Timeline
Killaloe and Area History Timeline
1840 John Brennan first lumberman to float square timber down Brennan’s Creek.
1850 Canadian government announces that it will promote immigration for the shield.
1851 Surveying begins for the Opeongo Colonization Road.
1856 Opeongo Road progressed thirty-two and a half miles from Farrell’s Landing on the Ottawa River to Sebastopol Township.
1850’s James Bonfield arrives from County Claire, Ireland, names Killaloe (Old Killaloe) after his hometown in Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland.
1857 William McDonell arrives from Glengarry County (born in Scotland 1820) with his wife Isabella and infant son Angus.
1859 Coll McDonell First Child Born in Fort McDonell (Killaloe Station). Coll Str. in the village in named for Coll McDonell.
1861 299 lots had been taken up along the Opeongo Road with 1,874 acres cleared and a total population of 1,000.
1862 Hagarty township named after judge, Sir John Hagarty. It was not surveyed until 1871.
1866 Renfrew officially becomes a County.
1867 Construction of the Opeongo road formally ends. The road covers a distance of about 120 km., ending just short of its intended conclusion at Opeongo Lake in Algonquin Park.
1868 William McDonell builds the first water-powered Saw Mill in Killaloe, on Brennan’s Creek.
1868 Settlement is officially named Fort McDonell.
1869 “The Year of the Deep Snow”
1877 Townships of Hagarty, Sherwood, Jones, Richards and Burns organize into a municipality with John O’Grady elected as first reeve.
1893 J.R. Booth’s Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway reaches Fort McDonell.
1894 Earliest record of inhabitants at Killaloe Station (Lot 6 Con. 5 Hagarty Twp.).
1895 First Post Office opens – First Postmaster Michael Holly
1895 First Church was a Presbyterian Mission (later became the Union Church)
1896 Killaloe Railway Station officially opens
1896 First Doctor – Dr. F. A. Gourley
1896 First Public School opens December 1, at 7 King St. (Cashubec residence)
1896 Beresford House hotel and dining room opens November 21. No alcohol was served at this time. Rooms rented for $1. per day.
1897 First Liquor Store opens
1901 Sisters of St. Joseph convent opened.
1901 Separate School opens, December 1.
1906 William McDonell dies January 17, at age 86, (buried Roman Catholic Cemetery, monument erected later in his honour)
1908 Killaloe Station Incorporates as Village, January 10. Stephen Ryan becomes known as the father of incorporation of Killaloe. (Incorporation is not official until 1911.)
1909 Sterling Bank opens the first bank May 1.
1910 In Killaloe a man’s haircut cost 25 cents; child’s haircut cost 15 cents; shave cost 15 cents.
1911 First municipal council is elected with John M. Gorman as the first reeve of Killaloe, population 500.
1911 William McCarthy opens Massey Harris farm machinery business.
1912 First telephone arrives in the village with the Peoples Telegraph and Telephone Company, September 12.
1912 Paddle-steamer boat the “Mayflower” sinks in Lake Kamaniskeg on November 12. Nine lives were lost including the ship’s captain John C. Hudson who was also the reeve of Radcliffe Township.
1912 St. Andrew’s Separate School destroyed by fire.
1913 Percy Troop purchases the first automobile in Killaloe.
1914 Canada Enters First World War, (about 16 Killaloe men enter service)
1915 Drinks at the hotel cost 15 cents each.
1915 “The Great Fire” Destroys business block on Lake Street, April 13.
1917 General Store built by Dennis Harrington
1920 First Optometrist – G. M. Burke, May 10
1921 Wm. McCarthy begins selling General Motors automobiles
1922 First Dentist – Dr. Archie McPhee.
1925 Killaloe population 566
1925 J.R. Booth dies – born 1827
1926 Killaloe Separate School, built in 1912, burns to the ground for a second time.
1928 The year of “The Great Flood” which left Lake Street and Mill Street submerged under three feet of water. Foot and automobile traffic is detoured and rerouted over higher round.
1929 Kuehl’s Corner store opens on corner of Queen and Angus St. in October.
1930 George Kranz open insurance business.
1935 Prohibition ends
1935 Fire at the Sash and Door Factory
1938 Aeradio Weather Station and Airport (three runways) opens
1939 Second World War breaks out in September (about 25 Killaloe residents enter service overseas)
1940 Grace Woolen Mill is destroyed by fire
1948 Hydro arrives in Killaloe
1948 First Pharmacy – Druggist F.G. Callaghan
1948 Tom Ryan opens Chrysler dealership
1952 The third and final hanging in Renfrew County was carried out for the murder of a Killaloe resident.
1956 Ben Hokum(Sr.) and Son Sawmill opens
1958 Killaloe Airport is abandoned
1959 Kuehl’s Corner moves to the corner of Queen and North Streets
1962 Last passenger train service through Killaloe
19(65) Community Skating rink opens
19(68) Train Station building demolished
1969 The Municipal fountain is built. One-hundred and twenty-three local people raise funds in a walk-a-thon to cover the $1,500 cost of the fountain.
1971 Emerson and Madge Lepine open Killaloe Hardware Store at 4 Lake St., formerly Boland’s Hardware
1971 First Killaloe Sno Fun Weekend
1972 Aeradio Weather Station closes
1973 Killaloe Curling Rink opens. Built in 1972, the building cost between $50,000 and $60,000.
19(76) First Killaloe Community Craft Fair (Fern Zadra’s Farm, H&R Twp.)
1977 Garnet Kranz and Wanda Whelan take over George Kranz Insurance.
1978 Killaloe Public Library opens on Civic St.
1979 The Lucky Dollar Food Store at 165 Queen St. is destroyed by fire in early April.
1980 Town Sewer System operational
1984 Mill Stream Seniors apartment building opens on Mill Street
1988 Killaloe Logo designed. Depicts railway trestle and the water falls at the dam on Brennan’s Creek.
1988 Killaloe Station name changes to Killaloe
1992 Killaloe Public School opens new school on Queen St. (Hwy 512), June 10.
1992 Town Water System installed
19(94) Killaloe Station Park opens on site of the old railway station
1995 First Annual Killaloe Summer Festival
1998 CHCR 102.9 FM Community Radio Station airs first broadcast January 31
1998 Killaloe celebrates 90th Birthday in July with activities in Station Park.
1999 Killaloe population 700
1999 The Hoch farm is donated to the village of Killaloe. Named Hoch Park – Killaloe Heritage and Ecology Centre.
2000 The Village of Killaloe and the Township of Hagarty and Richards amalgamate July 1. Janice Bush (former H&R Reeve) appointed as first Reeve of the new municipality. Isobel O’Reilly (former Killaloe Reeve) appointed Deputy Reeve.
John Fleurie was kind enough to submit to us another detailed Killaloe timeline he has compiled.