Canada - Ontario - Collingwood

COLLINGWOOD
ONTARIO, CANADA
Collingwood is located in the heart of Ontario's finest four-season destination area. Collingwood offers a combination of old time charm and history with the best recreation in Southern Ontario.

Sent by Julie, a Swap-Bot partner from Collingwood in Ontario, Canada.

Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay.

Collingwood was incorporated as a town in 1858, nine years before Confederation and was named after Admiral Lord Cuthbert Collingwood, Lord Nelson’s second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar, who assumed command of the British fleet after Nelson's death.

The land in the area was originally inhabited by the Iroquoian Petun nation, which built a string of villages in the vicinity of the nearby Niagara Escarpment. They were driven from the region by the Iroquois in 1650. European settlers and freed Black slaves, arrived in the area in the 1840s, bringing with them their religion and culture.

The area originally had several other names associated with it, including Hurontario (because it lies at the end of Hurontario Streetwhich runs from Lake Huron — of which Georgian Bay is a part — south to Lake Ontario), Nottawa, and Hens-and-Chickens Harbour, because of one large and four small islands in the bay.

In 1855, the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron (later called The Northern) railway came into Collingwood, and the harbour became the shipment point for goods destined for the upper Great Lakes ports of Chicago and Port Arthur-Ft. William (now Thunder Bay). Shipping produced a need for ship repairs, so it was not long before an organized ship building business was created. On May 24, 1883, the Collingwood Shipyards, formerly known as Collingwood Dry Dock Shipbuilding and Foundry Company Limited, opened with a special ceremony. On September 12, 1901, the Huronic was launched in Collingwood, the first steel-hulled ship launched in Canada. The shipyards produced Lakers and during World War II contributed to the production of Corvettes for the Royal Canadian Navy. Shipbuilding was one of the principal industries in the town, employing as much as 10% of the total labour force. Overseas competition and over capacity in shipbuilding in Canada led to the demise of shipbuilding in Collingwood in September 1986.

The creation of government incentive programs and a fully serviced industrial park made it possible for Collingwood to attract eleven new manufacturing firms to the town by 1971. Eight additional manufacturing companies had located in the town by 1983, making Collingwood the largest industrial employer in the region. (Source)

Canada - Ontario - Barrie

Barrie, the fastest growing city north of Toronto, holds strong to its small town charm.

Sent by Donna, a postcrosser from Barrie, Ontario in Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, located on the western shore of Lake Simcoe. Although located in Simcoe County, the city is politically independent. Barrie is located within the northern part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe, a densely populated and industrialized region of Ontario.

In 2011 the city's population was 135,711 residents, making it the 34th largest in Canada. The Barrie metropolitan area has a population of 187,013 residents, making it the 21st largest, and one of the fastest growing census metropolitan areas in the country.

Canada - Wild Flowers of Ontario

FOUR WILD FLOWERS OF ONTARIO
upper left - WHITE TRILIUM (Trilium grandiflorum)
lower left - COLUMBINE (Aquilegia canadensis)
upper right - CALYPSO, FAIRLY SLIPPER (Calypso bulbosa)
lower right - YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER (Cypripedium calceolus)

Sent by Barbara, a postcrosser from Ontario, Canada.

Canada - Ontario - Belleville

Belleville, Ontario
Belleville is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of Moira River, with the Bay of Quinte at its doors. Belleville's excellent location makes it a perfect destination spot for many travellers.

Sent by Liz, a postcrosser from Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Belleville (Canada 2006 Census population 48,821; census agglomeration population 91,518) is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern (Southeastern) Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region. The current mayor of Belleville is Neil Ellis.

Originally the site of a Native settlement known as Asukhknosk, the future location of the city was settled by United Empire Loyalists in 1789, after which it became known as Meyer's Creek after prominent settler and industrialist John Walden Meyers. It was renamed Belleville in honour of Lady Arabella Gore in 1816, after a visit to the settlement by Sir Francis Gore and his wife. Belleville became an important railway junction with the completion of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1855. In 1858 the iron bridge over the Moira at Bridge Street became the first iron bridge in Hastings County. Belleville's strikingly beautiful High Victorian Gothic city hall was constructed in 1872 to house the public market and administrative offices. The City Hall tower stands some 185 feet above street level.

In 1998, the city was amalgamated with the surrounding Township of Thurlow to form an expanded City of Belleville as part of Ontario-wide municipal restructuring. The city also annexed portions of Quinte West to the west.

Canada - Flowerpot Rock

Flowerpot Rock and the clear waters of Georgian Bay at Flowerpot Island. Flowerpot Island is located in Fantom Five National Marine Park at the mouth of Georgian Bay in Ontario.

