Brudenell
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Brudenell is a community in the township of Brudenell, Lyndoch and Raglan in
Renfrew County Renfrew County is a county and census division in the Canadian province of Ontario. It straddles the west bank of the Ottawa River. There are 17 municipalities in the county. Its county seat is Pembroke, which is geographically within the county ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.


History

The history of Brudenell is most often presented as a "boom and bust" narrative in which the village experience a period of rapid-paced development, peaking in the 1880s, followed by a period of steep economic decline and eventual abandonment. The village is now commonly referred to as a "ghost town" though this characterization does little justice to the history of the settlement, nor to current residents, many of whom are descendants of the original settlers.Derek Murray, "Narratives, Transitions, and the Spaces between Old and New: A Socio-Economic History of Brudenell through the 1871 Census of Canada," MA Major Research Paper, University of Guelph, 2009.
The community was established in the 1850s at the intersection of the Opeongo Line and the
Addington Colonization Road Addington may refer to: Places Australia * Addington, Victoria, a town Canada * Addington County, Ontario, a former county (now Lennox and Addington County, Ontario) * Addington Highlands, Ontario, a township * Addington Parish, New Brunsw ...
with the completion of the latter road. During the 1880s, Brudenell became known as the 'sin-bucket' of the Opeongo Line due to its three hotels, offering gambling, alcohol and other
vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
s. In 1893, the local portion of the
Canada Atlantic Railway The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1879 through ...
was built, bypassing Brudenell in favour of nearby
Killaloe, Ontario Killaloe is a town located in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada in the township of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards. Geographically it is located in Eastern Ontario. The shores of Golden Lake are located to the east, which is well known for qua ...
, as decided by then-Prime Minister
Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadians, French ...
. This led to a permanent economic decline for Brudenell.


Today

Brudenell is now home to a fire station and Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church, which hosts an annual supper to raise funds for the maintenance of parish buildings. The supper is famous for its traditional sand-baked beans. The church hall was also for a time the home of Stone Fence Theatre, now performing mainly out of Eganville. Performances were held there from 2003 to 2006, including a rendition of "Al Capone's Hideout," a musical comedy about the notorious gangster's brief stay in the area in the 1940s. The production was directed and co-authored by Barry Goldie in association with the Upper Madawaska Theatre Group, Stone Fence Theatre's predecessor company.


References

{{authority control Communities in Renfrew County