Barrie - History
Long
before Europeans came to the area, the native people had established small
communities near the site of what, much later, became the City of Barrie.
This was the eastern end of a portage route between Lake Simcoe and the
Nottawasaga River, which empties into Georgian Bay. This route, eventually
known as the Nine Mile Portage, became an important overland route for
trappers and fur traders. In the early 1800's, an agent of the Hudson Bay
Company established a storehouse at the eastern end of the portage, on the
shores of what is now Kempenfelt Bay on Lake Simcoe.
The Nine Mile Portage played an important role in the War of 1812. During the war, the Americans at Detroit had control of the St. Clair River and, consequently, access to the upper Great Lakes. Soon after the outbreak of the war, the British enlarged the Nine Mile Portage to accommodate wagons. To bypass the American forces in Detroit, the British used the Nine Mile Portage to move supplies and troops between Upper Canada and the military posts on Lake Huron and Lake Superior.
In
the 1820's, pioneers arrived, cleared the land and built homes in the
area. Soon after, the British established a military presence in Barrie.
The settlement was named after Sir Robert Barrie, the Admiral in command
of the British fleet stationed at Kingston. The first streets in Barrie
were named after British officers: Wellington, Nelson, Collingwood,
Worsley, Collier, Poyntz, Bayfield, Owen.
The local economy of the 1800's revolved around agriculture and the lumber industry. Many of the tall pine trees (some as tall as two hundred feet) that grew in the area were cut down and used as masts for British ships.
By the middle of the 19th century, the railway had become a major element in Barrie's economy. In 1853, the Ontario Simcoe Huron Railway (later the Northern Railway) connected the City of York to the southwest corner of Kempenfelt Bay, which was known as Allandale. Barrie was added to the railway line when the line was extended in 1865. The railway company also operated a steamer that carried passengers to Orillia and Muskoka.
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