Port Stanley, Ontario

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Port Stanley is a community in the Municipality of Central Elgin, Ontario located on the north shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of Kettle Creek.

A settlement named Kettle Creek was founded here in 1812 by Lieutenant-Colonel John Bostwick. Around 1824, it was renamed Port Stanley after Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, who had visited nearby Port Talbot. Lord Stanley later became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the father of Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada, ice hockey enthusiast and donor of the first Stanley Cup in 1893.

Port Stanley has a large sheltered harbour operated by Transport Canada. Historically, these facilities supported trade in coal and wood between Southwestern Ontario and the United States. Today, most of these facilities are dormant, but a commerical freshwater fishery operates from the harbour.

Attractions include a large sandy beach and the Port Stanley Festival Theatre. Port Stanley Terminal Rail operates a tourist train between St. Thomas, Ontario and Port Stanley using a portion of the former L&PS rail line (see The London and Port Stanley Railway). The village used to have the Stork Club, which had the largest dance floor in the London-Port Stanley area; the club, famous for swing dance and big band, burned in the 1970s. During the 1970s, the village promoted itself with the acronym CALIPSO: Come And Live In Port Stanley Ontario.

Over the past decade, there have been numerous proposals to operate a ferry between Port Stanley and Cleveland, Ohio.