is a historic Anglican garrison church in Penetanguishene. As early as
AD 800, the
Wyandot people settled in semi-permanent villages in the area. The young
French translator,
Étienne Brûlé, was the first European to set foot in the Penetanguishene area, some time between 1610 and 1614. He was murdered in 1633 in Toanche, just across the bay from the modern town of Penetanguishene. In 1793,
John Graves Simcoe, the first
Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, visited the area and saw the location's potential as a
Royal Navy naval base. He wanted to use the bay to shelter
warships to protect
Upper Canada, which had coasts on lakes Huron, Erie and Michigan opposite the
Northwest Territory and
New York State of the
United States of America, from American military aggression and territorial expansion. The
Penetanguishene Naval Yard was built by the Royal Navy in 1813. In 1814, the
Penetanguishene Road was constructed to provide the Yard a land route to British military supply depots on
Kempenfelt Bay, Lake Simcoe (where
Barrie, Ontario is today) as the Yard was previously accessible only by water. In 1817, naval units from
Michilimackinac and Schooner Town (near modern-day
Wasaga Beach) were consolidated at the
Penetanguishene Naval Yard. But, because the
Treaty of Ghent with the U.S. limited both countries' naval power on the
Great Lakes, two British armed topsail schooners,
HMS Tecumseth and
HMS Newash were laid up "in ordinary", and eventually reported to have sunk at their moorings in the harbour in 1828. Some other small craft were headquartered in Penetanguishene for the exploration and mapping of the Great Lakes' coastline overseen by Lieutenant
Henry Wolsey Bayfield. In 1828, the main British military establishment on the Upper Lakes moved from
Drummond Island to Penetanguishene. Families of
Metis fur traders who had moved with the British from Michilimackinac to Drummond Island after the
War of 1812, moved again to Penetanguishene. They settled in the town and the surrounding area. Although the naval base was closed in 1834, the military base remained until 1856. Some of the troops settled in the area after their service was complete providing an English-speaking population. In the 1840s, French-speaking families from
Canada East (mainly from the area immediately east of Montreal), attracted by promises of cheap and fertile land, joined the French-speaking Drummond Island settlers already in the area. Later, as the
logging industry began to develop, more English-speaking settlers arrived. Penetanguishene became the local market and meeting place for these individuals. Many of Penetanguishene's families today are descended from the Québécois settlers who arrived in the 1800s, giving the town a marked bilingual nature. Penetanguishene was incorporated on June 29, 1875, when it separated from
Tiny Township.
Contemporary Penetanguishene began to slow down its growth near the 1980s after the railway and the local
Coca-Cola plant were both shut down; the railway due to widespread use of cars and the
Coca-Cola plant due to modern water filtration which requires chlorine. Coca-Cola had originally used Penetanguishene as a site to make its beverages due to its high water quality, due to the chlorination the water lacked its previous quality. On Main Street, the houses coming in to the town on the left were torn down in the 1990s and a new strip mall was added to replace them. Penetang hosts a Bingo hall and a local summer theatre (Kings Warf Theatre). ==Demographics==