The Development of Pelee Island
Text from the plaque
The largest in a string of islands in the western end of Lake Erie, Pelee Island forms, together with nearby Middle Island, the southernmost portion of Canada. In 1788 it was leased to Thomas McKee, the son of an influential Indian Department official, by the Ojibwa and Ottawa nations. The island, whose name is derived from the French "pelée", meaning bare, remained largely undeveloped, however, until William McCormick purchased it in 1823. In 1868 it was incorporated as a township. With the introduction of commercial grape cultivation and the drainage of large hectares of marshland in the decades that followed, Pelee Island emerged as a prosperous farming community. By 1900 it had almost 800 residents, and contained four schools, four churches and three general stores.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The County of Essex
The Township of Pelee
One Pelee Island, in front of a museum
across from the West Dock
Also recorded for this place: Pelee
N 41 45.362 W 82 41.277
Recorded September 2004. Check current access before visiting.
More information
Where it stands
