Cooper's Falls (or Coopers Falls) is a Dispersed rural community and unincorporated place in
geographic
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
Rama Township in the municipality of
Ramara,
Simcoe County
Simcoe County is a county and census division located in the central region of Ontario, Canada. The county is located north of the Greater Toronto Area, and forms the north western edge of the Golden Horseshoe. The county seat is located in Mi ...
, in
Central Ontario
Central Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario that lies between Georgian Bay and the eastern end of Lake Ontario.
The population of the region was 1,123,307 in 2016; however, this number does not in ...
, Canada.
The community is located at the eponymous Coopers Falls
waterfall
A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge
of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...
on the
Black River, about northeast of the community of Washago on
Ontario Highway 11
King's Highway 11, commonly referred to as Highway 11, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially-maintained highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. At , it is the second-longest highway in th ...
, and is named after Thomas Cooper, the first settler. There are a few families living in Coopers Falls.
History
In 1864, Thomas James Cooper and his wife, Emma and three young children, emigrated to Canada on the steamship "Hector" from Fawkham, England. They arrived in the area from the train in Barrie. From there they proceeded to make their way by boat to Washago. There they set off into the bush to find a location to build their home, in lands that turned out to be occupied by wolves.
Emma and Thomas Cooper built a house and general store half a mile from a waterfall on the Black River. Many years later, in 1878 the first post office opened with the name Cooper's Falls.
The village soon added a general store, blacksmith and cheese factory. A log schoolhouse was built in 1874 followed by two churches. The Methodist church was built in 1894 and the Anglican church was built approximately 1884.
Thomas Cooper had hoped that his town's inhabitants would live good and clean lives. He believed in prohibition and thus, was not pleased when men from the
lumber camp
A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...
s would show up in town, drunk.
The town's demise came when the lumber mill closed. The actual waterfall which took the Cooper name sits on private property, but can be seen from Cooper's Falls Road, especially in winter and early spring, when foliage doesn't obstruct the view.
A strand of 14 coloured light bulbs has been strung between the town's former general store and an old wooden building known as "the courthouse".
References
External links
{{authority control
Communities in Simcoe County