History
The original inhabitants of the area are the N’Biissing, an Anishinabek people, and many N’Biissing still inhabit the area today. Sturgeon Falls is the oldest community in the District of Nipissing. From 1848 to 1879, the Hudson's Bay Company operated a trading post, known as the Sturgeon River House, on the right bank of the river several hundred metres below the falls, trading with the N’Biissing for furs and other goods. James R. Holditch of Bracebridge, Ontario is generally credited as being the first permanent non-aboriginal settler in the area. He arrived in 1878 and built a cabin on the left bank, near the waterfalls.
The region began to grow in the 1880s, with the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the efforts of Fr. Charles Alfred Marie Paradis, an Oblate missionary, to develop an agricultural settlement for Franco-Ontarians in the Verner area.
The development of Sturgeon Falls began in 1881 with the arrival of Canadian Pacific Railway construction crews. The area's first post office was opened in Sturgeon Falls in 1881. Lumbering and the establishment of pulp and paper industries accelerated the village's growth and attracted many French-Canadian settlers to the area.
The addition of sawmills and the rapid growth of the lumbering and pulp and paper industries stimulated the development of the village and attracted many French-Canadian settlers to the area. The town of Sturgeon Falls was incorporated on April 16, 1895. At the time, J. A. Lévis was elected the first mayor and the population was 850.
The community of Field suffered two significant natural disasters in the 1970s. On August 20, 1970, it was hit by a small tornado associated with the Sudbury, Ontario tornado event. In the spring of 1979 the Sturgeon River overflowed its banks at Field, causing massive flooding in the town's centre. Half the town that was located in the flood plain was relocated to higher ground two kilometres south of the original town centre on Highway 64. This new location is known as New Field (Val des Arbres).
Read more about this topic: West Nipissing
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