North Bay, Ontario Totally Explained

Everything about North Bay Ontario totally explained

North Bay (time zone EST) is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada (2006 population 53,966). North Bay takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing, and covers an area of 314.92 km² (121.6 sq mi) It is the seat of Nipissing District.

History

The area was first explored by Samuel de Champlain. Apart from First Nations tribes, voyageurs and surveyors, there was little activity in the Lake Nipissing area until the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1882. The CPR started its westward expansion from Bonfield, Ontario (previously called Callander Station) where the first spike was driven into a sunken railway tie. Bonfield, Ontario was inducted into Canadian Railway Hall of Fame in 2002 as the CPR First Spike location. That was the point where the Canada Central Railway extension ended. The CCR was owned by Duncan McIntyre who amalgamated it with the CPR and became one of the handful of officers of the newly formed CPR. The CCR started in Brockville and extended to Pembroke. It then followed a westward route along the Ottawa River passing through places like Cobden, Deux-Rivières, and eventually to Mattawa at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers. It then proceeded cross-country towards its final destination Bonfield (previously called Callander Station). Duncan McIntyre and his contractor James Worthington piloted the CCR expansion. Worthington continued on as the construction superintendent for the CPR past Bonfield. He remained with the CPR for about a year until he left the company. McIntyre was uncle to John Ferguson who staked out future North Bay after getting assurance from his uncle and Worthington that it would be the divisional and a location of some importance.
   In 1882, John Ferguson decided that the north bay of Lake Nipissing was a promising spot for settlement. North Bay was incorporated as a town in 1891. The first mayor was John Bourke. More importantly, Bourke developed the western portion of North Bay after purchasing the interest of the Murray Brothers from Pembroke who were large landholders in the new community. The land west of Klock Avenue (Algonquin Avenue) was known as the Murray block. Bourke Street is named after John Bourke. Murray Street is named after the Murrays.
   North Bay is known as a railway town. Besides the CPR, the town became the terminus of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway in 1902 when the Ross government took the bold move to establish a development road to serve the Haileybury settlement. During construction of the T&NO silver was discovered at Cobalt and started a mining frenzy in the northland that continued for many years. The current Canadian National Railway carved its way through the centre of North Bay in 1913.
   The Georgian Bay Canal was a mammoth transportation system that proposed to connect the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The entire passageway from the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing and down the French River to Georgian Bay was surveyed, mapped and ready to go in the first decade of the 20th century. Financing became the giant hurdle and as time passed, transportation patterns changed and interfered with the earlier practicality of the giant venture. Despite this, there were groups who still hoped it would happen as late as 1930.
   North Bay grew through a strong lumbering sector, mining and the three railways in the early days. The town benefited from strong community leadership and people like Richardson, Milne, McNamara, Browning, McDougal, Carruthers, McGaughey, George W. Lee, Senator Gordon, T J Patton, Charlie Harrison, and many others are responsible for its development. In 1919, John Ferguson was elected mayor of North Bay and continued to serve as mayor until 1922. North Bay was incorporated as a city in August 1925.
   The Dionne Quintuplets were born in Corbeil, Ontario, on the southern outskirts of North Bay in 1934. This miraculous birth had a tremendous impact on tourism in the area. In fact, the Dionnes may have saved the economy in the district during the Depression and beyond. North Bay and area lived off this legacy well into the 1960s. Many visitors to the area discovered lakes and summer retreats that were easily accessible and the businesses thrived on the tourist dollars.
   In January, we drink maple syrup instead of water! 1968 the City of North Bay amalgamated with West Ferris and Widdifield townships.
   The current engines driving North Bay's economy are the university and college population, the hospitals (awaiting construction of a modern new district hospital, which has experienced delays), a military installation at the airport, tourism, and a stable provincial government service centre.
   On March 17, 2007, North Bay was announced as the winner of the NHL 2007 Kraft Hockeyville contest.

Geography and climate

North Bay is located approximately 330 kilometres (210 mi) north of Toronto, and differs in geography from Southern Ontario in that North Bay is situated on the Canadian Shield. This gives rise to a different and more rugged landscape.
   North Bay is geographically unique in that it straddles both the Ottawa River watershed to the east and the Great Lakes Basin to the west. The city's urban core is located between Lake Nipissing and the smaller Trout Lake.
   North Bay, critically situated at the junctions of Highway 11 and Highway 17, remains a major transportation centre for Northern Ontario. It is the southern terminus of the Ontario Northland Railway, and is served by the Jack Garland Airport.
   The area of North Bay contains a number of ancient volcanic pipes, including the Manitou Islands and Callander Bay and many exposed dykes and five named batholiths (Timber Lake, Mulock, West Arm, Powassan and Bonfield).
   The climate in North Bay is common to most places in Northern Ontario. North Bay tends to be a less humid climate than that found in Southern Ontario due somewhat to the distance from the Great Lakes and less warm than some other locations in Northern Ontario due to cooling from Lake Nipissing. On May 31 2002, a tornado caused minor damage near the city.

