Founding of Englehart

1905

Text from the plaque

Englehart owes its beginnings to the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T. & N.O.), a colonization line designed by the provincial government to open agricultural lands of the Little Clay Belt to settlement and to provide access to the area's vast timber resources. In 1905 the railway stockpiled equipment and materials on the east bank of the Blanche (now Englehart) River, at mile 138, for the line's first major bridge. This drew entrepreneurs to provide services and amenities to the railway workers gathering there. In 1906 Englehart became a divisional point for the railway and work began to build repair shops and an engine roundhouse west of the river. Town lots were surveyed there and sold at public auction. A post office was established followed by stores, a school and churches. The community was named Englehart in honour of Jacob Lewis (Jake) Englehart, the chairman of the T. & N.O. Commission. In 1908 Englehart became an incorporated town and elected its first Council.

Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.