Arkona, Ontario

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Coordinates: 43°04′24″N 81°50′03″W / 43.073367°N 81.834111°W / 43.073367; -81.834111
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

43°04′24″N 81°50′03″W / 43.073367°N 81.834111°W / 43.073367; -81.834111

Arkona is a community located in the municipality of

Watford.

Arkona, Ontario, Canada

History

Prehistory

The site of the village is at the base of the

Archaic and Woodland
peoples moved into the area as the climate and vegetation changed. Evidence of this long-standing habitation is frequently discovered in the fields surrounding the current village.

Arrival of European settlers

The first known permanent settlers of European background were Asa Townsend (c.1775–alive 1851) and his wife Huldah Barstow, who first settled in Westminster Township near what became the City of

Lambton County.[1] Townsend operated a salt well there,[1] and remained in the area as late as 1851, living next door to his son Ezekiel Townsend.[1]

In 1833, the Townsends were joined by Henry Utter (1809–1898), who settled on a farm in the recently surveyed Warwick Township, across the township line from Bosanquet. Utter was subsequently joined by members of the Smith and Eastman families and a settlement gradually grew up that straddled the Warwick-Bosanquet Township line. (Utter married Harriet Smith (1816–1882) who was part of the extended Smith family).[2] The Eastmans and one branch of the Smith family were the ancestors of Alexander Phimister Proctor who was born in the village in 1860.[3]

The village was surveyed in 1851 and known variously as Bosanquet Corners, Eastman Corners and Smithfield. In 1857, it was renamed 'Arkona' after the rugged cape on the Baltic Island of Rügen, a name suggested by resident cabinet maker Ephraim Brower and possibly by the incumbent postmaster Levi Schooley. The village continued to grow and develop so that by the 1870s, with hopes of attracting a railway, the community incorporated in June 1876.[4] While its population surpassed 700, the failure to attract a railway led to a population decline and the loss of its first known newspaper, the East Lambton Advocate, which moved to the nearby railway village of Watford. (Hopes of securing a rail link continued to surface at least as late as 1911, when one resident wrote, "They are talking of a railroad for Arkona [which] they think is sure to come but [we] will see when it gets here.").[5] Even without the railway, however, Arkona remained an important service centre for the surrounding rural farming district and boasted many important industries such as a basket factory, woolen mill, apple evaporator, and a series of mills. Various businesses continued to service the local area including numerous stores and other enterprises.

Recent history

The advent of the automobile lessened local dependence on the village and its services, and led to gradual yet dramatic changes to Arkona's makeup, especially in the post-World War II era. Its school closed in 1973 and all village students then attended Bosanquet Township Central School. Since the 1880s, the village has maintained a population hovering around 500. Two mainstays have long been Arkona's Baptist Church (begun in 1840) and Arkona United Church, the successor to Arkona's Episcopal and Wesleyan Methodist Churches, both of which began in the 1850s (the Wesleyan

Grand Bend to form the new entity of Lambton Shores.[7]

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Arkona had a population of 648 living in 279 of its 283 total private dwellings, a change of 2.2% from its 2016 population of 634. With a land area of 2.53 km2 (0.98 sq mi), it had a population density of 256.1/km2 (663.4/sq mi) in 2021.[8]

References

  1. ^
    The Free Press. London, Ontario
    . p. 10 - Ninth Section. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  2. ISBN 978-0-9684071-7-2
    .
  3. ^ Wynne Eastman. Genealogical Tracings of the Ancestors, Family and Descendants of Amherst Eastman, Immigrant to Upper Canada in 1785 (Waterloo, Ontario: W. Eastman, 1993), 192-193
  4. ISBN 978-0-9684071-7-2
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-9684071-7-2
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0-9684071-7-2
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-9684071-7-2
    .
  8. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and designated places". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved Sep 2, 2022.
  • Johnson, Margery. The Arkona Cemetery and Mennonite Cemetery in Warwick Township (Arkona: Arkona and Area Historical Society, 1985).
  • Johnson, William F. Arkona Through the Years (Forest, Ontario: Pole Printing, 1976).
  • Johnson, William Frederick. More of Arkona through the years : concluding in 1988 (Arkona, Ontario: Arkona and Area Historical Society, 1988).
  • Southworth, Charles. A guide to the fossil bearing areas of Arkona, Thedford & vicinity (Sarnia, Ontario: Lambton County Historical Society, 1967)
  • Stott, Greg, "In Reply to Your Advertisement . . .": Local Influences on the Hiring of Teachers, Arkona, Ontario, 1882–1884", Historical Studies in Education/Revue d'histoire de l'éducation, 20 2 (2008): 1-21.
  • Stott, Greg. Sowing the Good Seed:The Story of Arkona United Church (Arkona, Ontario: Greg Stott, 1996).
  • Wilson, Wilhelmine. Arkona Memories (Forest, Ontario: J.B. Pole Printing, 1976).
  • St. Denis, Guy. Byron: Pioneer days in Westminster Township (London, Ontario: Crinklaw Press, 1985)
  • Johnson, William. Arkona Through the Years (Forest, Ontario: Pole Printing, 1976).
  • Bosanquet Township Assessment Rolls, 1851. Lambton Room (Archives), Lambton County Library Headquarters, Wyoming, Ontario.

External links

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