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Oshawa
A short guide to Oshawa’s History
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Dates
are in red.
Hyperlinks
to other pages are in dark
blue.
Headlines
of the history of the Oshawa are in brown.
References
and citations are in turquoise.
Contextual
history is in purple.
This
webpage about the Oshawa has the
following section headings:
The Farndales of
Oshawa
The
Ontario 1 Line are the
descendants of Samuel Kirk Farndale (FAR00512), born
1871 who emigrated to Oshawa, Ontario.
Oshawa overview
Oshawa is a city in Ontario,
on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It is about 60 kilometres east
of Downtown Toronto.
The name Oshawa originates from
the Ojibwa term aaz
haway, meaning "the crossing place".
Oshawa Timeline
1760
Oshawa began as a transfer point for
the fur trade.
Around 1760, the French constructed a trading post near the harbour
location.
1822
In 1822 a ‘colonization road’ (a
north-south road to facilitate settlement) known as Simcoe Street was
constructed. It more or less followed the path of an old native trail known as
the Nonquon Road, and ran from the harbour to the area of Lake Scugog.
This intersected the "Kingston Road" at what would become
Oshawa's "Four Corners."
1836
In 1836, Edward Skae relocated his
general store about 800 m east to the southeast corner of this intersection; as his store became a popular meeting place.
1842
In 1842, Skae, the postmaster, applied for official post office
status, but was informed the community needed a better name. Moody Farewell was
requested to ask his native acquaintances what they called the area; their
reply was "Oshawa," which translates to "where we must
leave our canoes".
1846
The 1846 Gazeteer showed a population
of about 1,000 in a community surrounded by farms. There were three churches, a
post office, tradesmen of various types and some industry: a foundry, a grist
mill and a fulling mill, a brewery two distilleries, a machine shop and four
cabinet makers.
The newly established village became an industrial centre, and
implement works, tanneries, asheries and wagon factories opened (and often
closed shortly after, as economic "panics" occurred regularly).
1876
In 1876, Robert Samuel McLaughlin Senior moved his carriage
works to Oshawa from Enniskillen to take advantage of its harbour and of the
availability of a rail link not too far away. He constructed a two-storey
building, which was soon added to.
This building was heavily remodelled in 1929, receiving a new
facade and being extended to the north using land where the city's gaol had
once stood.
1879
The village became a town in 1879, in what was then called East
Whitby Township.
1890
Rail service had been provided in 1890 by the Oshawa Railway. This
was originally set up as a streetcar line, but in 1910 a second freight line
was built. This electric line provided streetcar and freight service,
connected central Oshawa with the Grand Trunk (now Canadian National) Railway,
and with the Canadian Northern (which ran through the very north of Oshawa) and
the Canadian Pacific, built in 1912-13. The Oshawa Railway was acquired by the
Grand Trunk operation around 1910, and streetcar service was replaced by buses
in 1940.
Links, texts and books