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DESCENDANTS SEE FULFILLMENT White Oak's Dream Charted Town Oakville's founder, Colonel Wil liam Chisholm, was not, destined to witness the fulfillment of his ambi tious plans for the community he had laid out at the mouth of the Sixteen Mile Creek. Less than fourteen years after he had pur chased the Indian reserve on which Oakville stands he was dead, as the result of the failure of a scheme by which he hoped to ex pand the busy little lake port into a thriving industrial centre. OAKVILLE'S 100 th Scottish Ancestry A son of George Chisholm, a Scotsman who had originally set tled in New York state in 1774 but later moved to Nova Scotia, Wil liam Chisholm was born in that province in 1788. When six years old he was brought by his parents to the north shore of Burlington Bay, where his father had pur chased a tract of land. It was there that he grew up, attending the common school in East Flamborough. W i l l i a m C h i s h o l m served throughout the war of 1812 be tween Canada and the United States. In 1816 he acquired a farm on Dundas Street in Nelson Town ship. He bought wheat, timber and oak staves, and started a general store. Soon he was the owner of a prosperous business. Then he be gan, building ships on the shore of Burlington Bay, and established a Back around the turn of the cen forwarding business. By 1827 he tury Oakville was a popular resort had a fleet of five "swift sailing for steamboat excursionists. The schooners," including the Mohawk Chief, Telegraph, General Brock, vessel with its densely packed deck shown in the accompanying photo Rebecca and Eliza. In Public Eye graph was the Greyhound, that In spite of the demands of his used to call at the port quite thriving business enterprises, Chis Ambitious Miller holm found time to take an active Within a short time the enter part in public life. He was Mem ber of the House of Assembly for prising Colonel Chisholm had built the East Riding of Halton from a sawmill and a flour-mill about a 1820 to 1824. In 1823 he was ap mile up the creek, and had estab pointed one of the parliamentary lished a shipyard on the south commissioners to supervise con side of the bank at the head of struction of the Burlington Bay Navy Street. He had also started a Canal, the first project of its kind merchants' shop and a ship chand in Upper Canada. He was a mem lery. He traded merchandise with ber of a group that petitioned the farmers in the township in ex government to build the Welland change for wheat and oak staves, Canal, of which he later became a and the workers employed on con commissioner and member of the struction work in connection with board of directors. the townsite received supplies in For some years Chisholm had exchange for their labor. Colonel been shipping oak staves and tim Chisholm owned five ships , and ber from the Sixteen Mile Creek, carried on a forwarding business. and in May 1827 he made applica He built a warehouse on the river tion to the government to purchase bank at the foot of William Street, the Indian reserve at the mouth of where grain belonging to other the creek " for the purpose of buyers in the township was stored. building and improving thereon." In 1834 Oakville's busy founder The land, comprising 960 acres, was appointed Collector of Cus was placed on sale on August 16 toms for the port, and the follow of the same year, and bought by ing year was commissioned post Chisholm for £1,029, or $4,116. master. In 1836 a petition was sent Shortly afterwards he petitioned by Oakville citizens to the House the government for a harbor at the of Assembly requesting financial spot, pointing out that there was assistance in the construction of a none between Burlington Bay and lighthouse at the harbor, which York (now Toronto) where schoon had been rendered necessary by ers could find shelter. In March, the increased shipping. The House 1828, Parliament passed an act granted a loan of £500 to Chis granting him the right to build a holm, and the following year ap harbor at Oakville. pointed him one of three commis 257 WKstWifrJ,. SLEEK GREYHOUND-EARLY MODEL often with loads of picknickers from Toronto. Oakville residents of today will find it hard to identify the peace ful slope and its thick grove of trees with the west bank of the river just north of the harbor mouth. In those days there was a sioners for the erection of the lighthouse. The work was complet ed in November 1837 at a cost of £852, Chisholm paying the £352 in excess of the government loan. park at the spot now occupied by factory buildings, and that park was the destination of the holiday crowds from the steamers. But it nearly fifty years ago since the ex cursion steamers stopped calling here, and the park as such has long disappeared. Those who had put their money in it lost heavily. The banks forclosed towards the end of 1841. The sale of the property was to take place at the court house in Hamilton on March 2, 1842. Wil liam Chisholm lost all he had in the crash. Two days later he died, in his 54th year, and the young community of Oakville lost its founder and its guiding genius. Early Plans The energetic Chisholm had plans for Oakville which he hoped would make it something more thkn a port and trading centre. He wanted to develop it industrially. Truth and Honesty Water-power was to be used to Robert Baldwin Sullivan, an ear drive the machinery of the mills and factories it was proposed to ly mayor of Toronto, who was an build. Early in 1840 Chisholm and intimate friend of Chisholm refer nine other citizens petitioned the red to him as " William Chisholm, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Can whom we used to call White pak, ada "for the incorporation of a for his truth and honesty of char Company to be called the Oakville acter, and genuine soundness of Hydraulic Company . . . for con heart" The descendants of Oak structing a dam within the bounds ville's founder played an active of the village, producing water part in the life of the community following his power sufficient to propel all des for generations cription of machinery, and to death. Those who are alive today which vessels . . . may ascend safe have seen Oakville become a busy industrial centre, a goal which ly." Construction of the dam was their ancestor tried to achieve at started on the Sixteen Mile Creek, the cost of his life. a very short distance below where EXPENSIVE PORT the radial bridge now stands. But In 1850, Oakville harbour was there was one flaw in the scheme. The depth of the water made the known as the only "private har completion of the dam impossible. bour" in Canada West, and main After considerable labor and large tenance was so costly that the sums of money had been given to province was petitioned to take the project it had to be abandoned. 1 over the port. The passing years have wrought great changes in this area, and Oakvill# is becoming one of the key manufacturing centres of Canada. During twenty five of these eventful years " A ir Coils" products have built a reputation for quality from coast to coast. W e look forward with confi dence to the sound growth, not only of this Company, but of the com munity of which we are proud to be a part. AIR COILS MFG. Co. Ltd Manufacturing Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating Products in Oakville since 1932 FOUNDED 1945 · STOR-AID of Canada L I M I T E D O A K V IL L E O N T A R IO Manufacturers and Distributors of * CLOSET ACCESSORIES * Fabricated Products from Plastic Sheeting OAKVILLE'S BEST KNOWN BEARD extends r extend their best wishes to CENTENNIAL GREETINGS TO ALL Dr. A. W. Chase Medicine Co. Ltd OAKVILLE CAN AD A 3 E S OAKVILLE ON ITS 100th ANNIVERSARY