Nobel, Ontario
Nobelis a village on the shores ofParry Sound,Ontario,Canada. It is in theMunicipality of McDougallin theDistrict of Parry Sound.The community is named afterAlfred Nobel,the inventor ofdynamite.
This village is the administrative office of theShawanaga First Nationreserve.[1]
History
[edit]Nobel was across the Sound fromDepot Harbour;the two towns benefited from the industrialization brought by theOttawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway,later theCanada Atlantic Railway.
During the First World War, Nobel was the home of two explosives factories: The British Cordite Limited andCanadian Explosives Ltd.Both sites closed in 1922. Explosives and munitions were also produced at Nobel inWorld War II.
The British Cordite Ltd, Nobel, Ontario
[edit]The British Cordite Limited was built by the Explosives Department of theImperial Munitions Boardto produceCordite.Construction started in late 1916 and production started in mid 1917. The site covered 366 acres (1.48 km2) and had 155 buildings. By 30 November 1918 it had produced 21,450,000lbs(9,738,300kg) of Cordite.[2]
Canadian Explosives Ltd
[edit]
Canadian Explosives, jointly owned bydu Pont,in the USA, andNobel's Explosives,inScotland,were already producing Cordite, atBeloeil,for theQuebecArsenal,before World War I. The capacity of this plant was increased one-hundredfold to 350,000lbs(159,000kg) of Cordite per month. In addition, in February 1918, they started to build a Cordite plant at Nobel to produce 1,500,000lbs(681,000kg) per month. It was finished on 24 August 1918.[2]During peak production 1,000 people were employed, many of them women.[3]
World War 2
[edit]At the outbreak of WW2,Defence Industries Limitedwas founded next to CIL. The plants were operated around the clock and employed 2,000 persons. A typical wage for the winter of 1942-43, for an employee to blend cordite and pack it for shipment to munitions plants elsewhere, was 52 cents per hour.[3]
Orenda Aerospace
[edit]In the post-war yearsOrenda Engineshad a testing facility, where theOrenda Iroquoisturbojetengine was being developed. This engine was slated to power the ill-fatedAvro Arrowuntil the project was cancelled by theDiefenbakergovernment.
Highway 400 realignment
[edit]In 2010, a stretch of the newHighway 400alignment opened up which now bypasses Nobel. Some businesses in the town were affected by the new highway due to a sharp decline in traffic and customers, and had to close down. The former route ofHighway 69through the town was renamed as Nobel Road and reduced in width from four to two lanes, with the decommissioned lanes converted into a recreationaltrail.[4][5][6]
A new access road for nearby access to Exit 236 of Highway 400 was built, and named Avro Arrow Road.
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^"Home".Shawanaga First Nation.
- ^abCarnegie, David (1925).
- ^abMacfie, John (1 September 2016)."All quiet on Nobel's war front".Parry Sound North Star.
- ^.Nobel complex victim of new Highway 400Archived2012-03-12 at theWayback Machine,cottagecountrynow.ca,November 19, 2010
- ^Tim Horton's and Wendy's in Nobel Closed,moosefm.com/CKLP-FM,January 7, 2011
- ^Highway 69 construction could prove fatal to roadside businesses,Toronto Star,December 3, 2010
Sources
[edit]- Carnegie, David (1925).The History of Munitions Supply in Canada 1914 - 1918.London, New York, Ontario: Longmans, Green and Co.
- lank, H. H. and Williams, E. L. (1982).The Du Pont Canada History.Du Pont Canada.
- Reader, W.J. (1970).Imperial Chemical Industries: A History.Volume 1:The Forerunners 1870-1926.London, New York, Toronto:Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-215937-2.