74 James St.
Parry Sound, Ontario
P2A 1T8

Phone : (705) 746-9044
Your Host(s) : Canada Post Parry Sound

Description From Owner:

• Pop. 5,847. In Dist. of Parry Sound, on Parry Sound off Georgian Bay at the mouth of the Seguin R. just off Hwy 69, 85 km. W of Huntsville.
• The Ojibwa name for the place was Wausakausing, meaning 'shining waters.'
• The area was surveyed between 1822 and 1825 by Capt. Henry Wolsey Bayfield, who called the place Parry Sound for Sir William Edward Parry, the Arctic explorer.
• In 1857 the timber rights were owned by James and William Gibson of Willow dale and there was a small community. In 1863, William Beatty of Thorold came to Parry Sound with his father and brother in search of timber rights.
• They bought out the Gibsons and also entered the steamship business, becoming pioneers in the Canadian shipping industry.
• Their first vessel, the 200 ton (198 tonne) wooden sidewheeler Waubuno, was built for them in 1865 at Port Robinson in the Niagara Peninsula, and made weekly trips between Parry Sound and Collingwood.
• In 1879, bound for Parry Sound, the ship sank in a gale in Georgian Bay with a loss of24 lives. 'William the Younger,' as he became known, bought out the interests in Parry Sound of his father and older brother and laid out a townsite.
• He was a member of the Reform Party and a Wesleyan Methodist. To protect his community from the evils of alcohol he created the 'Beatty Covenant,' requiring purchasers oflots to sign an agreement prohibiting alcohol on their land.
• Violations meant forfeiture of the land. The agreement was held binding during the lives of Queen Victoria's children and for 20 years and 10 months after the deaths of all parties involved.
• The restrictions remained effective until a plebiscite was held in 1950. When John Rudolphus Booth was constructing his Ottawa, Arnprior, and Parry Sound Railway across the province, Beatty inflated land prices in the Parry Sound area.
• Booth bought nearby Parry I. and turned it into a booming railway terminus and Great Lakes port with a population of 3,000. When CNR bought Booth's assets in 1928, it moved the railhead to Parry Sound and Parry I. became Ontario's largest ghost town.
• Canada's largest sightseeing cruise ship operates out of Parry Sound. The 550-passenger Is/and Queen offers daily cruises through the 30,000 Islands of Georgian Bay from June through Thanksgiving.
• From Ontario Place Names 2007 David E. Scott Ph. 866 471 4123 or 905 680 7884
• Postcards above used with permission from A Great Lakes Treasury of Old Postcards 2007 Lorenzo Marcolin, MD 176 pp. For Copies call the Huronia Museum 705 526 2844 or email lmarcolin@aol.com

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