Schreiber Public Library Schreiber Archives & Historical Society Presents:
"You're On The Right Track" An Historical Timeline of Schreiber
A soft cover booklet, 60 pages of Schreiber's history of events from 1884-2005.
Celebrating 120 years of Schreiber's History
Cost: $7.00 per book
Cheques payable to
Schreiber Archives & Historical Society
Below you will find just a few excerpts and photos from the booklet.
In 1885, Isbester's
Landing is renamed Schreiber, in honour of Sir Collingwood Schreiber, who
was the chief engineer of Government railways in 1873 and succeeded Sir
Sanford Fleming as the CPR's chief engineer in 1880. Sir Collingwood
Schreiber passed away on March 22, 1918.
On
June 28, 1886, at 8:00 a.m., the first transcontinental
train from Vancouver
arrived at Schreiber. It covered an approximate distance of 2,600
miles in the then phenomenal running time of 137 hours, including all stops,
at an average speed of 19 miles per hour.
1890 Italian immigrants from the Calabrian city of Siderno emigrate to Canada to find Employment. Many settled in Schreiber because of the railway construction and many played a major part in its completion. One of these individuals was Cosimo Figliomeni. He was responsible for sponsoring the immigration of others from Siderno to Schreiber. Today surnames such as Commisso, Speziale, Diano, Costa, Caccamo, Spadoni, Cebrario, Pellegrino, Valentino, Veneziano, Verdone and Figliomeni are commonplace.
1895 The first town all is
erected and it was known as Mechanics'Institute Hall and was built through
the efforts of Rev. M. Neilly at a cost of $6,000 in October 1891 and it was
formally opened to the public on October 25, 1895. This building housed a
public library, an auditorium, a barbershop, and two cublicles containing
the town's first bathtubs.
On September 22, 1937, the
highway between Schreiber and Port Arthur
was opened, following the
completion of the Nipigon Bridge. Schreiber residents could only travel by
rail prior to the highway's completion. The 63 mile stretch would cost
between $40,000 and $75,000 per mile to build.
Check out the Thunder Bay Public Library's digital collection "The Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History. Enter "Schreiber" in the search box to view nearly 70 pictures of Schreiber and it's history including rare photos of the Japanese Internment Camp.
http://www.nextlibrary.com/tbpl/home.html
