Nickel Centre | |
|---|---|
 Location of Nickel Centre (red) compared to the rest of theSudbury Region until 2000. | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| City | Greater Sudbury |
| Wards | 7, 9 |
| Incorporated | January 1, 1973 |
| Dissolved | December 31, 2000 |
| Government | |
| • City Councillor | Natalie Labbée, Deb McIntosh |
| • Governing Body | Greater Sudbury City Council |
| • MPs | Viviane Lapointe (Liberal) |
| • MPPs | France Gélinas (NDP) |
| Population (2011)Statistics Canada | |
• Total | 13,232 |
| Population computed by combining Census Tracts 5800100.00, 5800101.00 and 5800102.00 | |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Postal Code FSA | P0M, P3L |
| Area code | 705 |
Nickel Centre (1996 census population 13,017) was a town inOntario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000.
It was created as part of theRegional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolved and amalgamated into the city ofGreater Sudbury. The town is now divided between Wards 7 and 9 onGreater Sudbury City Council, and is represented by councillors Natalie Labbée and Deb McIntosh.
In the2011 Canadian census, the Garson-Falconbridge corridor within Nickel Centre was counted as part of thepopulation centre (orurban area) of Sudbury,[1] while the census tracts corresponding to the former boundaries of Nickel Centre had a population of 13,232. In theCanada 2016 Census, the boundaries of the Sudbury population centre were revised to retain Garson but exclude Falconbridge, while a new population centre was added for Coniston (population 1,814).
Coniston was a part of the geographic Neelon Township, which was named afterSylvester Neelon.[2]: 45 The first settlers in the Coniston area were the Butler family, who arrived in 1902. They were joined by five other families by 1904, who created their own farms. Common crops included hay, rye, and oats.[2]: 45 TheCanadian Northern Railway (a predecessor of theCanadian National Railway) arrived in 1905, with Coniston lying along its transcontinental line. It was joined in 1908 by theCanadian Pacific Railway, which constructed a new direct line linking Sudbury and Toronto via Romford Junction.[3] The population had risen to 20 families during this period and settlers requested the establishment of a local post office, which had to be named; the name Neelon was originally considered, but Dennis O'Brien, a local settler who became the firstpostmaster, decided on the name Coniston after it was suggested to him by T. Johnson, a railway construction superintendent who had been reading a novel set in the village ofConiston in the Lake District of England.[2]: 45–46
TheMond Nickel Company arrived in Coniston in 1913, relocating its smelter operations from the earlier settlement ofVictoria Mines (located west of Sudbury), which swiftly became aghost town. Coniston was chosen due to its more favourable rail connections and terrain.[2]: 46 As part of the relocation, Mond purchased five family farms totalling 3,700 acres (1,500 ha), which "brought an end to the agricultural orientation of the community."[2]: 46 Coniston was re-established as a Mondcompany town, with many existing company houses being relocated from Victoria Mines, along with the provision of a modern planned town with a street grid, sidewalks, and a water distribution system.[2]: 46
Coniston was subsequently incorporated under the provisions of the Municipal Act byOntario Municipal Board Order A4741 on January 1, 1934, and remained such until the establishment of regional government. Prior to its annexation into Nickel Centre, the town's mayors were Edgar Taylor Austin (1934–46), Roy Snitch (1947–52), Walter Kilimnik (1953–57), William Evershed (1958-59), Maurice Beauchemin (1960–62) andMike Solski (1963-72). Solski, the final mayor of Coniston as an independent town, won election to the mayoralty of the amalgamated town of Nickel Centre in 1972.
Notable residents of Coniston have included hockey playersNeal Martin,Noel Price,Toe Blake,Jim Fox,Leo Lafrance,Andy Barbe and Randy Boyd as well as many other great hockey players. Coniston also includes the smaller neighbourhood of Austin, which may also be known as Old Coniston. This area bordersHighway 17 and is home to a baseball field. The baseball field was abandoned and decommissioned prior to 2000 when Coniston became part of Greater Sudbury.
The geographic township of Falconbridge was named in the 1880s forWilliam Glenholm Falconbridge, a justice of the High Court of Ontario. The original settlement in the township was a smalllumber camp.
A significant ore body was discovered in 1902 byThomas Edison near what is now Falconbridge's Centennial Park.[4] TheEdison Ore-Milling Company was unsuccessful in establishing a mining operation, and abandoned his original claim in 1903. The claim reverted toCrown land until the Longyear Drilling Company bought it in 1911. Longyear subsequently merged with other small mining companies in the area to form the basis of what would ultimately becomeFalconbridge Ltd., although actual mining operations in the community did not begin until 1928, whenThayer Lindsley purchased the company for $2,500,000 and finally sunk the Falconbridge deposit's firstmine shaft the following year.
Falconbridge Ltd. built the Edison Building in 1969 to serve as its head office. Falconbridge Ltd. was taken over bySwiss mining companyXstrata in 2006. In 2007, Xstrata donated the Edison Building to the city to serve as the new home of the municipalarchives.
Falconbridge was incorporated as a town in 1957. The town's first and onlyreeve, John Franklin, served until the creation of Nickel Centre in 1973.
