From Queenston to Kingston. Ron Brown
by 5.8 metres, it is just a few centimetres larger than the jail at Rodney, in southwestern Ontario, which measures 4.5 by 5.4 metres.19
Martindale Pond was once the site of the Muir Brothers Dry Docks and Shipyard. The solitary reminder of that operation is the Dalhousie House, built in 1850, and now a community hall and seniors centre. A pair of small historic lighthouses still blink on and off, guiding ships in the hours of darkness. The outer light was constructed in 1879, the inner light in 1898. But of all the historic structures to see in Port Dalhousie, the most sought-after is the old-time carousel. Built in 1898 by the I.D. Loof Company of Rhode Island, it was restored in the 1970s and still offers rides for just a nickel.
Despite being Port Dalhousie’s successor, Port Weller offers a minimal amount of heritage. A residential road along the east side of the canal leads to a small beach where the large ships can be seen entering the canal. A solid lift bridge carries the traffic across the canal, except during those lengthy intervals when it is raised to allow the massive freighters to inch through. (The best viewing spot for ship-watching is at the Lock Three Museum and viewing platform in St. Catharines.) The Port Weller Dry Dock on the south side of the bridge remains a busy operation, and at any time a massive vessel may lie high and dry while undergoing repairs or maintenance.
In 1931, a lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling were built to guide ships into the new canal. Here, on the west side of the entrance, the Department of the Marine constructed a simple, unadorned concrete building, sturdy enough to withstand the fiercest of gales, with a twenty-nine-metre-tall steel frame light. Despite a seven-kilometre road connection, the location was sufficiently remote that the lighthouse keeper’s wife began operating a ham radio connection. In 1953, a more commodious and modern-looking house was added for the keeper. Finally, in 1970, the newer house was removed and the old light tower torn down, keepers no longer needed to tend the new automated beacon. The site is no longer accessible to the public, but the older house is now being put to good use by the Canadian Coast Guard as a search-and-rescue station.
Twenty Mile Creek: Jordan Harbour
The village of Jordan began as a mill town adjacent to a steep gully on Twenty Mile Creek. The creek flowed into Lake Ontario through a wide lagoon, which, although shallow, could accommodate small vessels. In was here, in 1833, that the Louth Harbour Company (Louth was the name of the township in which Jordan developed) built 160 metres of piers. Shipments of lumber, flour, and clothing originated at the mills of Glen Elgin, a village located upstream where the creek tumbled over the brink of the escarpment. Shipments from Jordan Harbour also included ships’ masts and tan bark, and the port enjoyed a short-lived shipbuilding industry. In 1853, the Great Western Railway extended a long trestle across the creek, effectively blocking the shipments from Glen Elgin.
The railway did, however, bring a new era to the little community. The Jordan Harbour Company added a large wharf on the east side of the bay in 1897, while the government dredged the sand spit covering the mouth. The area’s tender fruit crops were loaded onto freight cars, destined for grocery stores in Hamilton and Toronto. A few fishing vessels sailed from the protected lagoon. A small street network was laid out around the station, and a new community grew — Jordan Station. By 1898 the sand beach along the spit had attracted a community of cottagers. A drawbridge allowed traffic to cross the harbour until 1939, when the four lanes of the QEW ended the shipping era for Jordan Harbour. As the highway was widened, the cottages were removed. Two motels and a small mall now line the lakeshore. Jordan Station remains a residential community, and although trains no longer call, the attractive wooden station was rescued from the CNR’s wrecking crews and is now a private home close to its original site.
The original mill village of Jordan has become a popular stop on the Niagara wine route and boasts a main street of new boutiques. Glen Elgin, later renamed Balls Falls, fell silent and is now a ghost town within the Balls Falls Conservation Area. But a ghostly sight of a different kind greets motorists racing along the QEW. It is the gaunt remains of a listing and rusting “tall ship.”
The strange tale begins on the St. Lawrence in 1914, when Le Progress was launched as a ferry. In 1991 it was rebuilt to resemble La Grande Hermine, the sailing ship used in 1553 by explorer Jacques Cartier to make his way across the Atlantic and up the St. Lawrence River. To avoid allegedly unpaid dockage fees on the St. Lawrence, the ship was towed to Jordan Harbour in 1997 and, six years later, became a victim of arson. Its owner now deceased, it remains a mystery at this writing as to just how long this landmark will remain in its current location.20
Forty Mile Creek: Grimsby Beach
While the world-renowned and historic Chautauqua Movement is associated with the lake of the same name in upper New York State, its roots lie firmly in Canadian soil with a Methodist camp on the shores of Lake Ontario.
In 1846, John Bowslaugh, a devout Methodist, dedicated a lakeside parcel from his extensive property east of Grimsby as a Temperance meeting ground. For the next thirteen years, the annual meetings occurred in different sites, but by 1859 Bowslaugh’s land had become a permanent Methodist camp. For several years, followers sat and listened to lectures held in tents, and swam in the inviting waters of the nearby beach. Finally, in 1874, the Ontario Methodist Campground Company was formed, and the site became known as Grimsby Park. The company divided the land into fifty lots, and a community of decorative cottages grew up on them. These otherwise simple buildings became known for their elaborate fretwork façades.
In 1876 a dock was built and the Great Western Railway added a stop at the park entrance. Two hotels, The Lake View House and The Park House, provided accommodation for those coming on short visits. Camp rules prohibited alcohol and foul language, and lights were to be out by 10:30. Any scofflaws might be detained by the camp constable and incarcerated in a lockup below The Park House Hotel.
In 1888 an elaborate temple replaced the outdoor speaker’s stand in Grimsby Park, a building thirty-seven metres in diameter with a dome that soared thirty metres high above. Unfortunately, the resonance within such a shape made the speakers’ words nearly unintelligible. By the 1890s the rules were relaxed, and campers were entertained by fireworks, concerts, recitals, and a new device known as the stereopticon.
By 1912, the Grimsby Company was bankrupt and had been purchased by Henry Wylie. He had a decidedly non-Methodist vision for the property and effectively turned it into an amusement park. Eliminating most of the constraining rules of the Methodist days, he installed two carousels, a miniature railway, and a shooting gallery, as well as a “Figure 8” roller coaster. Following Wylie’s death in 1916, the park was bought by Canada Steamship Lines, which also operated other parks such as Wabasso in Burlington and Lakeside in Port Dalhousie.
But as the buildings aged, fires began to take their toll. In 1914, thirty-four of the tiny wooden cottages were destroyed, along with the roller coaster and The Park House. Just four years later, the Lake View House Hotel was also consumed. In 1922 the rotting temple hall was demolished, and in 1927 another thirty cottages went up in flames. But despite the dwindling attendance and the disappearance of most of the park’s attractions, the band played on, and the dance hall stayed open through the Depression.
The last grand addition to the park was in 1939 when a new stone-and-wood entrance to the grounds was erected in honour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ontario. Ironically, that was the same year that the monarch opened the QEW, a route that took over much of the park property. Soon after, the lots were sold off to the cottage occupants, and the community became a year-round suburb of Grimsby.
Despite the overwhelmingly suburban nature of today’s Grimsby Park, a visit to the site is like a visit to another era. The tiny streets are lined with many of the elaborately fretted little cottages, the stone section of the entrance still stands, a cairn sits in “Auditorium Circle,” and the bell