Fenelon Falls Photographed from an Aeroplane, 1919
Since the earliest days of Fenelon Falls, when Anne Langton used her imagination to depict a bird’s eye view of the village, a few inspired artists and photographers had done what they could to see the world from above. Pictures could be taken from the top floors or roofs of buildings. The odd adventurous soul might scale a tower. As photography became commonplace in the 20th century, ever more images of the village were created—but still capturing the village from above required ingenuity. In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright pioneered heavier than air powered flight in North Carolina. Aircraft became significant during the First World War and by 1919 commercial flights had begin.
During the Great War, aeroplanes had been used for reconnaissance, to photograph enemy positions and trenches. As the war ended, the potential for aerial surveying was apparent. Shooting an image straight down yielded a perspective that it would take a lot of painstaking measurements to create. Once these images were created and circulated, to see a community from above was a novel experience for people who had lived in the community all their lives, but had never seen it from above. In the years that followed, aerial photography became more and more common. By the 1960s, a great many locations had been shot.
When it was taken in 1919, this original aerial image of Fenelon Falls was very interesting picture because it showed the village in a way it had never seen itself before. Today it provides a unique view of what Fenelon Falls looked liked immediately after the Great War. Fenelon Falls’ island, which today is predominately greenspace was then cabins and a centre of manufacturing activity. The large building just west of the main street on the island had for many years been Frank Sandford’s carriage works and William Henry Walsh’s Woollen Mill. By the time the photograph was taken, both businessmen were nearing retirement age and Walsh was just selling dry goods. Across the road was the Grist Mill. On the north shore of the canal stood the McArthur House hotel (on the west side of the Colborne Street corner) and its livery stable (left). Both the second St. James Anglican church (on the hill) and third (on Bond Street) are visible, as are the United, Baptist and Presbyterian Churches. Just south of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Hugh Johnstone’s home/office is prominently visible—his son George would continue the medical practice.
