Port Stanley is a community in the Municipality of
Central Elgin, OntarioThe Municipality of Central Elgin is a township in southwestern Ontario, Canada in Elgin County on Lake Erie.-Demographics:According to the Canada 2006 Census:*Population: 12,723*% Change : 3.5*Dwellings: 5,115*Area : 280.22...
, Elgin County, located on the north shore of
Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
at the mouth of
Kettle CreekKettle Creek is a creek in Elgin County in southwestern Ontario, Canada that empties into Lake Erie at Port Stanley. It drains an area of 520 km²....
.
A settlement named
Kettle Creek was founded here in 1812 by Lieutenant-Colonel John Bostwick. Around 1824, it was renamed Port Stanley after
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of DerbyEdward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party...
, who had visited nearby
Port TalbotPort Talbot was the name of a community located west of Port Stanley in Ontario, Canada where Talbot Creek flows into Lake Erie. The village was the original commercial nucleus for the settlement which developed on 5,000 acres of land granted to Thomas Talbot in 1800 by the Crown along the...
. Lord Stanley later became
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
and the father of
Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO, PC , known as Frederick Stanley until 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and Governor General of...
,
Governor General of CanadaThe Governor General of Canada is the viceregal representative in the federal jurisdiction of the Canadian monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who is equally shared with 15 other sovereign nations in a form of personal union, but resides predominantly in her oldest realm,...
,
ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
enthusiast and donor of the first
Stanley CupThe Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club cup trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion. It has been referred to as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
in 1893.
Port Stanley has a large sheltered harbour operated by
Transport CanadaTransport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada...
.
Port Stanley is a community in the Municipality of
Central Elgin, OntarioThe Municipality of Central Elgin is a township in southwestern Ontario, Canada in Elgin County on Lake Erie.-Demographics:According to the Canada 2006 Census:*Population: 12,723*% Change : 3.5*Dwellings: 5,115*Area : 280.22...
, Elgin County, located on the north shore of
Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
at the mouth of
Kettle CreekKettle Creek is a creek in Elgin County in southwestern Ontario, Canada that empties into Lake Erie at Port Stanley. It drains an area of 520 km²....
.
A settlement named
Kettle Creek was founded here in 1812 by Lieutenant-Colonel John Bostwick. Around 1824, it was renamed Port Stanley after
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of DerbyEdward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party...
, who had visited nearby
Port TalbotPort Talbot was the name of a community located west of Port Stanley in Ontario, Canada where Talbot Creek flows into Lake Erie. The village was the original commercial nucleus for the settlement which developed on 5,000 acres of land granted to Thomas Talbot in 1800 by the Crown along the...
. Lord Stanley later became
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
and the father of
Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO, PC , known as Frederick Stanley until 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and Governor General of...
,
Governor General of CanadaThe Governor General of Canada is the viceregal representative in the federal jurisdiction of the Canadian monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who is equally shared with 15 other sovereign nations in a form of personal union, but resides predominantly in her oldest realm,...
,
ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
enthusiast and donor of the first
Stanley CupThe Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club cup trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion. It has been referred to as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
in 1893.
Port Stanley has a large sheltered harbour operated by
Transport CanadaTransport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada...
. Historically, these facilities supported trade in coal and wood between Southwestern Ontario and the United States. Today, most of these facilities are dormant, but a commercial freshwater fishery operates from the harbour.
Attractions include a large sandy beach and the Port Stanley Festival Theatre.
Port Stanley Terminal RailThe Port Stanley Terminal Rail is a heritage railway that passes over the historic tracks of the The London and Port Stanley Railway between Port Stanley and St. Thomas. The tourist trains began operating in 1983, after volunteers started maintaining the abandoned L&PS train corridor.-History:The...
operates a tourist train between
St. Thomas, OntarioSt. Thomas is a city in Southern , Ontario, Canada. It is the seat for Elgin County and gained its city charter on March 4, 1881.-History:The city, located at the intersection of two historical roads, was first settled in 1810...
and Port Stanley using a portion of the former L&PS rail line (see The London and Port Stanley Railway).
The village used to have a building opened in 1926 as the L&PS Pavilion, later renamed the Stork Club (not to be confused with the famous New York establishment), with a dance floor, the largest dance floor in the London-Port Stanley area; the club was famous for swing dance and big band and attracted several big names to play there. It was closed by health authorities in 1973 because it could not earn the revenue to keep the building up. H.J. McManus, a London businessman, bought it and his son, Joe Jr., led the renovations, reopening in 1974 with the Harry James Orchestra performing before a sell out crowd. The last event was a performance by Day Break on New Year's Eve of 1978/79, a fire in a dumpster 12 days later damaged the building too heavily to save it.
During the 1970s, the village promoted itself with the acronym CALIPSO: Come And Live In Port Stanley Ontario.
Over the past decade, there have been numerous proposals to operate a ferry between Port Stanley and
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
External links