Bonnechere Valley, Ontario

Bonnechere Valley is a township in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 3,665 in the Canada 2006 Census.

Communities

The administrative and commercial centre of Bonnechere Valley is Eganville, a small community occupying a deep limestone valley carved at the Fifth Chute of the Bonnechere River.

The township also comprises the smaller communities of Augsburg, Castile, Clontarf, Constant Creek, Cormac, Dacre, Donegal, Esmonde, Grattan, Lake Clear, McGrath, Perrault, Ruby, Silver Lake, Scotch Bush, Vanbrugh, Woermke and Zadow, as well as the ghost towns of Newfoundout, Balaclava and Foymount.

History

The power of the Bonnechere River has been harnessed since 1848 but it was John Egan's grist mill that gets credit for stimulating the area's economic growth.

In 1911, the Great Fire destroyed many of the buildings in Eganville. 75 homes were lost in all along with schools, churches and industries along both sides on the Bonnechere River. This fire was started by two teenagers smoking cigarettes in a shed. A year later, the Municipal Building was erected, and served as the village post office for almost a century. This building has since become the home of the Bonnechere Museum and one of the most well known symbols of Eganville,

External links

• Township of Bonnechere Valley