burwell Tobacco and Turbines.jpg
Wind farm turbines in tobacco fields around Port Burwell

In time Port Burwell became a shipbuilding and fishery harbour and the export point for lumber and farm produce from the surrounding townships and a large portion of Oxford County, boosted by construction of roads and railway lines. [8] One of these, the Tillsonburg, Lake Erie & Pacific Railway, formed by a group of Tillsonburg businessmen, recognized the harbour's potential to receive coal from Pennsylvania for use in Oxford County and elsewhere, and pushed for a railway car ferry service across Lake Erie. Port Burwell's harbour was improved for this purpose in 1903, the Ashtabula railcar ferry began operating between Ashtabula, Ohio and Port Burwell to haul coal, and the rail line was built north through Vienna and Tillsonburg to Ingersoll by 1903, and to Embro by 1908 (plans to continue on to Stratford and Collingwood were scrapped). [9] The line was eventually leased to the Canadian Pacific Railway to anchor the coal business, and the Ashtabula served Port Burwell bringing coal across the lake for half a century.

By the 1920s Port Burwell was becoming a summertime tourist destination famous for its sandy beaches, which had formed over the years as a natural result of wind and water currents interacting with the breakwaters extending out from the harbour mouth. [10] This shoreline accumulation was a well-known phenomenon which also necessitated periodic dredging to keep the harbour clear. [11] Port Burwell was also becoming a focus for natural gas drilling onshore as well as the collection point for pipelines from gas wells drilled offshore. [12] It also gained fame as the home of McConnell Nurseries, which relied upon the sandy loam in nearby farmland and the reduced frost risk near the lakefront. It developed a nation-wide mail order business for seeds and plants and for many years was the largest employer in the area. [13] The harbour's coal business changed when the Ashtabula was wrecked in a collision with a freighter in 1958, ending the railcar ferry's daily coal shipments. instead, the harbour became known for mountains of loose coal delivered by freighters for later pier-side loading into waiting railcars and transport trucks. All this was wound up after the federal government announced in 1970 it would no longer fund dredging of the harbour to support coal freighter traffic.

Most recently, Port Burwell has become the home of a windmill development feeding electricity into Ontario's power grid. [14] In November 2012, HMCS Ojibwa—a retired Canadian Navy 'Cold War' submarine—was placed in a permanent site in Port Burwell as part of plans for a Museum of Naval History to complement the Port Burwell Marine Museum and Historic Lighthouse. A local theatre group was formed to cater to tourist business, inspired by the submarine project and by Theatre London, and now has its own Periscope Playhouse Cultural Centre in the village for theatrical and music performances. [15]

Port Burwell was given separate status as a police village in 1900 and was incorporated as a village in 1949. It was reamalgamated with Bayham and the Village of Vienna to form an expanded Municipality of Bayham in 1998. Strong support is being given by the Municipality of Bayham to Port Burwell projects, including the financial burden that came with ensuring the Ojibwa project could continue while also making the Lighthouse museum a success and regularly improving the village's public beach and park facilities.

Chronology

Historic churches

Locations and histories of churches and cemeteries have been studied and documented extensively by the Elgin County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society: [34]

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashtabula, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Ashtabula is the largest city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, on Lake Erie, 53 miles (85 km) northeast of Cleveland. At the 2020 census, the city had 17,975 people. Like many other cities in the Rust Belt, it has lost population because of a decline in industrial jobs since the 1960s. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tillsonburg</span> Town in Ontario, Canada

Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada with a population of 18,615 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford County, Ontario</span> Regional municipality in Ontario, Canada

Oxford County is a regional municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Highway 401 runs east–west through the centre of the county, creating an urban industrial corridor with more than half the county's population, spanning 25 km between the Toyota auto assembly plant in Woodstock and the CAMI General Motors auto assembly plant in Ingersoll. The local economy is otherwise dominated by agriculture, especially the dairy industry.