Category	January (Avg)	July (Avg)
Normal maximum temperature	-8.1 °C (17 °F)	23.8 °C (75 °F)
Normal minimum temperature	-18.0 °C (0 °F)	13.2 °C (56 °F)
Average sunshine	94.5 hours	278.3 hours
Average precipitation	59 cm snow (23.2 in)	97 mm rain (3.8 in)

Economy

North Bay is more economically diverse than many other Northern Ontario communities, although a large percentage of the city's jobs are public sector in nature with health, education and government dominating the list of the city's top employers.
North Bay is the home of Nipissing University, founded in 1992, and of Canadore College, founded in 1967. Approximately 7,000 full-time students (and thousands more part-time students) are enrolled at the two post-secondary institutions, which share a campus in the west end of the city.
   North Bay is the site of CFB North Bay (22 Wing), a North American Aerospace Defense Command control center, with operations formerly taking place inside a facility located deep underground, similar to, but on a much smaller scale than, the famous Cheyenne Mountain base in Colorado. As of October 2006, Operations were moved out of the "Hole" to the David L Pitcher Building near the north entrance to the Underground Facility. Although historically 22 Wing was a sizable operation, today it employs approximately 500 personnel. North Bay is also home to The Algonquin Regiment, A Coy, a Canadian Forces Army Reserve unit. B Coy of The Algonquin Regiment is located in Timmins.
   The service industry, tourism, and transportation also play a significant role in the city's economy.
   In recent years the city has gained prominence as a hub of arts and culture in Ontario, due to its vibrant community of artists, musicians, actors and writers. In 2004, the TVOntario program Studio 2 selected North Bay as being one of the top three most artistically talented communities in the province.

Neighbourhoods

The city includes the neighbourhoods of Birchaven, Camp Champlain, Champlain Park, Cooks Mills, Eastview, Feronia, Gateway, Graniteville, Hornell Heights, Lounsbury, Kenwood Hills, Marshall Park, Nipissing Junction, Pinewood, Sage, Ski Club, St. John's Village, Sunset Park, Thibault Terrace, Thorncliff, Trout Mills, Tweedsmuir, Wallace Heights, West Ferris and Widdifield.

Waterfront development

The city has big plans for the waterfront. In the 1980s a mile long waterfront park/promenade was developed along the Lake Nipissing shoreline adjacent to the downtown core. Eventually such attractions as a mini-train ride and (more recently) two antique carousels (largely crafted by local artisans) were installed and quickly became very popular with tourists and locals alike. Now, work is getting underway on a large new multifaceted community park that will be developed on the former Canadian Pacific Railway yards that separated the downtown core from the existing waterfront park. Several more carousels, botanical gardens, a children's area and an extended mini-train ride will be among the park's attractions. The new community waterfront park is planned for completion by the year 2011 and is expected to transform the look and feel of the city centre and become a major tourist attraction for the city and region.

Media

Transit

Community profile

Population in 2006: 53,966
Land area: 314.92 km² or 121.6 sq mi
Median total income of persons 15 years of age and over ($): 20,802
Median family income ($) All census families: 53,668
Average value of dwelling ($): 160,000
% of the population with a university certificate, diploma or degree: 50.7

Mother tongue Demographics

Total 62,675 (100.0%)

English 48,870 (78.0%)

French 10,245 (16.3%)

Non-official language 2,890 (4.6%)

English and French 480 (0.8%)

English and non-official language 160 (0.3%)

French and non-official language 10 (0.0%)

English, French and non-official language 10 (0.0%) Based on the Canada 2006 Census.

Prominent people

Prominent people who live or have lived in North Bay include:

Jaymz Bee, musician, producer, concert promoter, radio personality (CJRT), bandleader of The Royal Jelly Orchestra and former frontman of The Look People

Giles Blunt, author

Gerald Bull, controversial aerospace engineer

Billy Coutu, NHL hockey player

Ab DeMarco Sr - former NHL hockey player

Michael J. Fox, actor

Bobby Gimby, orchestra leader, singer/songwriter who wrote the Canadian Centennial song

Mike Harris, former Premier of Ontario

Susan Hay, Global news reporter

High Holy Days, rock music group

Bill Houlder, former NHL player

Troy Hurtubise, inventor

Gerry Mendicino, actor

Michael O'Shea, linebacker for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL

Kate Pace, world downhill alpine ski champion

Tony Poeta, former NHL player

Craig Rivet, NHL Defenseman for the San Jose Sharks

Colin Simpson, bestselling author

Roy Thomson, Baron Thomson of Fleet

Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet

Scott Thompson, comedic actor Cartoonist Lynn Johnston lives just outside the city in nearby Corbeil, and the famous Dionne Quintuplets were born on the outskirts of the city between Corbeil and Callander. Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet started his empire in North Bay in 1931 with the purchase of an AM radio station, CFCH, and moving it to North Bay. Thomson Park in North Bay is named in his honour.

Major streets

Airport Road

Algonquin Avenue

Cassells Street

Fisher Street

Highway 11

Highway 17

Lakeshore Drive

Main Street

Pinewood Park Drive

Trout Lake Road

Sister cities

Moncton, New Brunswick Further Information

Get more info on 'North Bay Ontario'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://north_bay__ontario.totallyexplained.com">North Bay, Ontario Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.