The Village of Fenelon Falls Created, 1874

Railways were a revolutionary technology—they made rapid long-distance travel possible (Lindsay to Coboconk in 3:35, which was a lot faster than walking!) and facilitated shipping goods long distance. Many towns grew up around a railway station, and some that were by-passed withered away. Some businesses, like quarries, were only viable if they had a rail connection. For most businesses, the railway would make a noticeable difference to their bottom line.

Railways were also extremely expensive for their time, and few were economically viable without subsidies. They needed a level route, which was extremely laborious to construct at the time, before the advent of trucks and excavators. In the 1870s, the Crown paid $8,000 subsidies per mile, and railway companies looked to supplement this by asking for bonuses from local municipalities. Often the route was chosen based upon which municipalities offered bonuses. Railways were often given ambitious names, to help attract investors. For instance, the Toronto & Nipissing Railway was completed to Coboconk in 1872, but never went any further.

The Toronto & Nipissing Railway by-passed Lindsay, which posed a threat to that town’s presumption that it would be the commercial centre of Victoria-Haliburton. But before the construction was even complete, George Laidlaw (who lived on the North shore of Balsam Lake) was already floating another scheme: The Lindsay, Fenelon Falls and Ottawa River Railway. Municipalities then divided along their commercial interests. Peterborough, of course, opposed the railway, while Lindsay strongly supported it. The railway had to cross the Trent waterway at either Fenelon Falls or Bobcaygeon, and since Bobcaygeon was not interested in voting a subsidy, Fenelon Falls was included in the proposed route.

Though many Fenelon Falls business owners were strongly in favour of the railway, voting a bonus was a difficult political issue. The recently completed Toronto & Nipissing Railway already ran along the west side of Fenelon Township, travelling through Woodville and Lorneville (AKA Midland Junction, joining the T&N and Midland Railways). At the time of the 1871 census, there were 690 households in Fenelon Township, and the railway expected tens of thousands of dollars, in an era when $1 per day was a common wage. It would be the equivalent today of every household having to give thousands of dollars for a public works project and people were a lot poorer back then. Despite the support in Fenelon Falls, it appeared likely the township as a whole would vote against subsidising the railway.

In June 1874, the Village of Fenelon Falls separated from Fenelon Township so that it could vote a subsidy for the railway. One of the first acts of the new village council was to give $15,000, ensuring that the railway would come to Fenelon Falls. In Verulam Township, Concessions I to V north of Sturgeon Lake (essentially the northwest quarter of the township) petitioned their council so they could contribute $7156.90—which allowed part of a municipality to support the railway, without dividing the township. Since the Village of Fenelon Falls was created to bring the iron horse to town, it chose a train to be its logo.