HMCS <i>Ojibwa</i>

HMCS Ojibwa is an Oberon-class submarine that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM). Originally intended for service with the British Royal Navy as HMS Onyx, the submarine was transferred to Canadian ownership before completion, and entered RCN service in 1965. Ojibwa operated primarily with Maritime Forces Atlantic until her decommissioning in 1998. In 2010, Ojibwa was laid up at CFB Halifax awaiting disposal, with the Elgin Military Museum planning to preserve her as a museum vessel. The submarine was towed to Port Burwell, Ontario in 2012, and was opened to the public in 2013. She is now the new focal point of a planned Museum of Naval History to be built alongside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Stanley, Ontario</span>

Port Stanley is a community in the Municipality of Central Elgin, Elgin County in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of Kettle Creek. In 2016, it had a population of 2,148.

Kettle Creek is a creek in Elgin County in southwestern Ontario, Canada that empties into Lake Erie at Port Stanley. It drains an area of 520 square kilometres (200 sq mi). Dodd Creek is the major tributary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Elgin</span> Municipality in Ontario, Canada

Central Elgin is a township located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada in Elgin County on Lake Erie. It is part of the London census metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahlon Burwell</span> Canadian politician

Mahlon Burwell was a surveyor and political figure in Upper Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich, Ontario</span> Township in Ontario, Canada

The Township of Norwich is a municipality located in Oxford County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. At the centre of the Township of Norwich is the Town of Norwich. The preferred pronunciation of the town name is NOR-witch, which differs from the pronunciation NORR-ij used for the city of Norwich, England. The origin of Norwich, Ontario, is more likely Norwich in upper New York State, the area from which the pioneering families emigrated in the early 19th century, where the community was known as Norwichville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayham</span> Municipality in Ontario, Canada

Bayham is a municipality in the southeast corner of Elgin County, Ontario, Canada. It is south of the town of Tillsonburg and Oxford County.

The Elgin Military Museum is a privately owned, not-for-profit local museum in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1982 to preserve and commemorate the contributions of Elgin County to broader Canadian military history, the Museum includes exhibits on the War of 1812, the First World War, the Cold War and the War in Afghanistan.

King's Highway 19, commonly referred to as Highway 19, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, connecting Highway 3 in Tillsonburg with Highway 401 southeast of Ingersoll. The highway began as the Plank and Gravel Road, a toll road formed by the Ingersoll and Port Burwell Road Company. It was first assigned in 1930. Several extensions in the early 1930s took the route north to Highway 86 at Tralee. However, a significant amount of Highway 19 was decommissioned and turned over to local and county governments in 1997 and 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Erie Basin</span> Drainage basin of Lake Erie in North America

Lake Erie Basin consists of Lake Erie and surrounding watersheds, which are typically named after the river, creek, or stream that provides drainage into the lake. The watersheds are located in the states of Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the United States, and in the province of Ontario in Canada. The basin is part of the Great Lakes Basin and Saint Lawrence River Watershed, which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. 80% of the lake's water flows in from the Detroit River, with only 9% coming from all of the remaining watersheds combined. A littoral zone serves as the interface between land and lake, being that portion of the basin where the lake is less than 15 feet (4.6 m) in depth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South-West Oxford</span> Township in Ontario, Canada

South-West Oxford is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within Oxford County. The township had a population of 7,664 in the 2016 Canadian census. A predominantly rural municipality, South-West Oxford was formed in 1975 through the amalgamation of Dereham and West Oxford townships and the village of Beachville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Burwell Marine Museum and Historic Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Port Burwell Marine Museum and Historic Lighthouse is a historical museum in Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada. Located at the mouth of the Big Otter Creek on Lake Erie, the museum and lighthouse reflect upon when Port Burwell was at the height of its fame as a shipbuilding community.

Port Talbot was the name of a community located west of Port Stanley, about one hour's drive south from London, Ontario, Canada, where Talbot Creek flows into Lake Erie. The village was the original commercial nucleus for the settlement which developed on 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land granted to Thomas Talbot in 1800 by the Crown along the northwestern shore of Lake Erie. The settlement was one of the most prosperous of its time in Upper Canada, noted for its good roads, with Talbot keeping out land speculators and securing hard-working settlers. Talbot's authoritarian control of the settlers led to conflicts with the Executive Council of Upper Canada and a reduction in his powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communities in Norfolk County, Ontario</span>

Norfolk County in the Canadian province of Ontario consists of a long list of communities. Its four designated population centres are Simcoe, Port Dover, Delhi, and Waterford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashtabula (ferry)</span> American train ferry

