Sarnia: We Built This City

The Imperial City: The City of Sarnia 1914

On May 14, 1914, Sarnia became a city. The day was filled with celebration and the crowd that gathered along Front Street gave a loud welcome to Canada's Governor General, the Duke of Connaught and his daughter Princess Patricia. A small village sixty years earlier, Sarnia had grown into a major industrial, manufacturing and transportation centre.

Just three months later Canada entered the First World War. Soldiers from Sarnia would fight and die in the Somme, at Vimy and Ypres. The men and women who stayed behind worked in factories, farmed, raised funds, scavenged resources and wrote letters to loved ones over seas.

Sarnia residents bid farewell to their local 149th battalion in the spring of 1916. Troops marched from city hall square to the Grand Trunk railway station amid much pomp and ceremony. Though the crowds cheered and waved flags, it was a heartbreaking moment for many who would never see their sons, husbands, brothers or friends again. 

Incorporation Day

Citizens of Sarnia welcome the Governor General and his daughter in open top carriages on Front Street. City council chose the title "The Imperial City" to celebrate. The invitation from Sarnia's Mayor and council is one of many documents held in the collection of the Lambton County Archives that records Sarnia's Incorporation Day. 

Map of Sarnia, 1912

Located on the St. Clair River in Western Ontario, Sarnia was a key stop for new Canadians on their way to the priares and an important port for American trade.

Industrial Sarnia

A convoy of Goodison Steam engines make their way across a noisy Town Hall square while the massive oil tanks of the Imperial Oil Company tower over the landscape near the waterfront. Sarnia's workshops and oil refineries contributed the war effort at home and abroad.

The Youngest Drummer

Ned McRobie was said to be the youngest drummer in the British Empire. Postcards of Ned raised funds for the war while the 149th fought overseas.