Spanish, Ontario

Infobox City
official_name = Town of Spanish
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Canada
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = Ontario
subdivision_type2 = District
subdivision_name2 = Algoma
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government_type = Town
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Gary Bishop
leader_title1 = Governing Body
leader_name1 = Spanish Town Council
leader_title2 =MP
leader_name2 =Brent St. Denis (LPC)
leader_title3 =MPP
leader_name3 =Mike Brown (OLP)
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area_total_km2 = 106.02
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population_as_of = 2006
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settlement_type = Town
population_total = 728
population_density_km2 = 6.9
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timezone = EST
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
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area_code =705
website = [http://www.town.spanish.on.ca/]
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Spanish is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on Trans-Canada Highway 17 in the Algoma District near the border of the Sudbury District.

The Town of Spanish is situated at the mouth of the Spanish River where it empties into the North Channel of Lake Huron. The Spanish River and its ecologically rich delta have had a positive impact on the development of the community of Spanish. The river has played an important and continuous role in the local economy from the days of the fur trade, through the timbering era, and now contributes to the tourism industry.

History

According to legend, the Spanish name was derived around the year 1750. As the story goes, Ojibway warriors penetrated the South-West to Spanish occupied territories, and on their return to the North Channel, they brought with them a ravishing senorita that married a local chief and bore him a large family. It was then that the senorita named the village, the town and a river after her homeland.

Early settlement of the area gained momentum in the latter part of the 1800’s with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in February 1884, between Lake Nipissing and Algoma, now known as Algoma Mills. According to an article in the Ontario Gazetteer, by 1903–1904, the Spanish River Station (the railway designation for Spanish) had a population of approximately 200 with two timber companies operating in the vicinity: Huron Lumber Co. and Spanish River Co. W. H. Graham operated a general store, William Coget ran the hotel and the local blacksmith as well as the Postmaster was Gustavo Hamilton.

During the same year (1903-1904), the community of Spanish Mills, located on Aird Island in the North Channel just south of the Town of Spanish, also had a thriving timber industry complete with a sawmill, schoolhouse, and general store. The Sable and Spanish River Boom and Dam Co. and the Spanish River Lumber Company.

Residential Schools

The Garnier School was originally a log cabin in Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island from 1850–1911. It was a day school for Native boys. Father Proulx was the first priest. In 1860 the Jesuit Priests managed the school. The old school burned down and a new site was chosen, 1000 acres were purchased at the mouth of the Spanish River. Reverend Joseph Sauve and Father Paquin undertook to build, design and supervise construction. In the fall of 1913 the school commenced. Boys from as far as Manitoba and as close as Cutler (Serpent River First Nations) attended the school.

A shoe-maker shop and a pump house were built. Self sufficient dormitories, classrooms, several lavatories, kitchen, a scullery, pantry, refrigerated area, corridors, offices, cloistered area, laundry room, infirmary, bakery and tailor shop were housed in the school. In 1981 a chapel was added. Near the school stood a wind mill powerhouse and shoe shop, a mill and a storage for milled products, a huge barn which held cows, several horse teams, a bull, a dairy operation and a black smith shop, a piggery and sheepery, a chicken coop and a garden. At the wharf was a 30 foot cruiser named the Garnier and a vessel called Red Bug were tied up.

Likewise in Wikwemikong a Native School for girls was located. It was run by the Daughters of the Heart of Mary from 1862–1914. The log cabin burned down in 1916 and was relocated opposite the boy’s school in Spanish. Both schools were funded by the Federal Government. The Indian Act stated that “Indians can attend a residential school if an Indian Day School is not available to them within a three mile radius.” Children from broken homes and where home conditions were not the best were also sent to be enrolled into the schools.

The Daughters of the Heart of Saint Mary was an organization formed by and idea from a young French woman who hoped for a life of religion to a woman whose responsibilities kept them in the world. This idea occurred to a Jesuit priest when the woman approached him during the French Revolution. The Society was founded in 1790 and was forced to go underground. The society came to Canada 100 years ago to work among the natives in Ontario.