Sent by zoomzter, a postcrosser from Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Flowerpot Island is an island in Georgian Bay, in the Canadian province of Ontario and is a part of Fathom Five National Marine Park. The island spans 2.1 km from east to west, and 1.5 km from north to south, and has a total area of 2 km² (500 acres). The name of the island comes from two rock pillars on its eastern shore, which look like flower pots.

Flowerpot Island is a popular tourist destination, with camping facilities and hiking trails. The island is accessible by cruises and rigid inflatable boats from Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula.

Canada - The Rogers Centre

The Rogers Centre was the first stadium to have a rectangle roof. This roof covers 8 acres and could fit a 31 storey apartment building inside. It opened in June 1989 and is home to the Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Argonauts.

Sent by Melanie from Ontario, Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario.

Originally opened in 1989, it is home to the American League's Toronto Blue Jays, the CFL's Toronto Argonauts and, as of 2008, the NFL's Buffalo Bills' second playing venue in the Bills Toronto Series.

While it is primarily a sports venue, it also hosts other large-scale events such as conventions, trade fairs, concerts, funfairs, and monster truck shows.

The stadium was renamed "Rogers Centre" following the purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, which also owns the Toronto Blue Jays, in 2005.

The venue was noted for being the first stadium to have a fully-retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it, with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the most recent North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball.

The stadium will be the centrepiece of the 2015 Pan American Games as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies.

Canada - Casa Loma

CASA LOMA
The "Castle-on-the-Hill" is a genuine 98-room castle in the heart of Toronto complete with secret passages, tunnels, towers and turrets.

Sent by Melanie from Ontario, Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Casa Loma (Spanish for Hill House) is a Gothic Revival style house in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a museum and landmark. It was originally a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. Casa Loma was constructed over a three-year period from 1911–1914. The architect of the mansion was E. J. Lennox, who was responsible for the designs of several other city landmarks.

In 1903 Sir Henry Pellatt purchased 25 lots from developers Kertland and Rolf. Sir Henry commissioned Canadian architect E.J. Lennox to design Casa Loma with construction beginning in 1911, starting with the massive stables, potting shed and Hunting Lodge (a.k.a. coach-house) a few hundred feet north of the main building. The Hunting Lodge is a two storey 4,380-square-foot (407 m2) house with servant's quarters. As soon as the stable complex was completed, Sir Henry sold his summer house in Scarborough to his son and moved to the Hunting Lodge. The stables were used as a construction site for the castle (also served as the quarters for the men servants), with some of the machinery still remaining in the rooms under the stables. The house cost approximately $3.5 million and took a team of 300 workers three years to build from start to finish. Unfortunately, due to the start of World War I, construction on the house was halted. At 98 rooms, it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for pipe organs, central vacuum, two secret passages in Sir Henry's ground-floor office and three bowling alleys (never completed).

Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serves as the Regimental Museum for The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Pellatt joined the Regiment as a Rifleman and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the Commanding Officer. He was knighted for his dedication to the Regiment. Later, Pellatt served as the Honorary Colonel and was promoted to Major-General upon retirement.

During the depression that followed World War One, the City of Toronto increased Casa Loma's annual property taxes from $600 per year to $1,000 a month, and Pellatt, already experiencing financial difficulties, was forced to auction off $1.5 million in art and furnishings for only $250,000. Sir Henry was able to enjoy life in the house for less than ten years, leaving in 1923. It was later operated for a short time as a luxury hotel. During the late 1920s Casa Loma was also a popular nightspot. The Orange Blossoms, later known as Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, played there for eight months in 1927–1928. Shortly thereafter, they went on tour of North America and became a major swing era dance band.

The city seized Casa Loma in 1933 for $27,303 in back taxes.

The castle was extremely run down and the city was motioning for the castle to be demolished. In 1937, however, it was leased by the Kiwanis Club of Toronto (currently known as the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma). Today, Casa Loma is undergoing a 15 year exterior restoration.

During World War II, Casa Loma was used to conceal research on sonar, and for construction of sonar devices (known as ASDIC) for U-boat detection.

Contrary to popular belief, Casa Loma has never been an official residence of either the city or the Province of Ontario. In 1937 it was opened to the public for the first time as a tourist attraction operated by the Kiwanis Club of Toronto. Coincidentally, this is the same year that Chorley Park, the Government House of Ontario, was closed by the provincial government. The house is still operated by the Kiwanis Club. Today it is one of Toronto's most popular tourist attractions.

Canada - St. Sylvester's Historic Church

ST. SYLVESTER'S HISTORIC CHURCH
Built 1877
Serving Lake Helen Indian Reserve
Hwy. 11-17
Nipigon, Ontario, Canada.

Sent by Julie, a WiP partner from Canada.

