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Oakville/St. Mary Cemetery |
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Oakville/St. Mary Cemetery |
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Harbour Heritage
 Harbour Heritage Information Station Located on the west flats of Sixteen Mile Creek below the Lakeshore bridge, this column tells the story of how the Oakville Harbour was built at the mouth Creek after 1827 and how it prospered until the coming of the railway in 1855. In later years the port became a recreational and yacht building centre. 
William Chisholm's Vision
Following his purchase of 960 acres of land around the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek in 1827, William Chisholm invested heavily in Oakville. He established a shipyard, dredged the mouth of the river and built two piers out into the lake to create a protected harbour. During the next twenty years, as many as sixteen sailing schooners might be in the harbour at any one time, loading up with white oak staves and wheat destined for Lower Canada, Europe and the United States. With the coming of the railroad in 1855, use of the harbour declined. In 1874 it was transferred to the Town of Oakville "for the nominal sum of two hundred and fifty dollars". Read Bill Harris' essay "The Oakville Harbour and the Sixteen"
Read Deborah Lerech's essay "William Chisholm's Vision" Days of Sail & Steam
Water transport moved the region's timber and grain, and also its people. The two-hour steamboat trip from York to Oakville was much faster than the six-hour stagecoach trip, and far more comfortable.
In 1828, William Chisholm established the first shipyard on The Sixteen and launched the first ship—the 80-foot, two-masted Trafalgar, with a capacity of 50 tonnes of wheat. His was one of five shipyards on The Sixteen that launched five to ten wooden sailing ships per year during the next three decades. In 1863 Oakville's largest ship was launched, the three-masted, 200-foot Monarch, with a capacity of 348 tonnes. Chisholm also launched three steamboats in Oakville - Constitution, Oakville and Burlington. With 80 horsepower wood-fuelled engines driving their paddle wheels, early steamships also needed masts and sails to capture favourable winds. Read Deborah Lerech's essay "Days of Sail and Steam" The Young Port Matures
For fifty years, wind-driven fleets carried freight from Oakville. Schooner after schooner left the harbour filled with squared pine timbers, oak staves and sheat, returning with immigrants and merchandise.
A forest of masts extended from the lake to the Colborne (now Lakeshore) Street bridge. Grain warehouses lined the east bank. A lighthouse built at the end of the pier was visible for ten miles. Oakville reached the height of its shipping trade in the 1850s. It became an official Canadian Port of Entry, collecting duties on imports from the United States, with William Chisholm acting as customs agent. The Oakville Harbour Company re-dredged the harbour entrance and enlarged the east pier in the 1860s so that wagons with double teams could drive around the lighthouse. Read Deborah Lerech's essay "The Young Port Matures" Resort Town on Lake Ontario
By the 1870s Oakville was becoming a year-round resort town. In summer the hotels were filled to capacity, and hundreds more people arrived on day excursions via lake steamer. Tourists could rent canoes, rowboats and sailboats. The town's waterfront beach offered swimming and fishing. At the end of the 19th century, Oakville began to attract wealthy summer residents as well. Farm fields bordering the lake were developed into large, waterfront properties with luxurious residences and landscaped gardens. Some of Canada's best known horses were bred at these estates. Read Deborah Lerech's essay "Resort Town on Lake Ontario" Yachting Heritage
Beginning in the 1870s, sailing for pleasure and competition expanded greatly on Lake Ontario. Oakville became a destination for Royal Canadian Yacht club races from Toronto. On summer weekends, fifty or more yachts were often tied up in the harbour. Oakville's shipbuilders turned their attention to pleasure craft. One was Captain James Andrew, whose shipyard had been producing schooners and smaller commercial craft since 1861. The yacht Canada, built by Andrew in 1896, won the first Canada-USA match race for sailing yachts. The trophy, known since as the "Canada's Cup," is still competed for a hundred years later. Read Deborah Lerech's essay "Oakville's Yachting Heritage"
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