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• The Town of Lindsay is located twenty-seven miles west of Peterborough, on the Scugog River in Ops Township. It is the county town of Victoria County. The Township of Ops was surveyed in 1825 by Colonel Duncan McDonell and Lots 20 and 21 in the 5th Concession were reserved for a town site. The same year settlers began to come to the region and by 1827, the Purdy's, an American family, built a dam on the Scugog River at the site of present-day Lindsay. The following year they built a sawmill and in 1830, a grist mill was constructed. A small village grew up around the mills and it was known as Purdy's Mills. In 1834, surveyor John Huston plotted the designated townsite into streets and lots. During the survey, one of Huston's assistants, Mr. Lindsay, was accidently shot in the leg and died of an infection. He was buried on the river bank and his name and death were recorded on the surveyor's plan. The name Lindsay remained as the name of the town by government approval. Lindsay grew steadily and developed into a lumbering and farming centre. With the arrival of the Lindsay/Port Hope Railway in 1857, the town saw a period of rapid development and industrial growth. On June 19 of the same year, Lindsay was formally incorporated as a town. In 1861, a fire swept through the town and most of Lindsay was detroyed with hundreds of people left homeless. It took many years for Lindsay to recover from this disaster. Today Lindsay is a well established town, situated within an agricultural community. Due to the town's close proximity to several lakes, Lindsay is often referred to as the

• Frobisher Bay (now called Iqaluit) is named after explorer Martin Frobisher who sailed into Frobisher Bay in search of the northwest passage. Iqaluit is Inuktitut for "place of many fish."

• The village of Quebec was settled by explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1608. By 1628 the colony had 76 settlers and by 1640 the settlement had grown to approximately 300. Growth of the colony was slow but by 1666 the population had reached approximately 3500 people. Whenever France and England were at war it was reflected between the French and English colonies in the New World. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 cut Quebec off from Acadia and other French possessions in the New World. In 1759 the war between the French and English cumulated in the New World at Quebec where General Wolfe and his army defeated the French Marquis de Montcalm and his army on the Plains of Abraham just outside of the city. This was the beginning of the end for New France though the territory that the French occupied would become known as Quebec and the city would retain its name. France eventually lost its possessions in the New World.

• Cobourg is located in Hamilton Township, in the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. The area was first settled in 1798 by Elias Nicholson who built his home within the limits of what was to become the town plot. Originally called Amherst, Cobourg has also been known by the names of Hamilton and Hardscrabble. In 1819, the developing town was given the name Cobourg. It was incorporated as a village in 1837 and incorporated as a town in 1850. (taken from

• In 1835, a proposal to build a navigable water route from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay was submitted to Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant Governor, by civil engineer Nicol Hughe Baird. It was believed that if a link could be established between the many scattered settlements, the population would increase, and new markets would be created. With numerous arguments for and against the building of the Trent Canal, the project was begun, and was to take many separate projects over a period of almost one hundred years to complete. It was not until 1920 that the final link of the canal was completed, and water travel was made possible all the way from Trenton to Port Severn, a distance of 386 km. Although the original purpose of the building of the Canal had been to bring supplies to people living along its waterways, and to provide an outlet for timber, by the time the Canal was completed so many years later, the automobile and better roads and railways had been introduced and the original function of the Canal had changed. It has since become a famous route for recreational travel for thousands of people.

• Port Hope, located in the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, on the shore of Lake Ontario in Hope Township, was informally established in 1819. Previously Port Hope had been known by the name of Smith's Creek, and between 1815 and 1817, the town was also called Toronto. Due to the confusion caused by the use of both names, the name Port Hope, put forth by G.S. Bolton, was settled on in a public meeting in 1819. The name Port Hope was formally confirmed by the Legislature of Upper Canada on March 6, 1834.

