Anglin Bay facts for kids

Anglin Bay is a small bay on the western side of the Cataraqui River in Kingston, Ontario. It's a really important part of Kingston's Inner Harbour. The bay got its name from the Anglin Company, which had its offices, lumber yard, and mill right on the bay's shore for a very long time, from 1865 to 1999.

The S. Anglin Fuel Company actually started as a timber company in Kingston in 1865. Over the years, it changed what it sold, moving from building materials and lumber to coal, and then to oil as people started heating their homes differently. Timber was first brought in by the Cataraqui River, and later by the Kingston and Pembroke Railway, which was a Canadian Pacific train line that isn't used anymore.

Anglin Bay: A Historic Spot in Kingston

Anglin Bay has a rich history, especially because of the Anglin family and their business. It shows how industries in Kingston changed over time.

The Anglin Company Story

The Anglin Company was a big part of Kingston's history. Robert Anglin (1806–1874) was an important person in Kingston's early government. In 1843, he was a Common Councilman for the Town of Kingston. This was at the same time that Sir John A. Macdonald, who later became Canada's first Prime Minister, was an Alderman on the Town Council. Robert Anglin came to Kingston in 1829 from County Cork, Ireland.

His sons, W. B. and S. Anglin, started the Anglin company as a sawmill in 1850. It was located at Wellington and Bay streets, right where the Cataraqui River meets the bay. At first, they employed 23 people. Soon, they started selling coal as an extra business. From 1953 onwards, fuel oil gradually replaced coal.

At one point, Anglin handled a huge amount of heating and industrial coal, about a quarter million tons a year! They also had large lumber, drydock (where ships are repaired), and shipbuilding facilities. In the 1950s, their custom carpentry shop employed 60 to 70 workers. The last lumber from Anglin was sold in 1979. The company stayed in the Anglin family until 1997.

Its next company, Tri-Heat Anglin Energy Supply, moved to a new location in 1999. In the early 2000s, a local competitor called Rosen Fuels bought it. It then operated as Rosen TriHeat Anglin Fuels until 2012, and finally became Rosen Energy Group.

Other Industries and Changes

Anglin Bay was home to other important industries too. Canadian Dredge and Dock, for example, had their scows (flat-bottomed boats) and dredges (machines for digging up the bottom of a waterway) there. These joined the wharves (docks), quays (platforms for loading ships), and buildings along the train lines. These facilities grew as more land was filled into the harbour.

You can still see parts of various shipwrecks in Anglin Bay. Many of these ships belonged to the former Montreal Transportation Company shipyard, which was at the entrance to Anglin Bay, or to Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal.

Over time, the industrial role of this waterfront area has changed. The railway lines were removed from the Inner Harbour and waterfront. In the early 1980s, much of the land that used to be for the railway was used for Ontario Health Insurance Plan offices. This shows how the bay's use has shifted from heavy industry to other purposes.

See Also

• Cataraqui River
• Kingston, Ontario
• Kingston, Ontario Inner Harbour