Ashtabula was a train ferry that traveled between Ashtabula, Ohio, on the south shore of Lake Erie, to Port Burwell, Ontario, on the north shore. Ashtabula was built in 1906, at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in St. Clair, Michigan, to transport ore and coal cars. She sank on 18 September 1958 after colliding with the steamer Ben Moreell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Otter Creek</span>

Big Otter Creek is a waterway that empties into Lake Erie at Port Burwell, Ontario. It is 42 kilometres (26 mi) long, and the area of its drainage basin is 712 square kilometres (275 sq mi). The creek's headwaters are north of the Horseshoe Moraine, and its mouth is just west of the Long Point Conservation Area. Scenic bluffs line the valley as it passes through the moraine.

The St. Thomas Moraine is an east-west glacial moraine considered one of the Horseshoe Moraines. It formed at the time of Lake Maumee II filled part of the basin of what is now Lake Erie. Other portions of the basin were filled by a lobe of the Laurentian icesheet, known as the Erie Lobe. The moraine is approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) long, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide, running parallel to the shore of Lake Erie, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) inshore.

References

  1. "Ashtabula (Ferry), U203071, sunk by collision, 18 Sep 1958". Maritime History of the Great Lakes . Retrieved 2011-11-14. Sunk in collision with steamer BEN MOREELL in harbor at Ashtabula, Ohio, September 18, 1958.
  2. "Coal Car Ferry 'treed' in Lake Erie". The Windsor Daily Star. 1954-04-20. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
  3. Archibald Blue, "Mahlon Burwell, Land Surveyor", in Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, 1899
  4. Archibald Blue, "Mahlon Burwell, Land Surveyor", in Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, 1899
  5. "Google Sites".
  6. Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, Volume 6, page 111
  7. see the Highwaky 19 page
  8. Nick and Helma Mika's Places in Ontario (1983), volume 3, pages 228-230
  9. Clippings from the Railway and Shipping News recording the company's progress in opening the various sections of the line are available of the internet.https://www.railwaypages.com/files/236896/riff-lii-cpr-tle-p-part-ii.pdf
  10. Lake Erie, North Shore Trail, Ontario, Canada (1927) by Ontario Tourism
  11. similar to Port Stanley http://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1081
  12. "StackPath".
  13. St. Thomas Times-Journal article published February 17, 1968 put the number of jobs at 150 in winter and 350 in spring, in 113,000 square feet of greenhouses. As of 2018, the property was being operated on a smaller scale by Spring Gardens/Breck's, with headquarters elsewhere.
  14. see the Port Burwell Wind Farm page
  15. PORT BURWELL PERISCOPE PLAYHOUSE INC. was created at the end of 2011 https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=7936575
  16. Nick and Helma Mika's Places in Ontario (1983), volume 3, pages 228-230
  17. Hamilton, William (1978). The Macmillan Book of Canadian Place Names . Toronto: Macmillan. pp.  166. ISBN   0-7715-9754-1.
  18. Page & Company's Illustrated Historical Atlas of County of Elgin (1877)
  19. Page & Company's Atlas of County of Elgin
  20. Page & Company's Atlas of County of Elgin
  21. Page & Company's Atlas of County of Elgin
  22. Thomas Shenston's Oxford Gazetteer (1852)
  23. W.H. Smith's Canada, Past, Present and Future (Toronto, 1851) volume 1, page 98
  24. Page & Company's Atlas of County of Elgin; W.H. Smith's Canada, Past, Present and Future (Toronto, 1851) volume 1, page 98
  25. Shenston's Oxford Gazetteer
  26. Page & Company's Atlas of County of Elgin
  27. Mika's Places in Ontario
  28. Mika'sPlaces in Ontario
  29. Mika's Places in Ontario
  30. Mika's Places in Ontario
  31. Mika's Places in Ontario
  32. Ontario Parks, Port Burwell Park Management Plan (2015)
  33. "Up Periscope - Port Burwell theatre group gets its own 'harbour'".
  34. "Google Sites".

Further reading

42°38′48″N80°48′10″W / 42.64667°N 80.80278°W / 42.64667; -80.80278