Swastika, Ontario

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Swastika Town Sign, March 2007

Swastika (swaz-TEE-kuh) is a small community founded in 1908 around a mining site in northern Ontario, Canada, and today within the municipal boundaries of Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

Swastika is a junction on the Ontario Northland Railway [1], where a branch to Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec leaves the ONR's main line from North Bay, Ontario to Moosonee. The Northlander passenger railway service between Toronto and Cochrane serves a station at Swastika, with connecting bus service along Highway 66 into downtown Kirkland Lake.

The town's other claim to fame is its association with the Mitford family, who owned the Swastika Mine for which the town was named. In particular, Nazi sympathizer Unity Mitford's association with the town—she was supposedly conceived there—impressed some of the more superstitious Nazis,^{[citation needed]} to whom the swastika was an important symbol.

Swastika Drug Co., medication box

During World War II, the provincial government sought to change the town's name to Winston, in honour of Winston Churchill, but the town refused, insisting that the town had held the name long before the Nazis co-opted the symbol. Residents of Swastika used to tell the story of how the Ontario Department of Highways would erect new signs on the roads at the edge of the town. At night the residents would tear these signs down and put up their own signs proclaiming the town to be "Swastika".

An important figure was Christopher Macaulay, direct descendant of Thomas Babbington Macaulay, who fought to keep the name as Swastika.

[edit] History

Lucky Cross Mill in Swastika, Ontario, Canada (1918)

Swastika, Ontario was named after the Swastika Gold Mine staked in the autumn of 1907 and incorporated on January 6, 1908. James and William Dusty staked the claims alongside Otto Lake for the Tavistock Mining Partnership. The Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway had an engineers' camp nearby as they had to construct two railway bridges as they advanced northwards. They first used the name Swastika in their 1907 Annual Report to indicate a water tank was located at this site to meet the needs of the mighty steam trains that opened up northern Ontario. Prospectors and miners flocked to the area and after viewing the find at the Swastika Gold Mine they advanced even further throughout the surrounding region. In 1909 the Lucky Cross Mine adjacent to the T.& N.O. railway tracks began producing gold. A Mr. Morrisson started a farm and lodging alongside the tracks as early as 1907 and from there the community developed. By 1911 a hotel, businesses, etc. were flourishing and the area to the east was heavily staked and the major gold mines of Kirkland Lake were found and developed. Swastika was the main transportation link with the railway and communications centre. Churches, schools, community groups and organisations continued to provide the needs of the residents of the area. In 2008, the small community of Swastika will be celebrating its centennial.