A
short guide to Oshawa’s History
|
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Introduction
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
·
Oshawa
·
Oshawa Timeline
·
Bibliography
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.
Bibliography