I've taken the old map and added some. The sites referred to are directly below the numbers.
1 - Forsyth Mansion, built in 1857 at what is now 200 London Rd. It was later a convent and later still apartments. It was pulled down c1975-76.
2 - The original St. George's church which was built in 1848 on land donated for that purpose by Richard Vidal. It was pulled down after the present church opened in 1884.
3 - St. Michael's RC church was built in the 1840's of wood and stood approx. where the Our Lady of Mercy parking lot is today. It was replaced with the present O.L.M. in 1877-78.
4 - Lambton County Court House and Gaol was built by later Prime Minister of Canada Alexander Mackenzie in 1852 (?). It was severely damaged by fire in 1912 and when renovated, the roof-line was changed. 3 persons were hanged here. Later site of the Chalet Motel, now the Super 8 Motor Inn.
5 - Talfourd Cottage, built in c1856 by Froome Talfourd (brother of Field Talfourd and co-founder of Froomefield). When Front St. was opened to the north in 1875, the cottage, which sat in the path of the street extension, was moved to the east side of the street. There it remained until 1945, when it was moved to East St.
6 - The Henry Glass residence was built in the 1850's and was home to Sarnia's 1st Mayor. It still stands, although much changed, across the street from Harvey's restaurant.
7 - Mackenzie House was built in 1861 by Alexander Mackenzie for his brother John. It is now a Heritage site.
8 - George Russell's brewery was at the northern most end of Front St. when it was built. Derby Lane, which used to be called Russell's Lane, was a path created by Mr. Russell by driving his wagon to Christina St. from his brewery. This building which housed Charmin's Feed and Seed in the 1960's, has been entirely rebuilt except for a portion of one wall. It now contains offices.
9 - The original St. Andrew's Presbyterian church was built in 1841 of brick with a wooden tower. The congregation soon out-grew this building and it was replaced with the present church in 1867-68, the cornerstone of the present church being laid on the day Canada became a country, July 1, 1867. This church was enlarged in 1881 to it's current proportions.
10 - Western Hotel was built in 1851-52 by a man named Harkness. In the 1880's, the present 'front' was put on. In the 1920's the name changed to the Sarnia Hotel, later the Blue Sail, etc. The building was renovated and now houses a store on the main floor and 2 condos each on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
11 - Town Hall and Fire Station was built in the late 1850's, the Town Hall occupying the 2nd floor and the Fire Station the 1st. After the 2nd Town Hall was built in the late 1870's at Lochiel and Christina Sts. (where the Limbo Lounge now sits), the upper floor was rented to the board of education for classrooms. Eventually, the fire department took over the entire building, and it served as our No.1 Fire Hall until the mid-1960's when it was deemed unsafe (it was said that the vibrations from the sirens were crumbling the mortar between the bricks!) and the present No. 1 Hall was built on East St.
12 - Union School was built in 1859-60 on the Sarnia General Hospital site on Mitton St. It contained four rooms and was originally intended as the secondary school, however two elementary classes were moved into the building in the mid-1860's. It closed in 1891 with the opening of the Sarnia Collegiate Institute (which later evolved into the 'old' London Rd. school) and was torn down to make way for the original Sarnia General Hospital which was built in 1895-96.
13 - Durand's Store was built c1832-33 by George Durand, and was Sarnia 1st store. Constructed of logs, there is only one likeness of it known to exist - a sketch done by Mrs. Faithorne in the 1830's. By 1875 only half of the structure existed and was used as office space, however, this was removed to make way for the Gurd Mansion built by Robert S. Gurd.
14 - Belchamber Hotel was built on the site of the wooden hotel, which was destroyed in a catastrophic fire which wiped-out a large portion of the downtown in Jan. 1866. The current building was finished and opened to the public in Dec. of the same year. At the time, it was one of the grandest hotels in all of Ontario and was the first building in Sarnia to have an electric elevator. In 1917 it burned, and when it was renovated, the main floor was converted to retail space and the upper floors to apartments. At one time, the hotel extended right through to Christina St.
15 - Sarnia Mills was built in 1845 by Malcolm Cameron and managed by James Flintoft, the Sherrif of Lambton County. The original building burned down in the 1870's and was replaced by a brick structure, which was eventually purchased by the King family and was then known as King's Mill. It ceased operations in the late 1950's.
16 & 17 - Common and Grammar schools were housed in two tiny cottages built in the late 1830's or early 1840's, the clapboard Grammar school being immediately north of the brick Common school. This site was later occupied by the St. Andrew's Rink, which was built in 1892 and later evolved into a Ford dealership and garage and the Kenwick Terrace dance hall, then the A&P store.
18 - Grand Trunk Station was built in 1858 at the foot of Ferry Dock Hill.
19 - St. Clair Hotel was built in 1858 to take advantage of the new rail traffic coming into Sarnia - not to be confused with the Riverport Tavern building further south which was, at one time, also known as the St. Clair Hotel.
20 - Sarnia Observer office and printing plant in the 1850's, this building survived until 1950 when it was removed to make way for the present building.
21 - Congregationalist church, which burned down in 1867, taking the Alexander House Hotel, which stood immediately north, with it. The site was later occupied by the Salvation Army Citidel.
22 - Grand Trunk grain elevator was built in 1860, and served until the first phase of the current grain elevators was completed in 1927. It was pulled down in 1930.
23 - I have recently been told that this house, pulled down just a couple of months ago, was the residence of Chief Wawanosh - which one, I wasn't told. From the construction details, it looked to date from the 1840's.
24 - Grand Trunk roundhouse occupied the site later occupied by Lampel and Zierlers junkyard - now a park.
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