Wasdell Falls Hydro-Electric Development 1914

Photo by Alan L Brown - June 28, 2004

Plaque Location

The County of Simcoe
The Township of Ramara
Just off a gravel road, street number 2982, about .5 km north of County Road 52, 3 km east of Highway 11. Here's a Google map.

Plaque Text

Completed in 1914, after several municipalities on the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe had requested a supply of electric power, this was the first generating station constructed by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. The natural formation of solid granite provided an excellent foundation for the development. The Wasdell plant operated as a separate unit serving the northern portion of Ontario County and the western portion of Victoria until 1924, when it became part of the Georgian Bay System. Displaced by much larger developments, it ceased operation in 1955, but provides visual evidence of the beginnings of one of the world's leading public power systems.