Кобург: История и Развитие Канадского Города

Cobourg (/'//k//oʊ//b//ɝ//g/ KOHburg) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is located along Highway 401 (exits 472 and 474) and the former Highway 2 (now Northumberland County Road 2). To the south, Cobourg borders Lake Ontario. To the north, east and west, it is surrounded by Hamilton Township.

The land which present day Cobourg occupies was previously inhabited by Mississauga (Anishinaabe speaking) peoples. The settlements that make up today's Cobourg were founded by United Empire Loyalists in 1798 within Northumberland County, Home District, Province of Upper Canada. Some of the founding fathers and early settlers were Eliud Nickerson, Joseph Ash, Zacheus Burnham and Asa Allworth Burnham. The Town was originally a group of smaller villages such as Amherst and Hardscrabble, which were later named Hamilton. In 1808 it became the district town for the Newcastle District. It was renamed Cobourg in 1819, in recognition of the marriage of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales to Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld (later Saxe Coburg and Gotha, who would later become King of Belgium). By the 1830s, Cobourg had become a regional centre, mostly due to its fine harbour on Lake Ontario. In 1835 the Upper Canada Academy was established in Cobourg by Egerton Ryerson and the Wesleyan Conference of Bishops. On 1 July 1837, Cobourg was officially incorporated as a town. In 1841 the Upper Canada Academy's name was changed to Victoria College. In 1842 Victoria College was granted powers to confer degrees. This meant goods and passengers could be brought at least to the south shore of Rice Lake. The remaining 8 miles of rough tracks was viable for passengers and light goods, but no use for the valuable timber and mine products. By 1835, only 10 years after the first steam railway in the world, there was active discussion about building a railway up to what later became Harwood. However, the townspeople invested instead in a plank road, using 300,000 feet of 3 inch wooden planks, allowing horse drawn vehicles to haul heavy goods. By 1850 the plank road was breaking up, and was impassible in wet conditions, so the railway scheme was revived. By 1852, there was considerable enthusiasm for the railway project within the town. River traffic had become seen as yesterday's solution by this time, so the plans were expanded to include a long bridge across Rice Lake, to take the railway right up to Peterborough. By 1854 the rails reached the shore of the lake, and it found good work transporting passengers and nearly 2 million feet of lumber from the Rice Lake down to Cobourg that summer. However, revenue from the project had to be diverted into building an ill fated bridge, using hundreds of wooden trestles, 31 Burr Truss spans, and a centre pivot swing bridge to allow boats to pass. The prime mover locally for getting the Railway company off the ground was D'Arcy E. Boulton, a lawyer based in Cobourg, who enthused the town with the plan. They agreed to begin funding the scheme that was initially expected to cost £150,000, but ended leaving many people with worthless railway bonds and the town council with a debt that was only finally repaid in the 1930s. The man appointed to manage the project was Samuel Zimmerman, who had previously been instrumental in building the Great Western Railway (Ontario). The bridge was constructed over the summer of 1854 and was officially opened on 29 December that year. Three days later, it collapsed when ice movements shifted the trestles out of line, splintering the Burr Truss sections. The proposed solution was to stabilise the trestles (or 'stilts' as their critics dubbed them) by an infill of soil, which did happen on the southern side, still visible as a strip of land still remaining running into the lake near Harwood. But funds were not forthcoming for the northern side, and winter ice and shifting lake mud meant that it was frequently unusable. A further problem emerged when Port Hope, not far along the coast, pursued its own plans for a Railway to Peterborough. In 1857, the Port Hope and Lindsay line was constructed, and the following year opened a branch to Peterborough, going round the western end of the lake, in direct competition with the struggling Cobourg route. The response of the Cobourg directors was to oust D. E. Boulton, who then invested in the Port Hope line. Conflicts of interest among various personnel resulted in the deliberate removal of the bolts on sections of the bridge in early 1861, ensuring that when the ice moved again the bridge was destroyed, and this time it was left unrepaired. The railway reverted to linking Cobourg harbour with Harwood and the Rice Lake water traffic. In 1865, the railway was bought by a consortium of Pittsburgh steel manufacturers, who had already bought the Marmora Iron quarries north east of Rice Lake. They established an iron ore supply route using barges up the Trent River and across Rice Lake to the railway at Harwood. From there it was brought along the Railway to Cobourg Harbour for shipment across Lake Ontario to feed the steel mills of America. This provided a steady income for the railway and the town until the ore ran out in 1878. It also had two longer term spin offs in the form of a rail car company and the beginnings of a tourist industry.

