Capreol ( ) is a community in the

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 ...

city of

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

. Situated on the Vermilion River (35 mins north of the downtown core), Capreol is the city's northernmost populated area. From 1918 to 2000, Capreol existed as an independent town. However, on January 1, 2001, the towns and cities of the

Regional Municipality of Sudbury The Regional Municipality of Sudbury was a regional municipality that existed in Ontario, Canada, from 1973 to 2000, and was primarily centred on the city of Sudbury. It served as an upper-tier level of municipal government, aggregating municipal ...

were amalgamated into the single-tier city of Greater Sudbury.

History

Early settlement, development and expansion

Capreol formed around the Capreol railway station, which was a major

divisional point In Canada and also in the United States, a divisional point (or division point) is a local operational headquarters for a railway. Divisional points are significant in railway maintenance of way operations. Especially historically, they could be the ...

on the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

line. Its name comes from Frederick Chase Capreol, the original promoter of the

Northern Railway of Canada The Northern Railway of Canada was a railway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, Canada. It was the first Steam locomotive, steam railway to enter service in what was then known as Upper Canada. It was eventually ac ...

. It was founded in 1911 and incorporated as a town in 1918. The first family to move into Capreol was Adolph and Margaret Sawyer, both of whom pioneered in farming. Although the town was originally an independent community with its own thriving economy, it gradually became a satellite community to the more rapidly growing city of Sudbury, approximately 40 kilometres to the south. In 1916, there were thirty families in town, and by 1919, sixty houses had been built. It was then decided that Capreol would build its own

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. In 1920, the construction of the YMCA was in progress, but was damaged by fire, to the extent of $40,000. The YMCA was rebuilt at double the cost and finally opened in 1921. In 1973, the boundaries of the town of Capreol were expanded to include the nearby villages of Sellwood and Milnet, and the town was incorporated into the

. However, despite its status as part of the regional municipality, during this era

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

did not include the town in Sudbury's

Census Metropolitan Area The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of stat ...

Ghost towns

The former villages of Milnet and Sellwood, located within the area annexed by Capreol in 1973, are both now

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

s. The

National Steel Corporation The National Steel Corporation (1929–2003) was a major American steel producer. It was founded on October 1, 1929 through a merger arranged by Weirton Steel with the new Great Lakes Steel Corporation, which was then in the process of construc ...

mined iron ore in Sellwood and transported it south to

Depot Harbour Depot Harbour is a ghost town on Wasauksing First Nation, in the Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. It was once the western terminus of the Canada Atlantic Railway and a busy port on Georgian Bay. Formation and rise In 1891, the Ottawa, ...

for onwards shipment to its plants in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. Milnet (originally named Sellwood Junction up to 1916) began as a stop along the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

. In 1917, after the railway was laid down, the Marshay Lumber Company built a mill and began a 22-year process of cutting trees from the area. Men from logging camps upstream would let the Vermilion River carry the logs to the mill in Milnet. From there the men at the

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

would cut the wood on the blade and then move it along to the planar mill, for eventual shipment eastwards by rail. An open pit mine now stands where the Sellwood townsite once was.

Amalgamation

On January 1, 2001, Capreol and the other cities and towns of the regional municipality were amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury. In the

Canada 2011 Census The 2011 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population on May 10, 2011. Statistics Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, conducts a nationwide census every five years. In 2011, it consisted of a mandatory short for ...

, Capreol was listed for the first time as one of six distinct population centres (or

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s) within the city, with a population of 3,276 and a population density of 537.7 km²;Canada 2011 Census Community Profiles: Population Centre of Capreol

. however, the boundaries of this statistical aggregation correspond only to the main townsite of Capreol, and not to the full municipal boundaries as they existed prior to 2001. The community is part of Ward 7 on Greater Sudbury City Council, and is represented by councillor Mike Jakubo.

Sports and culture

Capreol is the location of the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum, a heritage attraction located in the former CN and CNoR superintendent's home and Prescott Park, taking up a large portion of the town's downtown core parallel to the railroad tracks. From 1978 to 1986, Capreol had a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League team called the Capreol Hawks, who won the league title in 1980-81.

Transportation

Capreol has a long history as a Northern Ontario

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...

and is today still situated along the

mainline. It is served by the ''

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

'', Canada's transcontinental passenger rail service, which is operated by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

and which stops at Capreol station. Capreol station marks the ''Canadians last north- and west-bound stop in Greater Sudbury before continuing its journey toward

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

and, ultimately,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Local bus service is available in Capreol via Greater Sudbury Transit's 105 Valley Route, which connects with downtown Sudbury and the Sudbury Transit Centre.

Former mayors

* P. Kilgour - 1927-1928 * B. M. Robinson - 1931 * Willam Gibson - 1932-1935 * James E. Coyne - 1936-1943 * Willam Gibson - 1944-1946 * Alistair MacLean - 1947-1952 * William Gibson - 1953-1954 * Harold Prescott - 1955-1969 *

Norman Fawcett Norman Edward Fawcett (July 29, 1910 – January 26, 1997) was a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Nickel Belt in the House of Commons of Canada from 1965 to 1968. He was a member of the New Democratic Party. He was born ...

- 1969-1973 * Harold Prescott - 1973-1975 * Frank Mazzuca - 1975-1997 * Dave Kilgour - 1997-2000

Notable residents

* Jean Robert Beaulé, politician *

Fred Boimistruck Frederick Michael Boimistruck, Jr. (born January 14, 1962) is a Canadians, Canadian retired ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Early life Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Boimistruck grew ...

, NHL hockey player * Joffre Desilets, NHL hockey player *

, politician * Pete Horeck, NHL hockey player * Elie Martel, politician * Rob MacDonald, mixed martial artist * Shelley Martel, politician * Frank Mazzuca Sr., politician * Mike Miron, lacrosse player * Doug Mohns, NHL hockey player * Allan Patterson, politician * Donald Bartlett Reid, politician * Barbara Tyson, actress

Images

File:Capreol ON 3.JPG, Young Street File:Northern Ontario Railroad Museum Building.JPG, Northern Ontario Railroad Museum File:CN 6077.JPG, CN 6077 'Mountain Class' 4-8-2, preserved at the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum and Heritage Park, Capreol. File:CN6077 motion work, Walschaerts valve gear..JPG, Motion work of Mountain class 4-8-2 CN 6077.

References

External links

*
Capreol's Information PagesHistory of Capreol
at Greater Sudbury Heritage Museums {{Authority control Neighbourhoods in Greater Sudbury Populated places established in 1918 Populated places disestablished in 2000 Former towns in Ontario Railway towns in Ontario