Port Arthur, Ontario
Encyclopedia
Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario
which amalgamated with Fort William
and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay
in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat
of Thunder Bay District
.
was determined in the late 1850's to begin the exploration and settlement of Western Canada. With Confederation
in 1867, Simon James Dawson
was employed by the Canadian Department of Public Works (DPW) to construct a road and route from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior
to the Red River Colony
. According to popular belief, DPW's depot on the lake, where it landed and stored its supplies, acquired its first name in May 1870 when Colonel Garnet Wolseley named the tiny fire-ravaged settlement Prince Arthur's Landing in honor of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
(1850–1942), son of Queen Victoria
, who was then serving with his regiment in Montreal. However, according to a contemporary authority, Admiral of the Fleet
Sir Edward Hobart Seymour
, it's named after Lieutenant W. Arthur, commander of the gunboat Algerine, who explored the peninsula in 1860. In 1871 the Ontario government surveyed the Prince Arthur's Landing Town Plot, thereby officially confirming the name and opening the land for legal possession. The Prince did not "land" in the settlement until May 1890 when he and his entourage briefly stopped in the town. In May 1883 this unwieldy name was changed unilaterally by Canadian Pacific Railway
officials in Winnipeg to Port Arthur.
The inhabitants of Prince Arthur's Landing were the driving force behind the creation of Thunder Bay District's first municipality, the Municipality of Shuniah in March 1873, an early form of regional government which stretched from Sibley Peninsula to the American border. Landingites dominated Shuniah to the furor of the few residents of Fort William, Ontario
until the people of Fort William successfully established their own Municipality of Neebing in 1881, and began a long and successful battle with Port Arthur to secure all the operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Prospering from the CPR railway construction boom of 1882–1885, Port Arthur was incorporated as a town in March 1884, one year after acquiring its new name. The CPR erected Thunder Bay's and western Canada's first terminal grain elevator
on the bay in 1883, although it later leased it to Joseph Goodwin King. The end of CPR construction along the north shore of Lake Superior and the CPR's decision to centralize its operations along the lower Kaministiquia River brought an end to Port Arthur's prosperity. Silver mining had been the mainstay of the economy for most of the 1870's. The silver mining boom of the 1880's came to an end with the passage by the U.S. Congress of the McKinley tariff
in October 1890. The town was in dire economic straits until 1897–1899 when the entrepreneurs William Mackenzie
and Donald Mann
acquired the Ontario and Rainy River Railway and the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway
, and chose Port Arthur as the Lake Superior headquarters for the Canadian Northern Railway
. Port Arthur thrived as a transshipment
and grain handling port for the CNR after the railway line was opened to Winnipeg in December 1901.
From 1871 onwards Prince Arthur's Landing, then Port Arthur, was the administrative centre for Thunder Bay District
(created 1871 by the Ontario government). A provincial stipendiary magistrate
dispensed justice until 1884 when a judicial district was created and a federally appointed judge took over. The province erected a jail and court house in 1876, and located a Crown Lands Agent
, a Crown Timber Agent, and an Inspector of Colonization Roads in the town. The federal Indian agent
was also usually located in the town. A large new courthouse
was erected by the province in 1924.
Attempts in the period 1901–1914 to secure manufacturing industries came to naught, except for the Western Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company
, later called the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company or PASCO, which was a major industrial employer for many years. However, the forest products industry played a significant role in the town's economic life. Lumbering operations in Thunder Bay District were often directed by men resident in the city. To sawmills were added the pulp and paper industry in 1917 with the establishment of the Port Arthur Pulp and Paper Company, later a division of Provincial Paper Mills Ltd, and in 1920 the Kaministiquia Pulp and Paper Company at Current River, sold in 1922 to the Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
.
The absorption of the Canadian Northern Railway into the Canadian National Railways meant the loss of many CNoR facilities, as the Canadian Northern route through Port Arthur was downgraded by the new CNR. However, increasingly, western Canadian grain companies preferred to build their large new terminal grain elevators on Thunder Bay rather than on Fort William's Kaministiquia River
.
Lakehead University
was established on a site within the former city of Port Arthur. And Port Arthur's intercity area increasingly became a focus of industrial and commercial activity in the post-war period.
