Thessalon is a town in the
Canadian province
Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...
of
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, located at the junction of
Highway 17 and
Highway 129 on the north shore of
Lake Huron
Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...
. It is surrounded by, but not part of, the municipality of
Huron Shores, and is part of
Algoma District
Algoma District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The name was created by an American ethnologist, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793–1864), who was appointed Indian agent to the Ojibwe ...
. The main industries are timber and tourism. The town is a popular
retirement community
A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves. Assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socialization op ...
. It is the administrative headquarters of the
Thessalon First Nation.
History
The region was first surveyed by Europeans in 1869 to determine if the area could support a viable lumber industry. By the winter of 1870 the beginnings of a
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 ...
had taken root and in 1877 a more permanent settlement was established. Thessalon was incorporated in 1892 with Walter Barrett serving as mayor. Nathaniel Dyment of
Barrie
Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...
, the owner of Dyment Co., one of the earliest and most prominent lumber companies in the area, is considered the founding figure of Thessalon. He named his 1903
King's Plate
The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate from 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race and the oldest continuously run race in North America, having been founded in 1860. It is run at a distance of for a max ...
-winning thoroughbred horse after the town.
The exact origin of the town's name is unclear. Area historian J.E. MacDonald reported that "Thessalon" is a corruption of a name given by local
First Nations
First nations are indigenous settlers or bands.
First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to:
Indigenous groups
*List of Indigenous peoples
*First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
, ''Neyashewun'', meaning "a point of land". It is also theorized that the town may have been named by
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
missionaries who compared their
travels through the region to the plight of the
Thessalonians described in the
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...
. The town was spelt "Tessalon" on some early maps.
Amenities and recreation
There is an arena, a curling club and one primary school in the town. The town was also home to the
Thessalon Flyers. The
Voyageur Hiking Trail passes near the community.
The Thessalon River flows through the town and into Lake Huron at Water Street. Fishing is excellent in the river:
yellow perch
The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...
,
pickerel Pickerel may refer to:
Animals
* ''Esox'', a genus of fish commonly known as the pickerels
** American pickerel
** Chain pickerel
** Redfin pickerel
* Pickerel frog
* Walleye, a fish unrelated to ''Esox'', is called Pickerel in parts of Canada
Pl ...
,
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Wood
* Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
, northwater
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
and
muskie
The muskellunge (''Esox masquinongy''), often shortened to muskie, musky, ski, or lunge, is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae.
Origin of name
The name ...
.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
, Thessalon had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Population trend:
Transportation
Ontario Northland provides intercity motor coach service to Thessalon as a stop along its Sault Ste. Marie–Sudbury–North Bay–Ottawa route, with one bus a day each headed eastbound and westbound from Sunday to Friday, with no service on Saturdays.
Thessalon station was once a divisional point along the Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
's Sudbury–Soo Line. Passenger service began in the area around 1905, and a station building was constructed around 1910. With dwindling passenger traffic along the line, service was gradually discontinued, and the station was demolished sometime after 1971.
Notable people
* John Fullerton, politician
* Henry Horricks, minister, pacifist, (born near Thessalon)Jack Markle
John Arthur Markle (May 15, 1907 – June 25, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played eight games in the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1935–36 season. The rest of his career, which lasted ...
, hockey player
* Wilfred Lynn Miller, politician
References
External links
*
{{Algoma District
Municipalities in Algoma District
Single-tier municipalities in Ontario
Towns in Ontario
Populated places on Lake Huron in Canada