The River Road The St. Clair Parkway follows the route of the first settlement trail in Lambton County, and was the only passable road in the area until at least 1839. There are two conflicting stories as to the origin of a route along the Lambton riverfront: • One version traces its beginnings to
Point Pelee First Nations Chief O-ge-mah-be-na-sie at some point after 1807. While on an excursion, the chief was alerted to news of American raids along the St. Clair River. Hurrying home, he blazed a trail along the St. Clair River to allow other native tribes to aid in defence quickly. • A second recounting places its origins nearly two centuries earlier at the hands of
Joseph de La Roche Daillon. Daillon was a
Franciscan Récollet who was the first European to set foot in Lambton County, spending 5years among the
Huron natives in the 1620s. In both cases, the trail went on to become the main route between Lake Erie and
Lake Huron. In the 1840s, it was improved into a wagon route, but otherwise retained its rough and muddy qualities until the automobile arrived at the turn of the century. The villages along the parkway were established in turn around this period. Baby Point was the first settlement in Lambton County, although it never grew into an incorporated village. It was instead overtaken by nearby Port Lambton, which was established by Duncan McDonald in 1820. Corunna was surveyed by
Lord Beresford in 1823, with the intention of moving the parliament buildings there. Sombra, originally known as Lewisville was established in 1835 by Lewis Burham. Mooretown was established by James F. Baby Jr. in 1837. while Courtright was not named until the arrival of the
Canada Southern Railway (later the
Pere Marquette Railway) after 1872. The association began to pressure the province, which had recently started taking over roads as
provincial highways, into assuming and improving the St. Clair River Road. The river road was in a state of disrepair and often impassable during the winter. In November 1926, the provincial government announced its intention to designate a north–south highway through Lambton County. Much to the chagrin of the association,
Highway 21 was designated through
Oil Springs and
Dresden on May25 and June1, 1927. The association continued to send delegations to Toronto to argue for the designation of the river road as a highway over the next several years, and began a beautification program of planting trees along the route. By late 1932, the provincial government announced the intent to designate a new highway between Chatham and Sarnia once the economy recovered. Highway40 was established at the height of the
Great Depression, during the spring of 1934. The subsequent improvement of the roadway employed several dozen men eight hours per day, six days per week at
minimum wage as a depression-relief project. On May2, the
Department of Highways (DHO) assumed the route of Highway40 between Wallaceburg and Sarnia, including the entire length of the River Road. The highway connected Highway2 in Chatham with Highway7 and
Highway 22 in Sarnia. The designation came just weeks before the
1934 Ontario general election that saw
Lambton West incumbent Conservative MLA
Andrew Robinson McMillen replaced by Liberal
William Guthrie. As such, it was seen as a fruitless last-ditch attempt to garner votes. , Minister of Highways, cuts a ribbon to officially open the completed Highway40 in Corunna on October27, 1943 The DHO immediately set forth to improve the road and pave it. However, a particularly bad winter in 1934–35 set back efforts by a full year as the roadbed was rebuilt and gravelled. Paving was completed through the villages in and between Port Lambton and Corunna in mid-to-late 1936. The following year, paving operations were completed between Wallaceburg and north of Sombra, as well as between Froomfield and Sarnia. This left two gaps in the pavement, on which work would be delayed by the onset of
World War II. Work resumed August10, 1942, with paving completed between Sombra and Courtright by the end of the year. The final gravel segment, between Courtright and Froomfield, was paved during the summer of 1943. This completed the paving of Highway40 between Chatham and Sarnia. At a ceremony in Corunna on the evening of October27, 1943, Minister of Highways
George Doucett cut a ribbon to officially mark the completion of the work. A total of $1,622,598 ($ in dollars) was spent on upgrades and paving between 1934 and 1943.
Rose Trail }} Perhaps more than any one person, former Wallaceburg mayor
Alan Perry Brander was responsible for the idea of a continuous parkway along the St. Clair River. In 1949, he approached Maud Gordon, head of the Wallaceburg Horticultural Society, with the concept of a rose trail along the highway between Wallaceburg and Port Lambton. A program of planting
rose bushes along Highway40 approaching and through the town was begun. By mid-1951, the Rose Trail Committee, now backed by the Wallaceburg Chamber of Commerce, had planted nearly 1,600 rose bushes, including several hundred near and within Port Lambton and Sombra. Speaking of the tourist potential to the Wallaceburg Rotary Club, Brander laid out his vision for a beautified living museum, akin to the
Niagara Parkway or
Colonial Williamsburg, along the riverfront. In 1952, and now with the support of the DHO, the program expanded to include the entire highway between Wallaceburg and Sombra, with an additional 1,300 rose bushes prepared for planting that summer. In August 1953 a
beauty pageant was held at the first Port Lambton
Civic Holiday celebration. The "Queen of the Rose Trail" was chosen by judges selected by local newspaper publishers each August long weekend over the next three years. Attendance of this event rose dramatically each year, with as many as 7,000 visitors in 1954. The celebrations likewise grew to include a boat race, baseball games, a carnival and a parade. However, the contest was inexplicably cancelled prior to the 1956 holiday. Dorothy O'Neill of Chatham was crowned the Queen in 1953, and again in 1955; Janice Peterson of Wallaceburg was crowned in 1954. despite over 6,000 rose bushes being planted in its five-year course. By 1961, the bushes had begun to revert to a wild unkempt state in many places, although Brander continued with his work until his death in 1965. By 1969, the roses had all but disappeared entirely, although some remained as of the early 2000s.
Highway 40 bypass and St. Clair Parkway Commission In October 1954, the Parks division of the
Department of Lands and Forests was established, led by Ben Greenwood (W.B. Greenwood). Greenwood was first to note the need for a dedicated authority to acquire land, build and maintain parks along the riverfront. As part of his massive expansion of the Ontario park system, three parks along the St. Clair River were taken over by the province in 1957. These resolutions were echoed by Lambton County Council and the 21 municipalities in the county. Highway Minister
Charles MacNaughton officially announced plans for the bypass on November4, 1964. Around the same time, both Kent and Lambton counties formed parkway committees composed of local business leaders and politicians. Plans for the parkway were crafted over the next year before being presented to MacNaughton in the spring of 1965. Subsequently, the St. Clair Parkway Commission was created in 1966. Following several years of negotiations with the
Aamjiwnaang First Nation (then the Chippewas of Sarnia), construction of the new inland route of Highway40 began in July 1972. Working south from Sarnia, the first contract reached as far south as Highway80 (Courtright Line), a distance of . A second contract, awarded in 1974, extended construction south an additional to
Lambton County Road 2 (Bentpath Line) near
Sombra. The third and final contract was awarded in late 1975 to complete the remaining south of County Road2. The new Sarnia–Wallaceburg highway was opened to traffic as each contract was completed. The section from Sarnia to Highway80 was opened in August 1975, and the section from Highway80 to Sombra by mid-1977. The entire $12.6 million ($ in dollars) The old alignment was transferred to the St. Clair Parkway Commission between Sarnia and Sombra in 1979, and from Sombra to Dufferin Avenue (opposite
Walpole Island) by 1982. The remaining along Dufferin Avenue to the new Highway40 was decommissioned between 1984 and 1986. Both Kent and Lambton counties designated their portion of the former highway as County Road33. == Major intersections ==