Prehistoric Oshawa: Glacial Lake Iroquois

By Melissa Cole, Curator

This image of Lake Ontario was taken looking south from Lakeview East Beach. Melissa Cole, 2022

Did you know that Lake Ontario started as a small stream that gradually opened up through the erosion of soft Silurian rocks over thousands of years?

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Surrounded on the north, west, and southwest by the province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the state of New York, its water boundaries, along the international border, meet in the middle of the lake.

Drawing of Lake Iroquois from 1904, showing the original shoreline in green and the present-day Lake Ontario. Source: University Of Toronto, A.P. Coleman Fonds, G 3501 C5 1891 13C

Oshawa lies on a glacial geological feature called the Lake Iroquois shoreline. We know it today as a fairly level band of land ringing Lake Ontario, bordered by the ridge of the prehistoric Lake Iroquois shoreline.  

Lake Iroquois was a proglacial lake, meaning that the lake was situated between rock deposits and an ice sheet. The northern shore of this lake was the southern edge of the retreating glacier. Lake Iroquois was formed by melting glacial ice in the Lake Ontario basin.

General outline of Lake Iroquois about 12 000 years ago in southern Ontario. Image: Royal Ontario Museum

At that time, the St. Lawrence River Valley was blocked with ice, and the lake level rose 30 m (~100 ft) above present day Lake Ontario. The lake drained to the southeast, through a channel passing near present day Rome, New York.  The lake was fed by Early Lake Erie, as well as Lake Algonquin, an early partial manifestation of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, that drained directly to Lake Iroquois across southern Ontario.

The stream turned into a river that was widened and sculpted by the powerful movement of the continental glaciers. The current level, shape, and direction of flow of Lake Ontario was established over 12,000 years ago.

As it retreated, the glacier left behind Lake Iroquois, a larger version of present-day Lake Ontario.

The old shoreline runs west-east, running roughly parallel to today’s King Street in Oshawa. The shoreline is typified by washed sand and gravel bluffs. It is located well away from the present shore of Lake Ontario.  Remnants of this shoreline can still be seen in various communities today along the north shore of Lake Ontario. The ridges of the old shoreline are evident in Oshawa, where the banks of the old Lake Iroquois shoreline can be seen looking north of Highway 401.  Iroquois Shoreline Park, located on the hills of Grandview Street North and the appropriately named Ridgemount Blvd.,  is the approximate location of the original shoreline of Lake Iroquois.  Further west, the Scarborough Bluffs also formed part of the shoreline of the original lake.  Further east, remnants of the shoreline are visible at Stephen’s Gulch in Clarington and Highway 401, near Cobourg.

This land was valued by Indigenous communities and later by settlers for farming and settlement.  Archaeological reports show that from 1400 – 1450CE, ancestral Wendat communities were utilizing the land around the area of Grandview Street and Taunton Road.

The next time you are taking a drive, I would recommend a drive to the top of the hill of Grandview Street North near Ridgemount Blvd. in Oshawa.  If you stand looking south from that ridge, all that land would have been water.

This photo taken from the top of the hill near Grandview Street North and Ridgemount Blvd. Looking south towards Lake Ontario. Image: Jillian Passmore, January 2023

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Sources:

http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/Lake_Iroquois.htm

Richard Foster Flint, Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene Epoch. 2008

Grahame Larson and Randall Schaetzl, Review: Origin and Evolution of the Great Lakes. 2001

https://ontarionature.org/greenbelt-eastern-expansion/

Celebrating 100 Years of Lakeview Park

Lakeview Park officially opened in 1920, and for over 100 years, it has been a place of rest and recreation, of memorable summer days and wild winter storms!

To celebrate this history, the Oshawa Museum launched an online exhibit, which is divided into three sections: Before the Park, Lakeview Park, and the Park Today.

Explore this online exhibit and read about different aspects of the park’s history, like the story of the Ocean Wave, the Pavilions past and present, or about the buffalo that called the park home!

In our latest post, curator Melissa Cole delves into the early history of the Oshawa Harbour.

