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| Brief History of GEORGIAN BAY |
| 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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| Georgian Bay: A "Famous" Attraction |
| Present-day visitors to beautiful Georgian Bay may not realize that they are following in the footsteps of some very famous people who visited the bay in the early part of this century. In 1916, the great aviator, Orville Wright, came to Cognashene. Orville and his brother Wilbur had logged the world's first official flight in 1903. The brothers were adventurers who were very close and when Wilbur died of typhoid fever in 1912, Orville became very depressed. |
| At the suggestion of a friend, Orville decided to travel to Georgian Bay where he hoped to find peace and quiet that might lessen his mourning for Wilbur and act as a tonic for the poor health he was experiencing at that time. |
| Orville stayed at a cottage on Waubec Island but, while touring around with a neighbour, he noticed Lambert Island and became very attracted to it. The buildings were in poor shape and two years later, Orville made extensive renovations. The main cottage was located on a cliff and by adding a second story, Orville had an unobstructed view of the sky where he could indulge his love of astronomy. This room also afforded a magnificent view of Minnicognashene, Giant's Tomb and Hope Island. |
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