Marlbank is a small community located in

Tweed Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

, Ontario, Canada, a few kilometres west of Highway 41. Marlbank developed around a factory that produced cement from locally mined

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...

, a

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...

-rich mud or

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

which contains variable amounts of

clays Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

and

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

. The community is the home of the hardest underwater cement in the world that built the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. Marlbank village has many homes built from blocks using the same locally produced cement. In 2024, a 19th-century steam locomotive used at the factory was rescued from a lake near Marlbank. Marlbank Phoenix Tavern is a long-established

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

in the community that has survived fires and neglect. In 1904, a fire erupted at the site which currently holds the

, but the building was rebuilt in 1905, and was known as The Stinson House. The owners opened their doors and served beverages to patrons. In 1907, the building and ownership changed hands to Mr. William O'Keefe, who renamed the pub after himself, calling it the O'Keefe House. The business held fast to this name through several years and owners until 1938, when Sam Schell named the building "The Marlbank House". After a fire destroyed most of the building again in 1994, the tavern's name changed once more to "the Marlbank Phoenix Tavern". From early 2009, the Tavern was closed for almost two years and left to fall into disrepair. Two local residents, Ray and Ivy Hutchinson, and their son David, bought and rescued this historical landmark. After major renovations, the Marlbank Phoenix Tavern reopened for business in January 2011.

References

Communities in Hastings County {{EasternOntario-geo-stub