• Early sketches and drawings of Peterborough are located in the following fonds: 83-1022 copy of an 1828 sketch by Basil Hall made with the Camera Lucida; 95-1004 unknown engraving [Bartlett?] 1882; 95-1017 sketch of Government House by Mary Sanford 1832 (copy); 02-1002 composite panorama of Ashburnham from St. John's Church ca. 1874 (a representation produced in 2001); 89-1065 Peterborough, U.C. on the Otonabee River signed
• Special Collections maintains an impressive collection of books relating to the City of Peterborough. The "Trent Collection" contains all the obvious published histories such as Peterborough, Land of Shining Waters; Peterborough Scrapbook...1825-1975 Poole's A Sketch of the Early Settlement...of the Town of Peterborough ; Jones' and Dyer's Peterborough the Electric City and Guillet's Valley of the Trent. These titles represent only the most obvious sources; all of these (and many more) are catalogued on Omni and are available, for reference use only, in our Reading Room.
• We also hold many idiosyncratic items in the pamphlet collection, in the map collection and in the vertical unpublished research files. Also pertinent to the study of Peterborough are all the extant newspapers for the area which are available on microfilm. In addition, various citizens of Peterborough have written historical columns for newspapers. We have the papers here in the archives for some of these authors. Their research files and copies of their columns can be a rich source of information. See, for example, the papers of Helen Marryat, Richard Choate, Howard Pammett and Wilson Craw.
• One important source of information on Peterborough often overlooked is the "Dobbin Index." Francis H. Dobbin was a journalist working in Peterborough from 1864 until 1914. During this time he collected news items and also wrote brief descriptive essays. These are catalogued (F 5547 .P4D622) and are available to researchers in our Reading Room. Some of his longer pieces were published posthumously as Our Old Home Town. It too is catalogued (F 5547 .P4D6) and can be accessed in the Reading Room.
• The subject headings for the "Dobbin Index" of newspaper references, synopses, notes and essays are: 1. Introduction 2. Biographies 3. Churches 4. Education 5. Events 6. Fires 7. Industries 8. Institutions and Societies 9. Military 10. Municipal 11. Politics 12. Railway 13. Trent Canal
• It was in May of 1819 that the first settlers came to the region in Newcastle District which is now known as Peterborough. One of these settlers was Adam Scott (1796-1838), and he built a saw and grist mill on the west bank of the Otonabee River (at the location were King St. now crosses the river). This location, then known as Scott's Plains, was to become the City of Peterborough. The area had been previously surveyed by Samuel Wilmot in 1818, and at that time, he recommended to the surveyor general that land be set aside for the development of a town at the junction of Smith, Douro, North Monaghan and Otonabee Townships, along the shores of the Otonabee River. In 1825, the recommended townsite was surveyed again by Richard Birdsall and the creation of a town plan was undertaken. From 1819 to 1825, the only inhabitants of Scott's Plains were Adam Scott's family and a few hired men. This changed with the arrival of the Peter Robinson immigrants in 1825 who numbered close to 2,000 people. Many of them settled in the townships surrounding Scott's Plains, which was renamed in 1826, to Peterboro by Sir Peregrine Maitland, in honour of Peter Robinson. By 1827, there were 20 buildings located within the townsite, and in the summer of 1828, another 20 houses were built. Shops, taverns, schools and churches began to sprout within the town boundaries. Timber, and then lumber, dominated the Peterborough industrial base from 1825 to 1875. But this was not the only form of industry. Peterborough also had a tannery, three iron foundries, and several woolen and grain mills. The location of Peterborough along the shores of the Otonabee was extremely important in the development of Peterborough as a manufacturing centre. The river provided not only water power, but a means of transportation for both people and goods. In 1890, Edison Electric, later known as Canadian General Electric, set up a plant in Peterborough, and by 1892, it became the site of the CGE head office for Canadian Operations. In 1900, Quaker Oats also came to Peterborough. Not only did Quaker employ a substantial number of people, they also used locally grown grains in the production of their cereals. The period between 1875 and 1930 was one of rapid industrial growth in Peterborough. As well, the population was constantly increasing. In 1838, the population was between 800 and 900, and by the 1852 census, it had risen to 2,191. In 1871 it had increased to 4,611 and it became necessary for Peterborough to annex land from the surrounding townships. In 1872, 239 acres were annexed from Smith, 50 acres from Douro, and 581 acres from North Monaghan. After the annexation, the population was close to 7,000 inhabitants. Peterborough officially became a city in 1904 and continued to grow and by 1921, the population had increased to 21,000.

• The land which is now Peterborough County was originally part of Newcastle District before 1841, and the Colbourne District until 1850, the year when districts were replaced by counties in Upper Canada. At this time the United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria were created. In 1861, Victoria County was given independence from Peterborough. Peterbourgh County is made up of the following townships: Galway, Cavendish, Anstruther, Chandos, Harvey, Burleigh, Methuen, Ennismore, Smith, Douro, Dummer, Belmont, North Monaghan, Otonabee, and Asphodel.

Use for: Smith Township, Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield

• The province of Ontario became known by that name upon entering Confederation in 1867. It was first referred to as Upper Canada in 1791 when the province was created by an Act of the British Parliament, and subsequently, as Canada West from 1841 to 1867.