Falkenburg

History

Falkenburg was located on the Muskoka Road which was yet another branch of the Ontario Road Colonization Program first launched in 1854. One goal of the program was to encourage settlement and agriculture in the underdeveloped northern regions. Another was to provide roads and supply centres to the lumber industry which was heavily active in the area.

Settlers were eligible to apply for title to the land after they met certain conditions. They included residing on the property for five years, having at least 12 acres under cultivation and building a house, at least 10 X 18 feet

Construction of the Muskoka Road began with great fanfare in 1859. The Muskoka Road was by far the most ambitious undertaking of the entire program. The road took 16 years to complete. Once opened, it stretched 210 kilometres from Severn Bridge to the city of North Bay. However government officials were slow to react to changes brought about by the arrival of the railways. When finished, the road was largely useless.

Falkenburg was one of the first communities along the Muskoka Road to begin attracting residents. During those early days when railways were nothing more than a dream was in a fortunate position. Located on the southern and more accessible portion of the route, it quickly emerged as an up and coming community. The first settlers arrived in 1862 and included Edwin Griffin, Sidney Tibbs and Samuel Holditch. In 1863, twenty-six year old William Holditch had opened the first post office. Matthias Moore, another newcomer from England, sensed a potential lumber boom in the area. He quickly built a saw and shingle mills. In 1872, Moore took over as postmaster, a position he held until his death in 1893.

An early 1870s description of Falkenburg stated the community had “almost unlimited manufacturing potential.” Its proximity to the Muskoka River provided a superb source of waterpower potential. Although the majority of Falkenburg’s residents listed their occupation as farming, there were also a number of tradesmen. They included a carpenter, Robert Miller, a shoemaker, David Galloway, a plasterer, William Brown and a blacksmith, John Jackson. In addition to the farmers and trades the community offered the usual institutions, a Methodist Church, Orange Hall and a school, S.S. #3 Macaulay. They were all in place by around 1870.

By the mid-1880s, Falkenburg was a small but busy community with a population of about 60. The village included two hotels, one owned by Stephen Fisk and the other by Mrs. Mary Moffat. In addition to the hotel, there was also a store, opened by Edward Hay and a new Anglican Church. Moore’s sawmill was buzzing away, producing lumber, bark, cordwood and railway ties. Stages ran daily between Bracebridge and Parry Sound. In 1887, a new frame structure replaced the wooden schoolhouse, located on Lot 4, Concession 11.

The arrival of the railway in the 1890s put an end to Falkenburg’s days of success. After supplanting the Muskoka Road, which only a few years earlier brought growth and prosperity to the region, the Grand Trunk Railway built a satellite village a few kilometres south. This was not an uncommon practice for railways. Sometimes it was due to land costs and at other times it was simply the terrain and route plan. Whatever the reason, the new village of Falkenburg Station was an instant success. Businesses immediately began to gravitate south to be closer to the station and shipping facilities. By 1892, Falkenburg Station already boasted two sawmills and a general store. As the Muskoka Road gradually fell into disuse, the writing was on the wall for Falkenburg, the parent community. The station village boomed and the older village died.

Long time postmaster Matthias Moore passed away in 1894 which resulted in closure of the post office. The school struggled on until 1938. Today, very little remains of the original townsite. The ruins of a sawmill, of later vintage than Matthias Moore’s, lie on the west side of the townsite. With the addition of a few newer homes, the village continues to support a few residents and survives as a rural backwater. The old Muskoka Road later found new life as Highway 11.