New posts are being added frequently! Visit https://lakeviewparkoshawa.wordpress.com/ to read all about it!

The Host Files: Why Carmela Likes Oshawa

This blog series comes from our dedicated and awesome Visitor Host staff, and topics range from favourite artifacts, thoughts on our latest exhibits, and anything else in between!

By Carmela D., Visitor Host

Being a new resident in Oshawa, Ontario, I am constantly learning about all the places there are to enjoy in this beautiful city.  The city is surrounded by farms and the lake, yet it has plenty of shopping, restaurants, and interesting places to see. Before I even arrived in the Fall of 2013, I was so excited to explore the city online, so that when I arrived I could start experiencing all that Oshawa offers.

Three places that excited me most were the waterfront and the museums, particularly  Lakeview Park and the Oshawa Museum, as well as Parkwood Estate.  Within about 5 days of arriving from our long distance move, I left rows of cardboard boxes lining the hallways of my home, picked my children up from their new school, and headed down to the lake, in the hope of having our first tour of the OM. It was so exciting to be there and Lisa did a fabulous job giving us our first tour! We learned all about the three 1800s homes and drive shed that are situated along the lakefront.  We got ice-cream at the Oshawa-famous Tommy’s across from the sandy beach area. We walked the pier, enjoying the sound of the waves and the warmth of the sunshine.  My children played on the different playgrounds, we walked the pathways, and enjoyed the peaceful scenery. We were in our happy place which was such a nice memory for our early days in Oshawa.

Winter came quickly so I couldn’t wait for Spring, when I envisioned myself at Parkwood Estate, strolling through the gardens that I had explored online.  It was so exciting to drive into the grounds, seeing the mansion on my left and then the former carriage house on my right.  My husband and I had pre-booked a lunch in the Tea House, at the back of the gorgeous fountains.  What a fantastic view and tasty meal! We had a tour of Samuel and Adelaide McLaughlin’s former home, where they raised their 5 daughters.  I can only imagine the splendor that those girls experienced. The home was full of the family’s belongings, the guide was very thorough, and it was interesting to see the indoor pool and bowling lane.

Carmela at Parkwood in 2015, attending the Victory Garden Party outreach for the Oshawa Museum

It was now the second Fall here, after a year of settling in, when we came to the OM for another tour.  We thought we’d make it a tradition!  I have always taken my young ones to historic places where ever we have found ourselves.  I believe it’s important to understand the history of where we are in order to fully appreciate how the present has come to be. We were so excited to go back to the place that we remembered so fondly just one year prior.  We had another wonderful tour, this time with Jill.  I happened to ask if the OM hired at all, as I was working very part-time jobs around my children and had room in my schedule to work in a place I enjoyed so much.  I was in the right place at the right time and was hired not long afterward! I was so excited and now I enjoy the history of Oshawa on a regular basis and from a different viewpoint.  I feel privileged to work at the home of Oshawa’s history with such a lovely group of staff and volunteers.

The OM Crew after Lamplight 2015! Carmela is second from right

Barnhart’s Pavilion

Now that winter firmly has its grip on southern Ontario and throughout Canada, we’re turning our thoughts to warmer summer days, sharing the history of Barnhart’s Pavilion, once a fixture at Oshawa’s lakefront.

Barnhart’s Pavilion

One of Oshawa’s most popular recreational pavilions, Barnhart’s, was established in 1920 by William Harold and Viola Rebecca Barnhart.  William Harold Barnhart was born April 21, 1883 and Viola Rebecca was born on September 8, 1880 to Charles and Rebecca Hooper.   In 1906 Harold moved from Brockville to work at the McLaughlin Carriage Factory.  This was also the same year that Viola and Harold met.  They met at a skating rink and from there, their courtship began.  In 1908 they were married.

Harold Barnhart moved to Detroit in 1909 to work as a varnish rubber where he made $20.00 a week.  That same year the Barnhart’s first child, Joyce, was born.  Throughout the following years Viola saved the family’s money to buy a lot on a short street, which was 65’ by 140’.  In 1910 their second daughter was born and she was named Lillian Yvonne.

