The history of Casselman
starts with the arrival of Martin Casselman
and his development projects for the region. During a hunting trip
on the shores of the Little Nation River (aka: South Indian River)
in 1832, he envisioned the establishment of a village where he could
exploit
the abundant forest resources in order to set up a lumber business.
In 1843 the native of Williamsburg and descendant of Loyalists bought
an immense territory, covering a large part
of the future township of Cambridge at a surprisingly small cost, from the
Jessup family.
He became the owner of 1,600 acres of land on each side of the
Little Nation River. It was on the banks of this watercourse,
near a waterfall, that Martin Casselman finally came to settle in
1844. He brought with him forty men who helped him set-up his lumber
business, in return for a promise to sell each of them a piece of land
at a very low price. A dam and sawmill were constructed in 1844
and his lumber business was launched.
The Catholic Parish
In January 1876, Martin Casselman, pioneer of the region, offered
to the Bishop of Ottawa, Monsignor Thomas Duhamel, three
acres of land in the part of the village to the south of the Little Nation
River in order to build a Catholic church. But it was eight years
before the people were able to celebrate Catholic mass in Casselman.
The masses took place on the upper floor of Olivier Quenneville's
General Store. The Parish of Sainte-Euphémie of Casselman, created
by the Bishop of Ottawa and the first Parish Priest, Father Georges Talbot,
was inaugurated on the 28th of September 1886. Father Talbot
guided the Parish flock until the beginning of 1888. Father
Talbot was replaced by Father Léandre Francoeur on the 15th of
March
1888, and it was this new Parish Priest who was given the
responsibility of the construction of the new Parish church
building. The origin
of the name of the Parish refers to the name of the deceased wife of Father Albert Phillion, the first missionary priest
of Casselman.
FIRE!
The Fire of 1891 In
July 1891, St. Euphémie Parish had its first great disaster: fire
destroyed part of the village, the Casselman Lumber Co., and
millions of feet of woodcut.A
large number of workmen had to leave town in order to find work
elsewhere.However,
lots that were, until then, only partly cleared were transformed
into lovely fertile prairies by the fire, and many new settlers came
to Casselman to work its highly arable agricultural land.
The Fire of 1897 On
October 5th, 1897, the Parish faced the greatest tragedy
of its history: the entire Casselman area was destroyed by a
terrible fire.Except
for a very few homes, the village was reduced to ashes and its
inhabitants were left homeless and lost all of their personal
belongings.The
Catholic church was completely destroyed save for the Holy
Sacrament, which was rescued by the Vicar, Father Joseph-Hercule
Touchette.Many
families had to leave town due to the loss of all their belongings.However, strengthened by Father Touchette's encouraging
words as well as donations from many parts of Ontario and Quebec,
those that remained took on the arduous task of rebuilding their
community.Two days
after the fire, a committee was formed to oversee the reconstruction
of the Parish church.
The Fire of 1919 In
July 1919, the Parish again fell victim to a devastating fire.The buildings bordering the main street of the town were
engulfed in flames, and almost everything was destroyed. Several
tradesmen of the time lost a great part of their merchandise and
equipment. Those who succeeded in saving part of their goods moved
them into the church or the Town Hall. The church, the bank of the
time and the store of Damase Racine were saved thanks to the
effective work of the firemen from Ottawa. Within the following
days, the townspeople courageously undertook the rebuilding of the
main street.
The Railroad and Train Station The
first railroad was inaugurated on February 1, 1882. It was one of
the principal ways of transporting wood, bricks and the food
products necessary to the population. During the First World War
(1914-1918), this rail line was used for the transportation of wheat
and other goods for export. The railroad that made the
Montreal-Toronto connection, had been built in 1856. Later, the
Coteau Junction-Casselman-Ottawa connection was added to the
Trans-Continental railway. It was in 1915 that the first train that
traveled the 3,205 miles between Quebec City and Vancouver, passed
through Casselman.
* All historical references on this site are taken from the book:
the Centenary of the Sainte-Euphémie Parish written by Jean-Pierre
Perreault For
more information concerning the fires, please visit the Casselman
Fire Department website at http://www.casselmanfd.ca
