Cobourg

By Guy Scott

Cobourg is one of a number of small “port” towns in Northumberland County along the shore of Lake Ontario. From their founding in the very early 1800s, Cobourg and Port Hope were rivals. Situated only 10 miles apart, the two ports duelled for the business of the hinterland, including the lands north of Rice Lake in Peterborough County. Cobourg was founded in 1805 as the county seat of Northumberland County after Presqu’ile was rejected. A court house and jail were built back from the cedar swamp that covered the waterfront and it was christened Amherst after an English general from the 7 Years War. Cobourg later expanded and adopted its present name after a noble family from Germany called Coburg who married into the British Royal Family [when Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert] There was a slight spelling error, with an extra ‘o’ added to the title.

Cobourg prospered as a port-centre and by the 1840s had 1,000 residents employed in industries based on exploiting the hinterlands. The town had ambitions to become the port city of the area and leading citizens formed a Harbour Commission to rebuild the small port and a railroad company to build a line north to Peterborough. A wooden plank road was originally built the 14 miles north to a terminus on Rice Lake at Harwood, but the wooden planks proved impossible to keep in good shape (like a corduroy road) and a railway was planned instead.

In the 1850s, Cobourg was on the cusp of greatness. The Cobourg-Peterborough Railway commenced and the excited residents of the town constructed the opulent Victoria Hall. This copy of similar concert halls in England was designed to house the municipal offices, the court facilities and a grand concert hall. The three-storey structure was designed by the famous architect Kivas Tully and looked out of place in a pioneer community. It was hoped the town would grow into the Hall. It was opened by the future King Edward VII in 1860 and was a statement to all that Cobourg was a mature and classy town. The concert hall was heated by wood burning box stoves (how Canadian!) and did hold many famous concerts over the years. In 1970, the Victoria Hall condemned. A group of residents rallied and over the next 15 years restored the grand old hall to its former glory.

Cobourg was also an industrial town, hosting a number of large factories over the years. The most famous was the Crossen Railway Car works. With the explosion of railways after 1840, the Crossen plant began to supply railway cars for the burgeoning industry. Crossen cars were used by the Toronto Transit Commission and the Canadian Pacific Railway. The plant declined after the CPR decided to build its own railway cars. During WWI, Cobourg hosted at least three major munitions plants. The Douglas Packing Company of Cobourg developed a new product called pectin under the Certo name; supposedly suggested by a maid because it was ‘certain’ to set jams properly.

In the late 1800s, Cobourg became a tourist destination for the very rich, nicknamed “Newport of the North.” Many rich Americans fell in love with the setting on Lake Ontario and began to build elaborate summer mansions in the town. The first resort was the Arlington Hotel (1874) and soon a sector of town was dotted with mansions and resorts. Many rich Americans came to escape the summer heat. One old southerner said to preferred Cobourg to sites in the States, because he refused to give the “Yankees any of his money.” The rich tourists sailed on their yachts, held regattas, put on concerts in the Victoria Hall, attended horse shows and threw lavish parties. In the winter they went home, of course. After WWI, the tourist trade in Cobourg declined and eventually the mansions disappeared.

Like other ports in Northumberland County, Cobourg had connections with American ports across the lake. Water traffic was extensive with the port of Rochester (Port Hope dealt with Syracuse). Two large ferries (Ontario No. 1 and No. 2) plied daily between Rochester and Cobourg. They were railway car ferries and could hold 20 loaded rail cars and 1,000 passengers per trip. The rail cars were usually filled with coal and backed on and off the ferries by locomotive. The ferry service was discontinued in the 1950s after the famous Noronic Fire in Toronto led to strict new regulations for ferries. Today Cobourg still has a sizeable industrial base, but gone are the ferries and mansions of past decades.