By 1913, Mr. Barnhart was tired of working as a varnish rubber and began to develop rheumatism in his arms.  The Barnharts decided to sell their home and buy a candy store in downtown Oshawa that Mr. Barnhart managed.  In 1917 Mr. Barnhart and his father built a house which they were able to pay cash for.  When the Barnhart’s candy store lease ran out, they decided to purchase lakefront property in Oshawa in 1920.  The property they purchased consisted of a dance hall, sixteen rooms for campers, boats and twenty cottages.

The Pavilion, north elevation

The property Barnhart’s purchased once belonged to Mr. M.C. Mallory.  Mr. Mallory hosted large dances, concerts, games and other sorts of activities at his pavilion for the general public.  He was also the owner of cottages that surrounded the pavilion.   Mr. Mallory put his pavilion and cottages up for sale on October 1, 1891 after an incident that occurred where several young men broke into his pavilion to hold a bachelor party.  Mr. Mallory was extremely appalled by this incident and as a result of this disgraceful treatment; he closed the pavilion off to the general public and decided to sell his business.

Barnhart’s became a well-known “hangout” for the Oshawa locals and campers.  The Barnhart’s held dances in the pavilion and rented out four apartments and cottages.  The Barnharts also resided in one of the cottages.

The Barnhart’s Cottage

The Barnharts were also well-known for their ice-cream parlour and snack bar.  Betty Mac of Oshawa recalls purchasing all sorts of one-cent treats at Barnhart’s, such as liquorice babies, hard hars and marshmallow cones.

The Barnharts also owned several boathouses.  Mrs. Helen Hill of Oshawa recalls Mr. Barnhart taking people over to his boathouse to launch his yacht, where he would take them on a ride.

The boathouses at Barnhart’s

During the 1930s and early 1940s, the Barnharts held square dances at their pavilion. They were able to keep their business alive during the 1930 Depression and finished paying for the lakefront property by 1943.  In 1951 Mr. Barnhart suffered a severe heart attack while shoveling ice from their sidewalk.  In 1953 he caught a serious illness which led to his death in October 1954.  In 1958 the Barnharts youngest daughter, Lillian took sick and passed away.

Mrs. Barnhart sold the cottages and one acre of their land to the City in 1968.  On March 19, 1975 Mrs. Barnhart passed away.

Although the Barnharts have passed on and the pavilion and cottages they once owned have been taken down, the memories of the fun-filled summer spent at the Barnhart’s have lived on.  Many elders of Oshawa today still recall the many dances, they tasty ice-cream and the exhilarating boat rides they participated in during their youthful days.

Oshawa on the Lake

Curator’s Community Reflections

By Melissa Cole, Curator

A few years ago, one morning during the month of June while sitting at my desk, which is located in Guy House looking out onto Lakeview Park, I heard a gentleman talking on his cell phone outside my office window,

“…there is a large playground, sandy beach, a museum, snack bar, wow this park is beautiful”

Lakeview Park, from Melissa’s office window

I couldn’t agree more with this statement.   I spend most of my days at Lakeview Park and quite often I am treated to stories of lazy days spent down at the lake whether it was learning to swim or taking a ride on the Ocean Wave.

The Ocean Wave

As a child I also spent many summer days down at the lake, with my dad, going for walks, stopping at Tommy’s for fries and watching the waves crash on the beach!  Of course I always wanted to stop and play at the wooden playground that had these amazing bridges that moved when you ran across them.

Tommy’s Fries, August 1988

At the time, the Oshawa Marina was located off Harbour Road.  We would stand on the pier and watch boats coming and going from the marina.  After we left the park, Dad always loved driving over to the Marina and looking at all the boats.  I remember thinking how large all the boats looked when they were out of the water and parked on shore.

Today I bring my daughter down to the lake to frolic in the park and at the playground!  She seems to enjoy it just as much as I did and still do.  Hopefully Lakeview Park will bring fond memories to her as well, when she is older.

Early morning hours of Lakeview Park

Reflections of Oshawa: Celebrating 90 Years as a City opens September 26, 2014.