EARLY HISTORY OF SUNDRIDGE

With the Free Grant Act of 1868 the face of Northern Ontario changed forever.  Pioneers and immigrants found themselves grabbing a piece of a dream come true.  Free land, all that was required was to come and claim this new life.  The Nipissing and Muskoka Colonization Roads brought these hopeful travelers north to a new life.  The journey was hard.  The life even harder.  But hope prevailed and settlers came and conquered the land.

In 1879, before Sundridge had come into being, the Muskoka-Parry Sound Atlas had this to say about Strong, the township in which Sundridge is situated:  "Strong contains 38,893 acres of land and 5,530 of water. It will be noticed, on referring to the map, that nearly the whole of the water area is comprised in one lake, a feature somewhat different from most other townships in the free grant district. "Although not yet open for location it is fully settled, and has a good saw mill belonging to Mr. Nicholls. We are given to understand that the land generally is of good quality."

Lake Bernard

Sundridge was incorporated as a village on March 23, 1889. It was already a bustling community then, with a population of 650 people making their homes there. The village had begun life a little farther south than it now is, as a post office in the cabin of John Paget. His home was where the Ten Gables Resort and Golf Course now sits, at the junction of the forerunners of Highways 11 and 124, the Distress Road and the Muskoka Road.

More and more houses were built down by the lake, by the time the Grand Trunk Railway penetrated as far as Sundridge, the village was in its present position.

When the railway was built north towards Strong, there was a lot of speculation as to which side of Lake Bernard it would pass.  Many gambled on it running up the east side, and homesteaded there, in Joly Township. They lost.

The rails went to the west instead, through Strong Township and Sundridge. Many of the disappointed Joly pioneers left, heading out to the new lands being opened up on the prairies.

Many of the names of the early Sundridge settlers are still prominent now. Names such as Lang, Anderson, Kent, Prior, Harkness and Dunbar can all be found in the early record books.

Sundridge was a stepping stone to the land north.  At one time we had industry and a well-established community.  The latest women’s apparel could be found at Agnes Thorn’s millinery shop, horses could be cared for and shoed at Quirt’s Blacksmith shop.  We had a photography store, Ice Cream Parlour, Newspaper, Library, General Store, Orange Hall, Jail, Churches, Livery, Basket Factory, Doctor, Sawmills, Railway Station, Hotel, Post Office, and a Taylor Shop.  Our children went to school and our men went to work.  Logging was the main industry around the area and we had many sawmills in the area.  The railway allowed us to transport our butter, eggs and milk to markets in the south.  It also gave us a way to transport the lumber from our mills to markets in United States and Europe.