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Brief History
- As early as 800 AD, the Iroquois began to settle the area in semi-permanent villages.
- By 1639, French Jesuits founded Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, Ontario's first European community, on the Wye River near Georgian Bay.
- In 1793, John Graves Simcoe, then Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, arrived and saw Penetanguishene's potential as a naval base to maintain warships. The naval base was finally established in 1817.
- In the early 1840's, families from Quebec, attracted by promises of cheap and fertile land, came to the area of Tiny Township and settled in the present sites of Lafontaine and Perkinsfield.
- On October 24, 1878, Midland City was legally incorporated into a village. By January 6, 1890, Midland City became Midland and was incorporated as a town.
- Georgian Bay's famous fall gales took many ships to their watery graves including the Thomas Cranage in 1911, the longest wooden vessel lost on Georgian bay.
- In 1916, the great aviator, Orville Wright, came to Cognashene and stayed until 1941 when he was recalled to the U.S.
- The Group of Seven (renowned artists) have left us a rich and vibrant pictorial legacy of our bay and its 30,000 islands.
- Since the 1950's, companies like Ernest Leitz Canada (now ELCAN), Bausch and Lomb, RCA, Motorola, CCL Containers, TRW, Waltec Plastics, Weber, Kindred, and Industrial Research & Development Centre have moved to the area to enrich our economic base.
- Internationally renown individuals, such as Brian Orser (skater) and Angela Schmit-Foster (x-country skiier), the Martel's, Cindy Thompson have called our area home.
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The area once had 3 floating hotels, which were towed to selected holiday sites by tugs.
The white cross located on Toanche Point is a replica of the one planted by Samuel de Champlain in 1615.
The area was the first Aboriginal Confederacy in Ontario.
Penetanguishene is the oldest town in Ontario and second oldest in Canada.
The first tugboat in Canada was built here by Henry Gidley's Boat Factory.
St. Ann's Church was the first shrine built to honour the Canadian martyrs.
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