Current River is a neighbourhood located north east of Port Arthur in the city of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. It is separated from the main urban area of Thunder Bay by the

Current River Greenway The Current River Greenway is a 263 hectare (650 acre) greenway located in Current River neighbourhood in the north end of Thunder Bay, Ontario along the Current River. Throughout the Greenway is 50 km of public trails that are part of t ...

, a large parkland along the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

after which the neighbourhood was named. It is home to approximately 4,780 people and has an ageing and

declining population A population decline (also sometimes called underpopulation, depopulation, or population collapse) in humans is a reduction in a human population size. Over the long term, stretching from prehistory to the present, Earth's total human population ...

.Statistics Canada Census Tract Profile for 0021.00 (CT) Thunder Bay
This

census tract A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist ...

includes the entire neighbourhood of Current River and the sparsely populated areas north and east of the neighbourhood. Current River is located entirely in Current River Ward and is represented on Thunder Bay City Council by Andrew Foulds.

History

Development of Current River began after World War II, and many homes in the neighbourhood are "Victory Homes", a post-war building style that allowed fast manufacture of single-family dwellings. Development in the neighbourhood progressed northward, and as one travels further north Victory Homes become less common, being replaced with more contemporary building styles. A small cluster of

highrise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

s is located beside an outcrop of the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

in the southernmost portion of the residential neighbourhood, and offers its residents a view of the Current River Greenway and Thunder Bay.

Geography

Current River is located in the northeast portion of Thunder Bay. It is located east of the Current River and Boulevard Lake and north of Lake Superior. The land inclines as one travels north from the Lake Superior and west from Hodder Avenue.

Economy

Along the shores of

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

to the south and east of the neighbourhood is an abundance of industries. Separated from the main neighbourhood by Hodder Avenue and the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

and

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

mainlines is the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company (PASCO)

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

and

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

, which has been operating since 1909,Index of Business and Labour Holdings - Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company fonds
. Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society. Retrieved on 11 February 2008. and the Thunder Bay Fine Papers mill, formerly Cascades. Further east is the abandoned Smurfit-Stone factory, and the Bare Point water treatment plant which is the main source of

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

in Thunder Bay.

Grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

s located south of the Current River dominate the view toward the lake. Current River is home to a small selection of commercial businesses. Mainly located along Hodder Avenue near Arundel Street, the neighbourhood is home to a strip mall with a pharmacy and grocery store, a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

and gas station, and several restaurants and coffee shops. Most businesses in the neighbourhood are locally owned.

Transportation

The main roads in the neighbourhood are Arundel Street, an east–west arterial road that bridges the Current River and connects the community to the Shuniah neighbourhood. Hodder Avenue is the main north–south

thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. On land, a thoroughfare may refer to anything from a multi-lane highway ...

and forms the backbone of the community's small commercial strip. Grenville Avenue, which is separated into two sections by the Current River Playfield, formed the neighbourhood's original business corridor.

Thunder Bay Transit Thunder Bay Transit is the public transit operator in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 1970, after the amalgamation (politics), amalgamation of the cities of Port Arthur, Ontario, Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario, Fort William ...

route 1 Mainline-Current River makes a

counterclockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...

loop through the neighbourhood and brings residents south to downtown Port Arthur.

Education

Current River is home to two schools. Claude Garton Public School is part of the Lakehead Public Schools system and offers

French immersion French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which students who do not speak French as a first language will receive instruction in French. In most French-immersion schools, students will learn to speak French and learn most subjects s ...

classes grades JK-8, and is located in the southern part of the neighbourhood. St. Paul which is grades JK-6

Catholic School Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

is located in the northern part of Current River, and is part of the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board. Public school students from Current River attend

Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute (SCVI) is a high school in Thunder Bay, Ontario and is part of the Lakehead District School Board system. The school opened in September, 2009. It has approximately 600 students. It is also currently, a ...

, and Catholic students attend St. Ignatius, located on the other side of Boulevard Lake.

Recreation

Current River is the location of the largest park in Thunder Bay, the Current River Greenway. The park includes Boulevard Lake, one of the Thunder Bay's most popular summer destinations. The Current River Playfield, located in the middle of Current River, includes a

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

, arena, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and seasonal ice rinks. The municipally operated Strathcona

Golf Course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

is located to the east of Current River, and is an 18-hole, 72-par course.Golf Thunder Bay - Strathcona
. Retrieved on 11 February 2007. Centennial Park, a recreation of a 20th-century

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

camp, is located northwest of the neighbourhood. The

Terry Fox Memorial and Lookout The Terry Fox Monument, situated in the outskirts of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, is a public monument commemorating cancer research activist Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope. The monument, which depicts Fox, is open to the public and offers a panor ...

is northeast of the neighbourhood, located along Highway 11/ 17. It commemorates

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

Marathon of Hope Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

and offers panoramic views of the lake.

References

{{coord, 48, 28, 00, N, 89, 11, 00, W, type:city_region:CA-ON, display=title Neighbourhoods in Thunder Bay