Sodom, Ontario

Sodom, Ontario was a former small logging industry based community that existed in the last quarter of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. It was located on the boundary between the present day municipalities of South Huron and Bluewater, Ontario Canada on Dashwood Road approximately 500 meters west of the present day intersection of Dashwood Road and Ausable Line, at the point at which Dashwood Road bridges the Ausable River. The original site of the community is now divided between the two municipalities mentioned.

Sodom began in 1873 when a sawmill was constructed by two local politicians and businessmen, Thomas Greenway, a future Premier of the province of Manitoba, and Robert Bissett. The mill was at first inadvertently built on land reserved for road construction and was relocated to the west side of the Ausable River, south of Dashwood Road. The mill was situated in a densely forested old growth stand of hardwood trees in an area known as Hay Swamp. In 1877, the mill and surrounding property was sold to brothers Samuel and Silas Stanlake.

Expansion required the construction of a group of small houses to accommodate the growing number of employees and their families. A number of social organizations developed in the community, including a glee club, which performed at local events. A one-room school was constructed, the name of which was recorded as "U.S.S. (United School Section) #13 Hay and Stephen, Sodom School". The school was located on the north side of Dashwood Road and east of the river. Regular church services and a sunday school existed in private homes in the community, as well as a chapter of the Royal Templars of Temperance, which promoted complete abstinence from all alcoholic beverages, in the context of the temperance movement. The group hosted a district council meeting for the organization in 1896 in a nearby orchard. Public school inspector Elgin G. Tom, a resident of Goderich, was the president of the regional district council of the organization. Although today in english the word "Sodom" in many cases has a sexual connotation, by literal definition, it can also be used to convey an attribution of general alleged "wrong doing" as well. This was often especially true in a 19th century context.

The community is believed to have received its name from a local 19th century school official named Chester Prouty who, in the midst of the Temperance Movement, objected to what he saw as the community's over-consumption of alcohol and the purportedly exuberant subsequent social events that occurred there.

As local timber availability dwindled during the first quarter of the 20th century, the community began to dissolve and the site was largely converted to agricultural use. A tragedy occurred on June 2, 1923 when the home of Silas Stanlake was destroyed by fire and six people perished in the blaze. [cite news | url = | title = "Six Die As Home Burns; Mother, Four Children and Brother Victims In Ontario" | work =New York Times, pg.14 | date = June 3 1923] Education records indicate that the school was in operation until at least 1937.

References

ources

The History of Stephen Township',Susan Muriel Mack: Corporation of The Township of Stephen,1992, editor: Alice Gibb, Edward Phelpspgs. 72,223-224,304

Exeter, Situate on the London & Goderich Road in the township of Stephen and Usborne, 30 miles from London and in the County of Huron, C.W. : a history of Exeter, Ontario,Joseph L. WoodenExeter, Ont.: R. Southcott, 1973pgs. 94-95,253

Stephen Township: 150 Great Years 1842-1992,ed. Ross HaughStephen Township Sesquicentennial Committee, 1992pg. 14

Online References

*cite web | publisher=R. Southcott (via ouroots.ca) | title=Exeter...: a history of Exeter, Ontario |url=http://www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=4462 | accessdate=2007-05-05 | first=Joseph L. | last=Wooden | year=1973

*cite web | publisher=Corporation of The Township of Stephen (via ouroots.ca) | title=The History of Stephen Township |url=http://www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=4359 | accessdate=2007-05-05 | first=Susan Muriel | last=Mack | year=1992

* [http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/fraternalism/temperance_orders.htm Temperance Movement Fraternal Organizations]