General Archives | Page 5 of 6 | "Are We There Yet?" Highway-Based Tourism In Kawartha Lakes

Statement of Account Issued by Brentnell’s Garage, Victoria Road

Durant cars were popular in Victoria Road, with Charles H. Davey (1883-1953) being the local Durant agent prior to H. Brentnell becoming a dealer in “Durant Service and […]

Filling Up at J.B. Oliver’s Service Station, Rosedale

James Bruce Oliver (1896-1970) owned and operated this picturesque stone service station in Rosedale through the 1940s and 1950s. In addition to dealing in Shell gasoline and oil, […]

Finding a Place to Park: Automotive Traffic on Nelson Street in Downtown Kirkfield

Highway 46 was known as Nelson Street within the village limits of Kirkfield. By the early 1930s, it was seeing more automotive traffic as cars grew in popularity […]

An Early Car Passes Under the Kirkfield Lift Lock

A group of men look on admiringly as a car passes beneath the Kirkfield Lift Lock. Initially bought by the very wealthy, the private automobile had by the […]

Coboconk Sees its First Car: Robert Callan’s Ford Model “T”

Among the first owners of a Model “T” in northwestern Kawartha Lakes were Robert A. Callan and J.E. Jackson, both of Coboconk. The finished cars were brought to […]

Travel by Dirt Road Through Coboconk

Early motorists had to contend with dirt roads which could be notoriously challenging to navigate, such as that in Coboconk. Eventually this route would be paved as part […]

Charlie Faulkner and Guests Pose in the Motorboat at Falcon Lodge on Balsam Lake

By the 1950s, tourists were plying the lakes in motorboats. Charlie Faulkner’s cedar-strip boat was powered by a Johnson outboard motor and regularly took Falcon Lodge guests out […]

A Feat of Engineering: A Steamboat Being Locked Through the Kirkfield Lift Locks, Trent Valley Canal

This hand-tinted postcard shows the Kirkfield Lift Lock as it appeared during its first decade of operation. Opened in 1907, it remains the second-highest hydraulic lift lock in […]

Don’t Be Late! Schedule for Steamboat Kawartha

Steamboat operators placed advertisements in local newspapers to inform prospective passengers of schedules and routes. The steamer Kawartha plied the route between Fenelon Falls and Coboconk over the […]

“Ahoy, There!” The Stoney Lake Passes Through the Kirkfield Lift Lock

This Edwardian-era postcard depicts the Stoney Lake being locked through the Kirkfield Lift Lock not long after it opened for traffic in 1907. Launched in 1904, the Stoney […]

Topographical Map of Kirkfield and Northwestern Kawartha lakes

This topographical map shows northwestern Victoria County (later called Kawartha Lakes) as it appeared in 1916. The Portage Road linking the villages of Kirkfield and Coboconk would evolve […]

“Choo, Choo!” Sounding the Whistle in Coboconk

By the mid-1950s, railway passenger service had become little more than a tourist attraction. No. 2644, one of the Canadian National Railway’s N-4-a class of locomotives built in […]