Greatest Steel Town That Never Existed: History of Ojibway (1913 to 1966)

In 1913, the U.S. Steel Corporation planned to build a steel town: Ojibway. This history walking tour will go into why they chose this area for the steel town, why it failed, the players (real estate agents, politicians, land owners), and transition from ghost town to the emergence of a metropolitan park.

For the walk itself, we just have to be mindful of cyclists because sometimes they do like to use the main paths at Black Oak Heritage Park. I will ask everyone to keep to the right of the pathway. There are no washrooms available at Black Oak so if you are coming from the Oakwood / Spring Garden walk, perhaps use the Capri Pizza South Windsor Arena for restrooms before heading to Black Oak. Wear long sleeves and other clothing to cover your legs in case of ticks.

Precaution about ticks:
- Avoid walking in tall grass and stay on the centre of paths.
- Cover up. Wear long- sleeved shirts and pants.
- Wear light coloured clothing to spot ticks easily.
- Tuck pants into your socks and wear closed-toed shoes.
- Do a full body check on yourself, children and pets after being outdoors.
- Shower within 2 hours of being outdoors.
- Put clothes into a dryer on high heat (at least 60 minutes) to kill any possible ticks.
- Put a tick collar on your pets.
- Keep grass in your yard short.

If you want to be added on a newsletter where I’ll keep attendees up to date with my progress on the history book I’m currently writing about this topic and the documentary film im also planning on creating about this topic (or donate to the film!), please send me an email! (petrichw@gmail.com)


Added Details:

- In case it rains the day prior to the tour, I would recommend wearing rain boots! The path can get pretty muddy when it gets wet.
- Watch out on the path as there can be an odd stick or twig on the trail (to avoid potential tripping).
- In case the parking lot is full, you can park on the side of Broadway Street.
- If you would like to check out my podcast episode where I go into the history of the town of Ojibway, please check out this link:
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lifeinabordertown/episodes/Ep-7-The-Greatest-Steel-Town-That-Never-Was-e102qoq