Port Arthur became a city in April 1907. The City of Port Arthur ceased to exist at the end of December 1969.
in London. The original crest depicted a wooden fort with wide-open gate with the motto "Gateway to the West." The new coat of arms, designed by J.P. Brooke-Little, Bluemantle Pursuivant
of Arms, featured a heraldic gateway in a framing sun, wavy bars representing water, blue fleurs de lys, a red cross, a lion holding a tree, a moose and a wolf.
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
which amalgamated with Fort William
Fort William, Ontario
Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Ever since then it has been the largest city in Northwestern...
and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Thunder Bay District
Thunder Bay District, Ontario
Thunder Bay District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district seat is Thunder Bay....
.
History
The government of the Province of CanadaProvince of Canada
The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
was determined in the late 1850's to begin the exploration and settlement of Western Canada. With Confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
in 1867, Simon James Dawson
Simon James Dawson
Simon James Dawson was a Canadian civil engineer and politician.Born in Redhaven, Banffshire, Scotland, Dawson emigrated to Canada as a young man and began his career as an engineer...
was employed by the Canadian Department of Public Works (DPW) to construct a road and route from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
to the Red River Colony
Red River Colony
The Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful...
. According to popular belief, DPW's depot on the lake, where it landed and stored its supplies, acquired its first name in May 1870 when Colonel Garnet Wolseley named the tiny fire-ravaged settlement Prince Arthur's Landing in honor of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
(1850–1942), son of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, who was then serving with his regiment in Montreal. However, according to a contemporary authority, Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet
An admiral of the fleet is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments...
Sir Edward Hobart Seymour
Edward Hobart Seymour
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, GCB, OM, GCVO , was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief, China Station.- Early life :...
, it's named after Lieutenant W. Arthur, commander of the gunboat Algerine, who explored the peninsula in 1860. In 1871 the Ontario government surveyed the Prince Arthur's Landing Town Plot, thereby officially confirming the name and opening the land for legal possession. The Prince did not "land" in the settlement until May 1890 when he and his entourage briefly stopped in the town. In May 1883 this unwieldy name was changed unilaterally by Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
officials in Winnipeg to Port Arthur.
The inhabitants of Prince Arthur's Landing were the driving force behind the creation of Thunder Bay District's first municipality, the Municipality of Shuniah in March 1873, an early form of regional government which stretched from Sibley Peninsula to the American border. Landingites dominated Shuniah to the furor of the few residents of Fort William, Ontario
Fort William, Ontario
Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Ever since then it has been the largest city in Northwestern...
until the people of Fort William successfully established their own Municipality of Neebing in 1881, and began a long and successful battle with Port Arthur to secure all the operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Prospering from the CPR railway construction boom of 1882–1885, Port Arthur was incorporated as a town in March 1884, one year after acquiring its new name. The CPR erected Thunder Bay's and western Canada's first terminal grain elevator
Grain elevator
A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
on the bay in 1883, although it later leased it to Joseph Goodwin King. The end of CPR construction along the north shore of Lake Superior and the CPR's decision to centralize its operations along the lower Kaministiquia River brought an end to Port Arthur's prosperity. Silver mining had been the mainstay of the economy for most of the 1870's. The silver mining boom of the 1880's came to an end with the passage by the U.S. Congress of the McKinley tariff
McKinley Tariff
The Tariff Act of 1890, commonly called the McKinley Tariff, was an act framed by Representative William McKinley that became law on October 1, 1890. The tariff raised the average duty on imports to almost fifty percent, an act designed to protect domestic industries from foreign competition...
in October 1890. The town was in dire economic straits until 1897–1899 when the entrepreneurs William Mackenzie
William Mackenzie
William Mackenzie may refer to:* William Mackenzie , Scottish ophthalmologist* William Mackenzie , British civil engineering contractor...
and Donald Mann
Donald Mann
Sir Donald Mann was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur.Born at Acton, Ontario, Mann studied as a Methodist minister but worked in lumber camps in Ontario and Michigan before moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba...
acquired the Ontario and Rainy River Railway and the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway
Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway
The Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway is a defunct Canadian railway that operated in Northwestern Ontario.The PADW was built in 1889 by investors interested in extracting the mineral and timber wealth of the Whitefish River Valley, Silver Mountain Range and beyond into the Boundary Waters...
