Owen Sound Heritage Walking Tour

Posted: June 5, 2007

Article and photographs by Allsion Kennedy

You have probably strolled through the streets of downtown Owen Sound many times before, but were you really looking?

In 1997, the Owen Sound Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee along with Heritage Owen Sound designed the Owen Sound heritage downtown walking tour. The tour is both a great educational experience and a pleasant walk.

It consists of a 2.5 kilometre core route with a one km optional extended route and passes by many of the city's most historic sites.

The first step to enjoying the tour is to get your hands on the detailed map of the route. The map is your guide to the 37 historic sites along the length of the walk. It is available at the Marine and Rail Museum at 1155-1165 First Avenue West in Owen Sound. Conveniently, this is also where the walking tour begins.

The old CNR station, now the home of the Marine and Rail Museum, was built in 1932, replacing the Grand Trunk station of 1894. In addition to housing the museum, it is also a tourism information office.

From here, you ramble along First Avenue West by the Kennedy Foundry. This is your first reminder of how quickly the physical remains of history can disappear. Much of the foundry structure is currently being demolished.

Just past the Kennedy Foundry, you'll come to the Corbet Foundry and Machine Co. This is said to the first poured in-place concrete building in Canada.

Carry on down First Avenue West and you reach another first - the oldest church building in Owen Sound. At 898 First Avenue West, the Christian Science Society was built in the early 1870s.

You'll pass by the library, learning that it was a Mechanic's Institute in 1855. It is at the end of First Avenue West that you choose either the core route or the extended route. Those taking the core route will turn left and cross the bridge, while those taking the extended route will turn right and then make a quick left onto Second Avenue West.

The extended route heads past many of the city's oldest homes. Surrounded by huge leafy trees, the homes along Second Avenue West belonged to Owen Sound's most influential families.

767 Second Avenue was once the home of two of Owen Sound's former mayors, William Webster and Garfield Case. A few doors down at 745, the grocery merchant Donald R. Urquhart set up residence. At 712 Second Avenue West, Thomas Scott, a mason, town councilor, harbour master, mayor and Conservative MPP, built his home here in 1850. These historic homes line both sides of the street.

The walk then visits the milldam and fish ladder. In the 1840s, surveyor Charles Rankin set aside 35 acres for a mill reserve. John Frost soon built a dam and gristmill. Rainbow trout and salmon still use the ladder to head up river to spawn.

The extended route continues past the milldam and through the neighbourhood of Seventh Street East before heading back towards the harbour along Second Avenue East and joining up with the core route.

The intersection of Second Avenue East and Eighth Street East marks the first intersection of the original village of Sydenham. Eighth Street was the first road cut through the bush moving away from the settlement by the river. It is here that you can see the origins of the City's commercial district.

Along Second Avenue East, the walking tour brochure gives historic information on some of the City's oldest commercial buildings, Coates and Best, Fulford's Hardware and Parker's Drugstore.
The walk brings you to the intersection of Second Avenue East and Tenth Street East. While you've probably stood on this corner before, you may not have known to refer to it as Damnation Corners. One block east is Salvation Corners. The corner of Third and Tenth Street was once the home of four hotels. These stood in contrast to the four limestone churches that anchor the corner one block east.

The tour concludes at the four churches, First Baptist Church, Division Street United Church, St. George's Anglican Church and the Church of the Nazarene.

The downtown heritage walk is a great way to stretch your legs while learning a little more about the City you live in.

For more information on the tour, call the downtown visitor information centre at 519-371-9833 or toll free at 1-888-675-5555.

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