Canada - Niagara Falls

An aerial view of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and the Rainbow Bridge.

Sent by Carole, a postcrosser from Ontario, Canada.

Canada - American Falls

The AMerican Falls at night as seen from Canada.

Sent by Rolf, a postcrosser from Canada.

The American Falls is one of three waterfalls that together are known as Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada-U.S. border. Unlike the much larger Horseshoe Falls, of which two-thirds of the falls is located in Ontario, Canada and one-third in New York State, United States, the American Falls is completely within the U.S. state of New York.

The falls receive approximately 10% of the flow from Niagara River, with most of the rest going over Horseshoe Falls, from which it is separated by Goat Island. It has a straight line crest width of about 830 feet (250 m). If measured along the jagged lip of the falls, the crest is about 950 feet (290 m) long. The torrent of water passing over the crest of the falls is about 2 feet (0.61 m) deep.

The height of the American Falls ranges between 70 to 110 feet (21–34 m). This measurement is taken from the top of the Falls to top of the rock pile (talus). The height of the Falls from the top of the Falls to the river is 188 feet (57 m).

The falls are viewable from a steep angle on the American side, where it is possible to approach to within several meters of the edge of the falls. One can view the falls from the bank of the river, as well as on Goat Island and Luna Island, which are accessible by a pedestrian bridge that crosses the rapids of the Niagara river upstream from the falls. The falls are viewable head-on from the Canadian side in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The ledge of the American Falls is shaped in a modified "W" form, caused by numerous rockfalls over the past 150 years which have resulted in the huge mound of rock at its base. The most notable recent rockfall occurred in 1954 with the collapse of Prospect Point to the north.

To survey the rockfall and determine how to prevent the falls from becoming a series of rapids, the US Army Corps of Engineers completely blocked the flow of water over the American Falls from June to November 1969. Results conflict as to whether tourist attendance that season was higher or lower than normal. Attendance increases were likely due to the news that the cataract was dried off; decreases in tourists could be attributed to the fact people thought both cataracts (the American and Horseshoe Falls) were dewatered that year. By December 1969, water was flowing over the American Falls again. In the mid-1970s, it was decided not to make alterations to the rock wall and remove the talus, citing the trend to allow nature to take its course.

Canada - Mapcard of Ontario

ONTARIO, THE MAJOR PROVINCE OF CANADA.

Sent by Ange, a postcrosser from Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Ontario /ɒnˈtɛəri.oʊ/ is a province of Canada located in the east-central part of Canada. It is the largest province by population and second largest in total area. It is home to Canada`s most populous city, Toronto, the capital city of Ontario, and Ottawa, the national capital of Canada.

Ontario is bordered by Manitoba on its west, Hudson Bay on its north, and Quebec on its east, and by three states of the United States to its south (from west to east): Minnesota, Michigan, and New York. Ohio and Pennsylvania are across Lake Erie. All but a small portion of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,677 mi) border with the United States follow inland waterways: from the west at Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River drainage system. These are the Rainy River, Lake Superior, the St. Mary's River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston, Ontario to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall, Ontario.

Ontario is sometimes broken into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontario's population and its arable land is located in the south, mostly along the northern lakeshores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In contrast, the northern three-quarters of Ontario is sparsely populated.

The province is named after Lake Ontario, which is thought to have been derived from Ontarí:io, a Huron (Wyandot) word meaning "great lake", or possibly skanadario which means "beautiful water" in the Iroquoian languages. Ontario contains about 250,000 freshwater lakes.

Canada - Ontario - Ottawa

OTTAWA
A view of the Parliament Buildings from the Rideau Canal.

Sent by Kristen from Ottawa in Canada.

Canada - Buckhorn

Buckhorn is situated on the famous Trent-Severn waterway in the beautiful Kawartha Lakes region.

Sent by Julie, a WiP partner from Ontario in Canada.

Canada - St. Lawrence Seaway And Power Project

St. Lawrence Seaway And Power Project, Canada.
This is a "man-made lake" replacing the narrow and turbulent river, and stretches for some 30 miles from the Power Dam at Cornwall to the control dam at Iroquois, Ontario, Canada. It replaces, in part, the Long Sault Rapids.

Sent by Marissa, a Facebook friend from Montreal in Canada.

Canada - Lightning Striking CN Tower, Toronto

The dramatic lightning striking the CN Tower. Sent by Tony of Whitby in Ontario, Canada.

... and thanks to Tony for beautiful stamps.

Canada - City Lights of Toronto

One of the three postcards sent by Tony from Whitby in Ontario, Canada. It shows Toronto's luminous buildings seen from the waterfront.

Canada - Niagara Falls At Dusk

Another postcard received from Tony of Whitby in Ontario, Canada.