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Artifactually_Ferries THE COBOURG FERRIES The Ontario Car Ferry Company operated between the Rochester harbor of Charlotte, New York and Cobourg from 1907 to 1950. Its primary benefit was the faster shipment of coal from Pennsylvania to Ontario for the use of the Grand Trunk Railway. But another benefit was the implementation of its passenger service. ONTARIO NO. 2 - STATEROOM NO. 10 The Ontario No. 1, after its 1909 renovation, had 17 rental staterooms and could accommodate 940 passengers. The Ontario No. 2 had 24 staterooms and could accommodate more than 1,000 passengers. Our artifact is clearly from Ontario No. 2 and presumably from Stateroom No. 10. With only 24 staterooms and up to 1,000 passengers, only the more wealthy would have rented a stateroom for the 5 hour trip. One wonders what stories Stateroom No. 10 might have been able to tell. The growth of passenger traffic was encouraged by the inauguration in 1909 of a connecting train service from downtown Rochester to Charlotte, where passengers boarded the ferry. Some of them would have simply enjoyed the 1 ½ hour visit to Cobourg or Rochester before returning, while others, the wealthy Americans, would have been coming to stay for months at their Cobourg summer homes. In 1927 the OCFC began to carry vehicles for a fee of $12. Some Americans even brought their horses on the ferries and raced them at Donegan Park at the east end of town. Both ships had excellent passenger facilities on the promenade deck, including a large parlour with a canteen, a music room with piano and free juke box, a women's sitting room, and a formal dining room. The boat deck, immediately above, was also available to passengers. The 1920s were banner years, with 73,395 passengers in 1925 alone. But the numbers gradually declined and in 1949, the final year, there were only 45,540 passengers. There have been a number of attempts to revive cross-lake passenger traffic without success. The key seems to be missing! Courtesy Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse Historical Society Courtesy Emily Nicoll CN37230 CN27142