Aug 08 2021
August 2021 Of all the historic bridges across North America, London, Ontario, has the oldest, and longest, wrought iron, bowstring truss bridge in North America that is still able to accommodate vehicular traffic. The Blackfriars Bridge, with an unsupported length of 216 feet, is a double-lane bridge that has carried wagons, vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/blackfriars-bridge-a-historic-bowstring-truss-bridge-in-london-ontario/
Jul 28 2021
July 2021 The City of Brampton, Ontario, is a municipality that pre-dates the Confederation of Canada. Dating back to 1834, when John Elliott began selling lots near the intersection of Sideroad 5 and Concession 1, in Chinguacousy Township, what is now Main Street and Queen Street in Brampton. Elliott named the new village Brampton. The …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/bramptons-original-fire-hall-still-serving-the-community-after-167-years/
Jul 16 2021
July 2021 Near the intersection of Highway 9 and County Road 50, on the border between Wellington and Simcoe Counties is a short road called Ballycroy Road. This road, along with the old General Store, attached house and barn, are all that remains of the former Town of Ballycroy. Established in the 1820s, and geographically …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/ghost-towns-of-simcoe-county-the-rise-and-fall-of-ballycroy/
Jul 14 2021
July 2021 Air travel is a very safe way to travel, with thousands of flights taking off and landing safely every day around the world. However, when things go wrong, the results can be catastrophic. On 5 July 1970, Air Canada Flight 621, a Douglas DC-8, took off from Montreal–Dorval International Airport in Montreal, Quebec, …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/monument-to-doomed-air-canada-flight-621-at-crash-site-in-brampton/
Jul 11 2021
July 2021 With the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools in Kamloops, British Columbia and the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, fresh in my mind, I visited the remains of the abandoned Spanish Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. What became the Spanish Indian Residential School has its beginnings with …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/many-more-tears-to-be-shed/
Jul 06 2021
July 2021 The Lookout Inn, overlooking Lake Nippising, in Callander, Ontario, was a popular hotel that operated from the mid-1950s until closing in late 1980s. Its dining area and patio provided a great view overlooking Lake Nipissing. Reportedly, one of the original owners hanged herself in the hotel, after losing her daughter in a drowning …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/after-the-last-guest-checks-out-abandoned-lookout-inn-rumoured-to-be-haunted/
Jul 02 2021
July 2021 Rosa Parks is an icon in the American civil rights movement, best remembered for her brave stand against Alabama’s segregation laws in the 1950s. On 1 December 1955, Parks was arrested after refusing an order by Montgomery, Alabama, bus driver James F. Blake, to vacate her seat in the “coloured” section of the …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-sacrifice-of-rosa-parks-remembered-at-the-henry-ford-museum-of-american-innovation/
Jun 27 2021
June 2021 Light rail transit services have been a popular public transportation choice for cities since the 1800s. Some are built at grade on public streets, while others are built on their own dedicated corridor, sometimes above ground, and sometimes below grade. When the Erie Canal in western New York State was re-routed to bypass …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/ghostly-tunnels-of-the-abandoned-rochester-subway/
Jun 17 2021
June 2021 We see them as we drive along the roads in Ontario. Some are structures of varying sizes, some are statures or art pieces, some are vehicles or vessels, but all draw our attention in one way or another, like Jumbo the Elephant, found in St. Thomas. Here are just some of the interesting …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/interesting-roadside-attractions-in-ontario/
May 31 2021
May 2021 The Tourist Pagoda near the waterfront in Thunder Bay, Ontario, is the oldest continuously operating tourist information building in Canada. Built in 1909, in what was then Port Arthur, it was strategically located near the waterfront and across the railway tracks from the grand Port Arthur Union Station, so as to attract visitors …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/thunder-bays-historic-tourist-pagoda-welcomes-visitors-for-over-100-years/