, and chose Port Arthur as the Lake Superior headquarters for the Canadian Northern Railway
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway is a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its demise in 1923, when it was merged into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.-Manitoba beginnings:CNoR had its start in...
. Port Arthur thrived as a transshipment
Transshipment
Transshipment or Transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination....
and grain handling port for the CNR after the railway line was opened to Winnipeg in December 1901.
From 1871 onwards Prince Arthur's Landing, then Port Arthur, was the administrative centre for Thunder Bay District
Thunder Bay District, Ontario
Thunder Bay District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district seat is Thunder Bay....
(created 1871 by the Ontario government). A provincial stipendiary magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
dispensed justice until 1884 when a judicial district was created and a federally appointed judge took over. The province erected a jail and court house in 1876, and located a Crown Lands Agent
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
, a Crown Timber Agent, and an Inspector of Colonization Roads in the town. The federal Indian agent
Indian Agent (Canada)
Indian Agent is the title of a position in Canada mandated by the Indian Act of that country. An Indian Agent was the chief administrator for Indian affairs in their respective districts, although the title now is largely in disuse in preference to Government Agent. The powers of the Indian...
was also usually located in the town. A large new courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
was erected by the province in 1924.
Attempts in the period 1901–1914 to secure manufacturing industries came to naught, except for the Western Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company
Western Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company
The Western Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company operated at Port Arthur, Ontario, now part of Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior from its organization in October 1909 until its reorganization in November 1916 as the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company. It was probably a subsidiary of the Cleveland-based...
, later called the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company or PASCO, which was a major industrial employer for many years. However, the forest products industry played a significant role in the town's economic life. Lumbering operations in Thunder Bay District were often directed by men resident in the city. To sawmills were added the pulp and paper industry in 1917 with the establishment of the Port Arthur Pulp and Paper Company, later a division of Provincial Paper Mills Ltd, and in 1920 the Kaministiquia Pulp and Paper Company at Current River, sold in 1922 to the Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,435 at the 2000 census.According to the 2010 census, the Wisconsin Rapids micropolitan area was home to 54,362 people...
.
The absorption of the Canadian Northern Railway into the Canadian National Railways meant the loss of many CNoR facilities, as the Canadian Northern route through Port Arthur was downgraded by the new CNR. However, increasingly, western Canadian grain companies preferred to build their large new terminal grain elevators on Thunder Bay rather than on Fort William's Kaministiquia River
Kaministiquia River
The Kaministiquia River is a river which empties into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Kaministiquia is an Ojibwe word meaning " with islands" due to two large islands at the mouth of the river...
.
Lakehead University
Lakehead University
Lakehead University is a public research university in Thunder Bay, and Orillia, Ontario, Canada.Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', or 'LU', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate and graduate programs and a medical school.The school has more than 45,000...
was established on a site within the former city of Port Arthur. And Port Arthur's intercity area increasingly became a focus of industrial and commercial activity in the post-war period.
Port Arthur became a city in April 1907. The City of Port Arthur ceased to exist at the end of December 1969.
Crest, Motto and Coat of Arms
In 1963 Port Arthur acquired a new coat of arms from the College of ArmsCollege of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in London. The original crest depicted a wooden fort with wide-open gate with the motto "Gateway to the West." The new coat of arms, designed by J.P. Brooke-Little, Bluemantle Pursuivant
Bluemantle Pursuivant
Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is a junior officer of arms of the College of Arms in London. The office is reputed to have been created by King Henry V to serve the Order of the Garter, but there is no documentary evidence of this. There is, however, mention of an officer styled...
of Arms, featured a heraldic gateway in a framing sun, wavy bars representing water, blue fleurs de lys, a red cross, a lion holding a tree, a moose and a wolf.
See also
- List of mayors of Port Arthur, Ontario
- Fort William, OntarioFort William, OntarioFort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Ever since then it has been the largest city in Northwestern...