The Founding of Point Edward

In 1838 John Slocum, a native of New York, established a commercial fishery on the site of a former military reserve here where the St. Clair River flows out of Lake Huron. The area remained sparsely populated until 1859 when it became the crossing point into the U.S. for the Grand Trunk Railway. Rapid development followed and in 1864 a town plan was laid out for the community called Point Edward, reportedly after Queen Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent. In 1870 a steamship service was inaugurated to transport immigrants and supplies to western Canada and by 1873 the town contained stores, hotels, sawmills and large immigration sheds. Five years later it was incorporated as a Village with a population of more than one thousand.