Transport Archives | "Are We There Yet?" Highway-Based Tourism In Kawartha Lakes

A Local Legacy: Vintage “GAS” Sign at the Balsam Lake Park Store Celebrates the Heritage of Highway-Based Tourism in Northwestern Kawartha Lakes

This vintage porcelain sign was originally decorated in Texaco markings. Installed in front of a gas station on Highway 46 west of Balsam Lake Provincial Park in the […]

Building Tourism and Enhancing Hospitality With the Kawartha Lakes Tourist Association

The Kawartha Lakes Tourist Association ran this advertisement in the Lindsay Daily Post throughout the summer of 1965 to help citizens, politicians, members of the hospitality industry, and […]

Changing Times: Demolition of a Gas Station, Coboconk

At one time, Coboconk was home to half a dozen gas stations. Due to changes in technology and consolidation among oil companies from the 1970s onward, that number […]

Overgrown Gas Pumps at the Former Shell Gas Station, Coboconk

As many of Ontario’s privately-run gas stations closed during the last quarter of the twentieth century, derelict buildings and overgrown gas pumps became common sights along the highway. […]

Information Sheet, “This Abandoned Car Is On The Road To Recovery,” Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 1975

By the 1970s many of the thousands of cars which took to the open road between the 1930s and 1950s had been traded in, scrapped, or parked in […]

Working Together for Safer Roads: Victoria Branch Garage Operators’ Association Safety Check Advertisement

The Victoria Branch of the Garage Operators’ Association organized yearly Safety Checks through the 1950s. Motorists who lived in Victoria County (now Kawartha Lakes) were encouraged to have […]

Keeping Northwestern Kawartha Lakes Safe: Provincial Constable William Kennedy (1909-1986)

Provincial Constable William Kennedy was born in 1909, the same year in which the Ontario Provincial Police was formed. Hired by the OPP on August 16, 1937, Kennedy […]

Safety First: The Ontario Department of Highways Urged Drivers to “Try Courtesy” During the Summer of 1937

The Ontario Department of Highways ran a series of newspaper advertisements over the summer of 1937 to raise awareness about responsible driving. The ads used the slogan “Try […]

Full Speed Ahead! Widening the King’s Highway (Highway 35 North)

By 1970, parts of Highway 35 North had become so well-travelled that they required widening. This Ministry of Transportation photo was taken between Norland and Minden, and shows […]

Before GPS and Google Maps, Tourists Depended on the Ontario Motor League Road Book

Travellers making their way into northwestern Kawartha Lakes during the 1950s benefited from publications issued by the Ontario Motor League. These booklets, complete with maps, showed drivers the […]

Mealtime on Mitchell Lake: The Shallamar Diner

Famed aerial photographer Harry S. Oakman took this image of the Shallamar Diner around 1969. Operated by Ted and Wally Polomski in the late 1960s, Shallamar incorporated a […]

Stopping for Gas at the Club Balsam Snack Bar, Rosedale

The Club Balsam Snack Bar was located on the west side of Highway 35 in the village of Rosedale. With its log construction, the snack bar evoked the […]