Narcisse M. Cantin 1870-1940
Descended from a long line of French-Canadian shipbuilders, Cantin was born on a nearby farm which his grandfather acquired about 1850. An energetic entrepreneur, inventor and cattle trader, Cantin began work here, in 1897, on a city named St. Joseph from which he hoped to construct a canal linking Lake Huron and Erie. Undaunted by his inability to raise sufficient funds for this project, he initiated and, between 1900 and 1930, tirelessly promoted the concept of a Great Lakes seaway system which "would take passengers and freight from all ocean ports on the globe direct to all the principal ports of the Great Lakes".
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Ontario Plaques. Full page here.