When the iron ore scheme was getting underway, a small iron foundry based in Cobourg, was approached to cast the wheels and frames of wagons to move the Marmora iron ore down to the harbour. James Crossen saw an opportunity to combine his cast iron products with the abundant local timber to produce railway rolling stock. With the foundry located near both the Cobourg line and train station of the Grand Trunk Railway, which had been built along the shore of Lake Ontario in 1856, it was well placed to expand as Canada's railway network grew. It was later named the Crossen Car Manufacturing Company and went on to become the largest builder of timber framed rail cars in Canada, making everything from coal and freight wagons through to dining cars and first class carriages. By 1910, wood was going out of date, when all steel cars took over, and in 1915 the company, unable to adapt, went into liquidation, and parts of the site reverted to being an iron foundry. A replica of one of the Crossen ore cars was built in 2016 and is on display near Cobourg waterfront.

The connections and trade links which developed through the iron shipments brought many American industrialists to Cobourg, which became a popular summer destination. Victoria Hall stands at the heart of the downtown, a building that now serves as the town hall, as well as home of the Art Gallery of Northumberland, the Cobourg Concert Hall, and an Old Bailey style courtroom that is now used as the Council chamber. Victoria Hall was designed by architect Kivas Tully. The landmark is known for its impressive stone work. Charles Thomas Thomas (1820 1867), an English born master stonecarver and building contractor, executed the fine stone carvings, including the bearded faced keystone over the main entrance into the building. Victoria Hall was officially opened on September 6, 1860 by the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII. At that time, Cobourg was a significant town in the Province of Canada, and some townspeople felt that Cobourg would be a suitable capital for the newly united provinces; this privilege went to Ottawa, Ontario, however.

One of the oldest buildings in the town was for many years known as The Barracks, suggesting military connections. However it is equally likely that it was built for industrial uses, either in the very early 1800s or as a malting house and brewery by James Calcutt in the early 1830s. It probably served that purpose until a larger brewery was built by the McKechnies in 1863. The old stone built building had a variety of industrial and storage purposes, and twenty different owners. In 2000 it was acquired in a run down state by the Cobourg Museum Foundation, who have restored it and it is now open as the Sifton Cook Heritage Centre.

In 1906 on 77 Albert Street the Cobourg Jail, originally referred to as The County Jail, began to house inmates. Over time the Cobourg jail continued to expand to house the increasing population of inmates. In 1998 the jail closed and the year after in 1999 was purchased by private buyers. Cobourg was the site of No. 26 Ordnance Depot, later Canadian Forces Station Cobourg, from 1953 to 1971.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, the town invested heavily in purchasing property along the waterfront and beautifying the area. A boardwalk was developed to connect the harbour and large sandy beach while further pathways were created to encompass Victoria Park and the historic downtown. Because of this renewal and revitalization, many community activities now revolve in and around these spaces.

Cobourg has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with warm summers and cold winters.

Highway 401 and Northumberland County Road 2 (formerly Highway 2) pass through town. County Road 45 (formerly Highway 45) begins in Cobourg and heads north east to Norwood. The Canadian Pacific and Canadian National main railway lines (Toronto – Ottawa/Montreal) traverse the town. Via Rail offers passenger service to Cobourg railway station with multiple daily departures on the Toronto – Ottawa/Montreal route. Cobourg Transit is a fully accessible community transit system that provides daily bus service to the town. The community transit system ends its runs by 7pm, which can hamper travel for those without other means of transportation. It formerly ran until 9:30pm however the hours were reduced. The Ontario Waterfront Trail passes through Cobourg and cyclists can be found moving through daily during the warmer months.

Cobourg retains its small town atmosphere, in part due to the downtown and surrounding residential area's status as a Heritage Conservation District. The downtown is a well preserved example of a traditional small town main street. Victoria Hall, the town hall completed in 1860, is a National Historic Site of Canada. The event is now held in Victoria Park in June. Cobourg's beach, Victoria Park Beach, is used as a location for volleyball tournaments, events, beach days, family picnics and other events. The beach is equipped with a splash park, playground set, park area for eating, local restaurants and a pier. Additionally, there is a small trailer park located directly next to the beach. There are lifeguards on duty some days and it is safe to swim and play in. Close to the downtown, tourists can shop in local shops and eat out at many of Cobourg's restaurants. Cobourg is home to the Port Hope Drive In, Canada's oldest drive in.

Northumberland Today, owned by Osprey Media, is a daily newspaper with content contributed from the Cobourg Star and Port Hope Guide.

Five radio stations are licensed to Cobourg, providing music, news and local programming to Northumberland County and surrounding areas. FM 89.7 CFWN, not for profit community based, volunteer driven, programming focused on the community
FM 90.7 CHJJ, Christian music
FM 93.3 CKSG, adult contemporary
FM 103.1 CFMZ, classical
FM 107.9 CHUC, classic hits

Cobourg uses cable 10 to broadcast local events and weather. Apart from that, Cobourg has no local terrestrial television stations; the closest is CHEX TV in Peterborough, Ontario.