Georgian Bay Township
Historical Society
LOCKMASTER’S OFFICE
Lock 45, Port Severn, Trent-Severn Waterway
Lockmaster Joe White manually cranking open lock doors in the same manner as is done today
The water control dam and lock at Port Severn were completed in 1915, the lock only meant to be a temporary one until the permanent lock would be built at the far end of Baxter Lake, entering into Georgian Bay in north Honey Harbour.
The MP for Simcoe North, William Bennett and the Midland Merchant’s Association lobbied the federal government to locate the Western terminus of the waterway and lock at Port Severn after the collapse of the lumbering industry in the area. This is the lock that exists today in Port Severn and is one of the smallest and only hand operated lock left on the canal.
Over the lock station’s 100 years, changes and renovations were made to the site including replacing the Lockmaster’s office on 4 occasions, the current structure built on the 75th anniversary of the lock station in 1990. The first office was a re-purposed construction shack used during the construction of the dam and lock. A few years after the lock opened, this building caught fire and was completely destroyed. This is when the next building, built expressly to be used as the Lockmaster’s office was constructed around 1918-20.
Our historical society became aware that this building still existed where it had been moved to a nearby marina to make way for a new building. Although it had been remodeled into a small sleeping cabin and re-sided in aluminum siding, the bones of the building still existed. There were also many pictures taken of the building while it was still being used as the lockmaster’s office at the lock station, thus enabling the historical society to accurately restore the building.
Our dedicated volunteers were able to place the building on a “float” trailer used in transporting heavy equipment on roads and re-locate it at the Bressette Homestead Heritage Park just about 1 km away. A cement slab had been prepared and the historic lockmaster’s office was placed at its new location. The aluminum siding was removed, wood siding applied that was custom milled to duplicate the original profile, historically accurate style windows installed and original colours researched and used to restore the exterior. Today, one can glimpse inside to see what the interior would have looked like in the early days. Joe White, the first Lockmaster and his family lived in a “company house” just a 100 feet away.