305 Main St. S. |
Take Control of this Listing Increase traffic to this record by adding photos, videos, and embedded social media feeds. |
Ontario Tourism Region : Northwest Ontario
- Pop. 9,488. In Kenora Dist. on the N shore of Lake of the Woods on Hwys 17 & 658, 52 km E of the Manitoba border.
- Intense rivalry between two fur trading companies ended in 1821 when the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company amalgamated as Hudson's Bay Company.
- In 1836 a trading post was built on Old Fort I. In 1861 the post was moved to the mainland, and around it grew the community of Rat Portage, so named because it was on a muskrat migration route between Lake of the Woods and the Winnipeg R.
- Following acquisition in 1869 by the Dominion of Canada of the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, the western and northern boundaries of the province of Ontario became a matter of ongoing dispute.
- The matter was finally settled at present-day Kenora in 1884. In 1905 the Maple Leaf Flour Company told the town it wouldn't build a plant in a place where the word ''rat'' would have to appear on its flour bags.
- The town changed its name that year. Kenora comes from the fIrst two letters of Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage. Keewatin and Norman are nearby commun¬ities.
- In 1907, in a best-of-three challenge, the KenDra Thistles hockey team defeated the Montreal Wanderers to win the Stanley Cup.
- Competition rules were less formal in those days, and two months later the Wanderers re-challenged the Thistles and won back the cup.
- Kenora is home of Husky the Musky, a 12-metre¬high (26.4-foot) statue in honour of the muskellunge fish. More bizarre is Devil's Gap Rock.
- It's at the narrowest point of Devil's Gap Channel south of Kenora. There is no road to the 'spirit rock,' as some call it, but it may be seen from the M.S. KenDra boat cruise.
- There is no romantic or touching Native legend attached to this large rock. In 1894 three visitors to the area painted a face on the rock as a joke. Residents liked its features and over the years it has been repainted a number of times.
Natural Resources Canada in the District of Kenora.
Address of this page: http://www.ruralroutes.com/kenoraontario