Kirkfield is a village located in the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The unincorporated village was named in 1864 after the initial name, ''Novar'', was rejected by the government. A list of 8 possible choices was then offered. The village, being predominantly

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

at the time, chose ''Kirkfield'', after Kirk' o' Field in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. It is home to Lock 36 of the Trent-Severn Waterway, a hydraulic

lift lock A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock. It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, like ...

which connects Canal Lake and the artificially flooded Mitchell Lake. Travellers and commuters pass through Kirkfield regularly while travelling on Highway 48 (Now Portage Road) west towards

Highway 12 Route 12 or Highway 12 can refer to: For a list of roads named A12, see A12 roads. International * Asian Highway 12 * European route E12 * European route E012 Argentina * National Route 12 Australia NSW * Western Sydney Airport Motorway ( ...

and east towards Highway 35. The village of Kirkfield is located north-northwest of Lindsay at the junction of

Kawartha Lakes Road 48 King's Highway 48, also known as Highway 48, is a provincially maintained highway in southern Ontario that extends from Major Mackenzie Drive in Markham, through Whitchurch-Stouffville and East Gwillimbury, to Highway 12 south-east of Bea ...

and

Kawartha Lakes Road 6 The numbered roads in Kawartha Lakes account for of roads in the Canadian province of Ontario.The total length only counts concurrent sections of roadways once. These roads include King's Highways that are signed and maintained by the province, ...

(Formerly highways 48 and

503 __NOTOC__ Year 503 ( DIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Volusianus and Dixicrates (or, less frequently, year 125 ...

, respectively). Schiffshebewerk_Kirkfield

Kirkfield is the birthplace of Canadian railway, transit, and electrical entrepreneur William Mackenzie. His railway, the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic 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 Edmonton. M ...

, was Canada's second transcontinental, begun in 1895 and opened in 1915. It went bankrupt during World War I, but when combined with other bankrupt companies such as the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

it became the basis for

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

in 1923. Mackenzie learned how to become a railway contractor when the Toronto and Nipissing Railway came through Kirkfield, opening in 1871. He was also a contractor for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

in the Rocky Mountains. He brought with him a group of Kirkfield labourers who were called the

Eldon Reserve Eldon may refer to: Places Australia * Eldon Range, Tasmania, a mountain range Canada * Eldon, Alberta, a locality * Eldon Parish, New Brunswick * Eldon Township, Ontario, a former municipality * Eldon, Ontario, a former railway stop * Eldon, Pri ...

, and they were so faithful to him, they did not strike with other contractors when the CPR ran out of money several times. He also became head of the

Toronto Railway Company The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the horsecar system it inherited from the Toronto Street Railway, the previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto ...

in 1891, and brought the first electric

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

service to Toronto in 1893. When later combined with other streetcar companies such as the Toronto Civic Railways, the Toronto and York Radial Railway and the Toronto Suburban Railway, the TRC became the basis for the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

in 1921. He also pioneered power generation at Niagara Falls, and headed EDCO, the Electrical Development Company of Ontario. Adam Beck was a continual critic of Mackenzie and his companies, and eventually forced EDCO to become part of giant

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity g ...

. The Sir William Mackenzie Inn, built in 1888 and rumoured to be haunted, is located in Kirkfield. Several other homes in Kirkfield were built by Mackenzie for family members. Kirkfield's Lock 36 is a 15-metre-high hydraulic liftlock constructed between 1896 and 1907. Additional construction of an updated electrical and hydraulic system was completed between 1965 and 1966.Kirkfield Liftlock, Ontario, Canada - Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
/ref> It is the second highest lift lock in Canada. Kirkfield was the childhood home of businessman Pat Burns, who went started the

Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and feat ...

and built one of largest meat packing and ranching empires in the world. Education in the village is through Lady Mackenzie Public School, which serves an average of about 450 students, with 25 staff and faculty.

References

{{authority control Communities in Kawartha Lakes