Until 1951 the school had only elementary grade classes. The entire school consisted of classrooms, dining rooms, chapel, dormitory, play rooms and other necessary accommodations. Their education consisted of all the elementary schooling as well as home economics, cooking, sewing and personal hygiene.

Enrollment for the school started to decrease due to the government legislation which encouraged the natives to integrate with the town’s children by attending their co-existing schools. The residential schools also allowed the children from town to attend the school, as the area around Spanish was expanding.

In 1981 the building which was the former “Girls School” burned down and the “Boys School” was demolished in 2004. The shell of the “Girls School” still remains as a witness to history.

A book entitled Indian School Days was published in 1988 by Ojibway writer Basil H. Johnston chronicalling his experiences as a student at Garnier College.

Population and Economy

The town had a population of 728 in the Canada 2006 Census. Formerly known as the Township of Shedden, the municipality adopted its current name in 2004 after the name of its largest community. Forestry is the main industry of Spanish, employing 64% of the population.

Spanish has two schools; Spanish Public School, located on the north side of town and École Ste-Anne located on the South.

The Spanish Public Library has won the Outstanding Ontario Library Award for sponsoring reading programs for Ontario's children, and sponsoring the annual Spanish Easter egg hunt. The library has an extensive children's section, access to high speed internet, and a wide range of books and magazines.

Timeline

1902Railway station is built, the village’s focus shifts to becoming a small service centre for the Canadian Pacific Railway instead of a lumber village.

1911
Wikwemikong's missionary school on Manitoulin Island is destroyed by a fire.

The church wants to rebuild a new school in Spanish near the rail line away from the Wikwemikong village and so the Jesuit purchase an acre of land at the mouth of the Spanish River and erect St. Peter’s Clavier’s School, later Garnier College, for 180 boys and St. Joseph’s School for 150 girls.

1913Garnier School opens.

1916The St. Joseph Residential School is built.

1917A voter's list is created.

1918
Flu epidemic takes many lives.

1922A telephone exchange is installed in the Post Office.

1926Spanish Mills is closed down.

1951Spanish receives electricity.

1956
Noranda Inc. opens a Sulphuric Acid Plant on the Serpent River First Nations Reserve. Since only chief officials are allowed to live on the reserve, Noranda purchases land at the east end of Spanish for a residential town site where the employees can live and therefore boosts the population to 12,000. Since Spanish is the nearest community to the mines in Elliot Lake, the town becomes the transportation centre for mail and freight.

1957The North Theatre opens.

42 Homes are constructed.

The telephone exchange office is built.

A bank is established.

1958Garnier College is closed.

1962St. Joseph’s School is closed.

1973The Township of Shedden experiences its first form of municipal government by joining the Improvement District of the North Shore.

1975First direct distance dialing.

1978The elected council changes the name to The Township of the North Shore.

The first library is established where D&D Freshmart now exists.

1980The library is moved to a pre-fab beside the fire hall.

1981The Improvement District of the North Shore and the Township of Shedden separate.

The former St. Joseph Residential School building burns down.

1985The Township of Shedden separates from The North Shore and becomes the Improvement District of Shedden with an appointed Board of Trustees.

1989The Township of Shedden is created, electing its own independent council.

1992Township of Shedden and Public Library opens.

A Medical Clinic opens.

A Farmers Market opens.

1995A Dental clinic opens.

1997A Municipal Marina opens.

1998Gignac Square opens.

1999Four Season Waterfront Complex opens.

2004Former Garnier residential School is demolished.

Lake Huron North Channel Historic Trail is completed.

Council gives Third reading to By-Law 2004-39 changing the name of the Community from the Township of Shedden to the Corporation of the Town of Spanish.

External links

* [http://www.town.spanish.on.ca/ Town of Spanish]

Canadian City Geographic Location
North=Algoma, Unorganized, Southeast Part
West=The North Shore
Center=Spanish
East=Sables-Spanish Rivers
South=North Channel of Lake Huron