Espanola, Ontario

Infobox City
official_name = Town of Espanola
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image_caption = Spanish River and Domtar mill in Espanola


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Canada
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = Ontario
subdivision_type2 = District
subdivision_name2 = Sudbury
government_type = Town
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Bernie Gagnon
leader_title1 = Governing Body
leader_name1 = Espanola Town Council
leader_title2 = MP
leader_name2 = Brent St. Denis (LPC)
leader_title3 = MPP
leader_name3 = Mike Brown (OLP)
established_title = Settled
established_date = 1900s
established_title2 = Incorporated
established_date2 = 1958
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population_as_of = 2006
population_footnotes =ref label|Stats_Canada|1|1(sc)
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settlement_type = Town
population_total = 5314
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timezone = EST
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
latd=46 |latm=15 |lats = |latNS=N
longd=81 |longm=46 |longs = |longEW=W
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postal_code_type = Postal code span
postal_code = P5E
area_code = 705
website = [http://www.town.espanola.on.ca/ Town of Espanola]
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Espanola (2006 census population 5,314) is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the Spanish River, and is the seat of Sudbury District, approximately 70 kilometres west of downtown Sudbury, and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 17.

History

The name "Espanola" has been attributed to a story which dates back to the mid 18th century. The story goes that the area's Ojibwa tribe sent a raiding party a long distance to the south and brought back with them a white woman who spoke Spanish. The woman married a local brave of a family living near the mouth of the river and taught her children to speak Spanish. Later, when the French Voyageurs came upon the settlement and heard fragments of Spanish spoken by the local natives, they remarked "Espagnole", which had been later anglicized to "Espanola", and the river was named the Spanish River.

Espanola was founded in the early 1900s as a company town for the employees of the Spanish River Pulp and Paper company, which opened a pulp and paper mill there. The town expanded quickly becoming a bustling company town with a hotel, school and theatre. On January 21, 1910, a Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train derailed off a trestle 10 km. east of Espanola. Forty-three people died from the railcar's 27-foot plunge into the icy water of the Spanish River. It was one of the CPR's worst railway accidents.

In 1930, the mill was closed due to the Great Depression, and Espanola became a ghost town until the Second World War, when the mill site became a camp for German prisoners of war. In 1946, the paper mill was reopened by the now defunct "Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company" (KVP), producing specialty kraft paper.

Espanola was officially incorporated as a town on March 1, 1958.

In 1966 KVP was bought by Brown Forest Industries, a division of Charles Bluhdorn's industrial conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries. The Brown Forest Industries operation was later sold to E.B. Eddy, who operated the mill until June 1998. Now owned by Domtar, it continues to be the town's largest employer.

The 1969 CBC Television series "Adventures in Rainbow Country" was filmed near Espanola, near the small native community of Birch Island. The series starred Lois Maxwell, the actress who played "Miss Moneypenny" in Bond films such as "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger". She lived in Espanola for 18 years.

Espanola got some bad press in the early 1980s when the mill accidentally discharged toxic effluent into the Spanish River, killing fish by the thousands. The spill acted like a flush, and when the fish came back a few years later, they were untainted and thriving. Now the mill has one of the most stringent "zero-emissions" pulp bleaching processes in the world, and the area below the Spanish River Dam is an excellent spot for walleye fishing.

In 2001, a group of volunteers staged a fundraiser for the local hospital by attempting to set a world record for the world's longest ice hockey game. They were successful, playing for over three days straight.

Public services

Espanola's three primary schools, A.B. Ellis Public School, Sacred Heart School (Roman Catholic), and École St. Joseph (French Roman Catholic), and two secondary schools, Espanola High School and École secondaire catholique Franco-Ouest, service the local students, as well as those from surrounding commuities such as Massey, Webbwood, McKerrow, Nairn Centre, Willisville and Whitefish Falls.

In 1999 a modern recreation complex was constructed, replacing the aging arena and community swimming pool.

Media

Radio

* FM 94.9 CBON-7, Première Chaîne
* FM 99.3 CJJM, classic hits (new in 2007)

Television

* Channel 4: CBLFT-TV-7, SRC
* Channel 49: CICO-TV-71, TVOntario

Print

Espanola is home to the "Mid North Monitor", a weekly community newspaper.

Notable people

* NHLers/AHLers Art Gauthier, Leo Lamoureux and Al Secord.
* Former Canadian steeplechase record-holder Greg Duhaime was born here.
* Jim Gordon, a longtime mayor of Sudbury, lived in Espanola for a number of years in the 1960s and served on the town council before moving to Sudbury.
* Victor C W Yu, renowned biologist now studying abroad, lived here 1984-2003.

References

*"Espanola on the Spanish", by George R. Morrison (1989)

External links

* [http://www.town.espanola.on.ca/ Town of Espanola]