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This Community Stories exhibit illustrates the terrible impact of catastrophic fires on Port Carling and the surrounding Muskoka region. The disastrous town fire of 1931 destroyed nearly all of Port Carling’s main street, wreaking economic devastation in a town already reeling from the Depression and the downturn in tourism. Archival photographs of Port Carling before, during and after the fires dramatically chronicle the changes in architecture and building materials that were introduced to reduce vulnerability to future fires.
This exhibit also focuses on several lodges in Muskoka Region that were lost to fire throughout the twentieth century. Muskoka’s first great lodge, Pratt’s Hotel on Lake Rosseau, built in 1870, was destroyed by fire in 1883, setting an unfortunate pattern. In 1945, the legendary Beaumaris Hotel was lost to a fire set by a disgruntled employee in the middle of the night. Muskoka’s most luxurious hotel, the famed Royal Muskoka Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1952, amidst speculation of arson.
In more recent times, Windermere House was destroyed by fire in February, 1996, the cause determined as a high intensity light used for shooting a film. Fortunately, Windermere house was rebuilt after the fire and reopened to the public the following summer.
