Grand Bend, Ontario - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Grand Bend, often referred to as simply "The Bend" or "GB," is a Southern Ontario

Southern Ontario

Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...

community located on the shores of Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

and a part of the municipality of Lambton Shores

Lambton Shores, Ontario

Lambton Shores is a municipality with city status in the County of Lambton in Ontario, Canada, that is on the southern shores of Lake Huron. It was formed in 2001 when the Towns of Bosanquet and Forest, and the Villages of Thedford, Arkona, and Grand Bend were amalgamated.-Weather:Lambton Shores is...

in the county of Lambton

Lambton County, Ontario

Lambton County is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county is located in Southwestern Ontario. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which flows into the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake...

.

Grand Bend is home to a variety of stores and eateries. The main strip is the centre of activity in the town, with shopping during the day and night life venues during the evening drawing crowds. The atmosphere of Grand Bend has given the town a reputation of being Florida north. As well as Main Street, Grand Bend acts as a regional cultural centre, boasting art galleries

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

in the town and the Huron Country Playhouse on the outskirts.

Today, Grand Bend's year-round population of 2,000 people swells to about 50,000 in the summer months on holiday weekends. The demographic population of Grand Bend is quite diverse. Families owning vacation homes in the adjacent communities of Oakwood Park, Southcott Pines and Beach O' Pines

Beach O' Pines

Beach O' Pines is a private gated community located on the shores of Lake Huron in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. Beach O' Pines was the site of what is considered one of the most important real estate and civil rights cases in Ontario and Canadian history, in which the Supreme Court of Canada...

, are from Ontario and Michigan, including: Toronto

Greater Toronto Area

The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...

; Sarnia

Sarnia, Ontario

Sarnia is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada . It is the largest city on Lake Huron and is located where the upper Great Lakes empty into the St. Clair River....

; London

London, Ontario

London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

; Windsor

Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

; Detroit; and locations as far as New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and the American west coast.
The Pinery Provincial Park

Pinery Provincial Park

The Pinery Provincial Park is a park located on Lake Huron near Grand Bend, Ontario. It occupies an area of 25.32 square kilometres ....

and the Lambton Heritage Museum are located seven kilometres south of Grand Bend.

Grand Bend Motorplex

Grand Bend Motorplex

Grand Bend Motorplex is a dedicated multi-use motorsports facility located southeast of Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada. It features IHRA Championship Drag Racing on its 1/4 mile dragstrip as well as two competitive Motorcross tracks and is home of the annual IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals, Canada's...

has a dragstrip that hosts a International Hot Rod Association

International Hot Rod Association

The International Hot Rod Association, also known as IHRA, is the 2nd largest drag racing sanctioning body after the NHRA.-The Carrier Era:The IHRA was formed in November 1970 by businessman Larry Carrier. Throughout this period the organization was operated primarily in the south-eastern United...

race and the IHRA Canadian Nationals, Canada's longest running and largest drag race.

History

The settlement began in the 1830’s when a group of English and Scottish settlers

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

bought lots from the Canada Company

Canada Company

The Canada Company was a large private chartered British land development company, incorporated by an act of British parliament on July 27, 1825, to aid the colonization of Upper Canada. Canada Company assisted emigrants by providing good ships, low fares, implements and tools,and inexpensive land....

, a land development firm. One of the original settlers, Benjamin Brewster gave his name to the village after he and his business partner David Smart secured rights to dam the Ausable River and started a sawmill in 1832. The villagers were mainly the families of the millhands and fisherman. Their homesteads were situated on the south side of the present village.

For twenty years Brewster existed as an isolated lumbering community. Until the opening of the highway to Goderich

Goderich, Ontario

Goderich is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario and is the county seat of Huron County. The town was founded by William "Tiger" Dunlop in 1827. First laid out in 1828, the town is named after Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, who was British prime minister at the time. The town...

in 1850, both people and provisions had to travel by water. Once road connections were complete, the village was no longer solely dependent on the forests for its livelihood and opportunities for new businesses emerged.

Typical of many pioneer communities, the village assumed many different names throughout its history—Brewster's Mills, Websterville and Sommerville are all recorded. Early French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

settlers in the area referred to the present location of the village as "Aux Croches", 'at the bends'. Grand Bend survived as a name, perhaps because it was the most appropriate—the tight hairpin turn in the original Ausable River where mills were first established.

Improved roads and the arrival of the automobile near the turn of the century had the greatest influence on the growth of Grand Bend. Businesses were established to serve visitors and travelers along the highway and with the beach, "The Bend" became a summer destination. In the 1940s, however, Grand Bend became the centre of a major controversy in the landmark court case of Bernard Wolfe and Annie Maude Noble versus the homeowners of Beach O'Pines. Wolfe, a London, Ontario merchant, faced court-challenges when he purchased property at Beach O'Pines in contravention of a restrictive covenant that prohibited the ownership of lots or cottages by persons of "Jewish, Hebrew, Semitic, Negro or coloured race or blood". The case was finally heard by the Supreme Court of Canada (Noble v. Alley [1951] S.C.R. 64, [1951] 1 D.L.R. 321) which ruled that any such restrictive covenant was unconstitutional.

External links

Grand Bend Tourism and Chamber of Commerce (Official Tourism Site)
The Municipality of Lambton Shores
www.grandbend.com
Visit Grand Bend
Grand Bend Yacht Club
Lambton Kent Board of Education Website
Pinery Provincial Park
Lambton Heritage Museum
Grand Bend Strip A Community Newspaper and Entertainment Guide
The Grand Bend Radio Station myfm 90.5

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

See also

External links