A visual and radarUFO incident occurred in the community on November 11, 1975, later reported in a press release byNORAD. The object was tracked on radar fromCFS Falconbridge and sighted in binoculars, and estimated to be a 100-ft. diameter sphere with craters. SevenOPP police officers also witnessed the UFO. Some explanations given for the sightings includedVenus, clouds, and/orweather balloons.[5]
The community is named after the geographic township of Garson, named by the Ontario Government in the 1880s forWilliam Garson, who representedLincoln in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario from 1886 to 1890.
The area was first developed in 1888 as a logging camp, by the Holland and Emery Lumber Company ofEast Tawas, Michigan. In that year this firm constructed anarrow gauge logging railway from Wahnapitae, establishing its main operations at Headquarters Lake, near the Garson townsite. Logs from this area were taken to theWanapitei River anddriven toLake Huron. Eventually this track was extended north intoCapreol Township.
TheCanadian Northern Railway was built through Garson in 1908.
Garson Mine, which is now owned byVale Inco was first developed in 1911 by theMond Nickel Company. The defunct Kirkwood Mine was also located in Garson.
Skead is located approximately 25 kilometres northeast of downtown Sudbury, and situated on south shore ofLake Wanapitei. Home to over 600 year round residents, Skead was settled about 1921 as asawmill community, when the Spanish River Lumber Company relocated there from its original mill site, near the mouth of theSpanish River. It was named by the firm's general manager W. J. Bell, in honour of his latefather-in-law, Canadian SenatorJames Skead. Skead was a stop on theCanadian Northern Railway line fromCapreol toNorth Bay, which later became theCanadian National RailwayAlderdale Subdivision,[6] but rail service declined in the mid-20th century and was eliminated altogether in 1996.[7]
Skead's address and telephone service also includes the smaller neighbourhood ofBoland's Bay (46°39′11″N80°45′59″W / 46.65306°N 80.76639°W /46.65306; -80.76639 (Boland's Bay)), a dispersed rural community and unincorporated place,[8] on theeponymous bay[9] at the southwestern tip ofLake Wanapitei. The community was known as Bowlands Bay[10] and the bay as Bowland Bay[11] until 1975 when the present spellings were adopted. However, the old spelling continues on the local street Bowlands Bay Road. Boland's Bay (spelled Bowlands Bay in older timetables) was amilepoint on theCanadian Northern Railway line fromCapreol toNorth Bay, which later became theCanadian National RailwayAlderdale Subdivision,[6] but rail service declined in the mid-20th century and was eliminated altogether in 1996.[12]
The community of Wahnapitae is located east of Sudbury along Highway 17. Established as a logging community, it was the first settlement in Nickel Centre. The community takes its name from theWanapitei River, which flows through Wahnapitae, and whose name in turn comes from theOjibwe wordwaanabidebiing, which means "concave-tooth [shaped] water" and describes the shape ofLake Wanapitei.[13] The correct spelling of the community's name should not be confused with the correct spelling for the water bodies. During early stages of the town's development, the river was used by multiple companies to send harvest logs to Southern Ontario for processing. After mining became more viable in the Sudbury District, logging operations in Wahnapitae were stopped, leaving the town as a residential community.
Theghost town of Happy Valley, originally known as Spruce Valley, was first inhabited in 1906 by workers from the nearby mine at Garson. Not wanting to live in the company town, the workers built Happy Valley as their own. In 1930, the Garson Mine shut down, and the workers were transferred to the mines at Falconbridge.
Due totemperature inversions, thesmelter at Falconbridge created severe pollution problems in Happy Valley, as heavy sulphur emissions from the smelter would become trapped in the valley. Workers suspected that they were being poisoned by pollution, which were confirmed in the 1960s and 1970s as society grew moreenvironmentally-conscious. The community reached a multi-year deal with Falconbridge that the smelter would not operate on days when a north wind was blowing. After pressure was put on the Ontario government to do something about the poisoning via pollution, they began the process of abandoning Happy Valley in cooperation with the Regional Municipality of Sudbury and Falconbridge. It was the first occurrence where the provincial government financed the relocation of a community due to air pollution. Most Happy Valley residents accepted compensation to leave their homes and moved away by the mid-1970s, although at least one resident refused to leave and remained in the area until the late-1980s. The ghost town is currently off limits to the general public and protected by a barbed-wire fence.[14]
TheGreater Sudbury Airport, the city's main airport, is located in Nickel Centre approximately halfway between Falconbridge and Skead, although its official mailing address is in Garson.
Highway 17, the main route of theTrans-Canada Highway, passes through Coniston and Wahnapitae. Highway 17'sfreeway segment in theWalden area is slated to be expanded through Nickel Centre towardMarkstay, along the existingSouthwest and Southeast Bypass route and thence on a new alignment past Coniston and Wahnapitae.
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Neighbourhoods and communities inGreater Sudbury,Ontario | |
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| Sudbury | |
| Capreol | |
| Nickel Centre | |
| Onaping Falls | |
| Rayside-Balfour | |
| Valley East | |
| Walden | |
| First Nations | |
| Unincorporated communities | |
*part ofcensus metropolitan area andcensus division only,italics indicates a ghost town. | |
