Wainfleet Historical Society

06/17/2026

06/16/2026

The seven painters who formed the Group of Seven did not invent Canadian landscape painting. What they did was decide that the Canadian landscape deserved to be painted differently than it had been. The dominant tradition in Canadian art in the early twentieth century was shaped by European academic painting: soft light, careful gradations, the kind of prettiness that made wilderness look manageable. The artists who would become the Group of Seven had spent years painting in the bush of Ontario and had come to a different conclusion. The Canadian Shield, the birch forests of Algonquin Park, the rocky north shore of Lake Superior, the Algoma highlands in the fall: these were not pretty places in the European sense. They were hard and bright and cold and dramatic, and the only way to paint them honestly was with bold flat colour, strong simplified forms, and brushwork that did not try to smooth anything over. The Group held their first joint exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto in May 1920. The founding seven were Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael, and A.Y. Jackson. Tom Thomson, whose bold wilderness paintings had influenced most of them directly, had drowned in Algonquin Park in 1917 and was never a formal member, though his spirit was entirely present. The critical reception was mixed at first. Some reviewers found the work crude or unfinished. Others recognized immediately that something new was happening in Canadian art. Over the following decade the Group's reputation grew steadily. They painted the Rockies, the Arctic, the Maritimes, and Quebec in addition to their familiar Ontario territories. Their work entered the permanent collections of major galleries. It became, over time, the visual language through which Canadians learned to look at their own country.

06/16/2026

Join the Historical Society of St. Catharines for this session on June 25th at 7:30 at the St. Catharines Museum & Welland Canals Centre.

06/16/2026

Taking to the Skies in Tribute

This Wednesday, 17 June, we’re honoured to be flying alongside the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum iconic Lancaster and B-25 Mitchell. It’s a chance to pay tribute to the proud history of 431 Bomber Squadron, a legacy we’re proud to have inherited.

Our route will take us over Hamilton Airport, where we’ll form up with the Lancaster at approximately 2:25 PM, then head out to Niagara Falls for a couple of passes before returning to Hamilton.

These aircraft carry the memory of those who served, and the courage and sacrifice they showed. We’re grateful for the chance to help keep that memory alive.

After the flight, we’d love for you to join us for a meet and greet at the museum before we head back to Barrie. Hope to see you there! Royal Canadian Air Force

06/16/2026

06/15/2026

We are on the lookout for community-led history projects from across the country. Submit your local history initiative today!

06/15/2026

5th Annual Vintage Car Show
If you would like to register your vintage car please DM.

06/15/2026

The Central School in Goderich, Ontario. This was the school of Elias Disney in the late 1860s. Elias' son, Walt, would be born 3 decades following. The Disney family lived in Bluevale, Ontario and Goderich for decades prior to moving the United States.

06/15/2026

Most people who handle a New Zealand banknote in Auckland or Wellington have no idea it was made in Ottawa. The Canadian Bank Note Company, headquartered in Canada's capital, is one of the world's leading producers of high-security banknotes and official documents. The company has been in operation since 1897, which means it has been printing sensitive documents through two world wars, the Cold War, and the digital revolution, and it is still going. Its client list includes over 60 countries. The work it does is not advertised. That is part of the point. A company that prints banknotes and passports for sovereign governments operates on trust and discretion above almost everything else. The documents it produces need to be impossible to counterfeit, durable enough for years of handling, and delivered with the kind of reliability that national governments require. Canadian Bank Note has built that reputation over more than a century. It employs specialized engravers, security printing experts, and technical staff who collectively represent a body of craft knowledge that takes decades to develop. The fact that this company sits in Ottawa, in a country more associated internationally with hockey and maple syrup than with high-security printing, is itself a small Canadian surprise. Canada does many things extremely well that the world rarely hears about. Printing the world's money is one of them.

06/14/2026