Highlights of the day

  • 1758 British Forces Capture Fortress of Louisbourg After Two Month Siege
  • 1852 Founding of the Toronto Stock Exchange by business leaders Bloor, Gzowski, McMaster, Barrow & Frazer.
  • 1874 Alexander Graham Bell First describes his idea for the telephone with his father in Brantford.
  • 1936 King Edward VIII dedicates the Vimy Memorial

List of Facts for July 26

  • 1615 Establishment of the First Roman Catholic mission at Three Rivers. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1651 Band of 200 Iroquois attack l’Hôpital de Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1664 Sovereign Council of New France fixes commodity and shipping prices; requires price tags on goods. Québec, Québec
  • 1673 Fort Frontenac completed by the French. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1704 Mgr. de St-Vallier captured by the English. Québec
  • 1757 French and Indian War - Marquis de Montcalm and Duc de Lévis defeated by British troops led by Colonel Parker at Sabbath Day Point. Lake George, New York
  • 1758 French and Indian War - Jeffery Amherst with Admiral Edward Boscawen and Brigadier James Wolfe captures France’s Fortress of Louisbourg on Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island) after siege of nearly 2 months, thus gaining control of the entrance to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. French commander Augustin de Drucour surrenders with 3,500 soldiers and about 4,000 sailors and militia. Amherst promises the French regulars their lives, but will offer no terms to the Acadians or Indians; if captured they will be treated the same as the garrison at Fort William Henry. Drucour forced to accept these conditions, and the Acadians and Indians flee in their canoes. English send French troops to England as prisoners of war for five years, deport civilian population to France. Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
  • 1759 French and Indian war - Jeffery Amherst captures Fort Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga); and Fort St-Frédéric (Crown Point) five days later; French retreat to Montréal. Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1786 Edmund Fanning appointed Lieutenant-Governor of St. John Island (PEI); incumbent Walter Patterson at first refuses to give up office; Fanning serves from May 1787 until May 9, 1804. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1811 First ship-load of Selkirk settlers departs the United Kingdom.
  • 1814 War of 1812 - US Major General Jacob Brown withdraws to Fort Erie with General Elzear Ripley after a mauling at the Battle of Lundy’s Lane; 853 US casualties, including 171 killed; end of American offensive in Niagara. Fort Erie, Ontario
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Patriotes hold an illegal protest meeting at Yamachiche, in the county of Saint-Maurice. Yamachiche, Québec
  • 1845 Franklin Expedition - Captain Dannett, of the whaler Prince of Wales, encounters Franklin’s ships in Melville Bay afixed to an iceberg; they are the last Europeans to see Franklin alive; the expedition will winter on Beechey Island; three crewmen die of tuberculosis and are buried. Baffin Bay, Nunavut
  • 1852 Toronto Stock Exchange - Toronto business leaders Bloor, Gzowski, McMaster, Barrow & Frazer form an Association of Brokers to promote local securities; membership cost $6; a false start to a stock exchange; origin of TSE/TSX. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1866 Reverend James Nisbet arrives at Prince Albert. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1874 Alexander Graham Bell First describes his idea for the telephone to his father at the family home in Brantford; he will build the first telephone in Boston, Massachusetts in 1875, and in 1876, makes the first long distance call over telegraph wires from Brantford to Mount Pleasant, Ontario, 3 km away. Brantford, Ontario
  • 1879 Théodore Robitaille new Lieutenant-Governor of Québec; former incumbent Letellier de St. Just dismissed by John A. Macdonald. Québec, Québec
  • 1880 John A. Macdonald leaves for London to discuss the CPR and Canadian finances. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1881 Canadian Pacific Railway completed to Winnipeg. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1885 Father Albert Lacombe welcomes five teaching sisters from the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus who had been trapped in Batoche during the North West Rebellion; that September, the sisters enroll 22 pupils in what will become Roman Catholic School District Number One. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1888 Former Hudson’s Bay Company steamer Beaver wrecked off Prospect Point in the mouth of Burrard Inlet. Vancouver, BC
  • 1889 Group of over 100 people make the First pilgrimage to the church at Lac Ste-Anne, 50 km NW of Edmonton; built to commemorate the vision of a parish priest from St. Albert, who saw a vision of the Saint on a visit to Ste. Anne’s shrine in France in 1889; tradition continues today. Lac Ste-Anne, Alberta
  • 1892 First electric car runs on Winnipeg’s Main Street. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1899 Anglicans hold First official church service at Creston, BC.
  • 1909 First train of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway crosses Saskatchewan; the company was chartered in 1903 to cross the Prairies and the Rockies to Prince Rupert, BC Saskatchewan
  • 1923 Prince Edward Island Election - James Stewart leads Conservatives back to power. PEI
  • 1923 Warren Harding visits Vancouver on his way back from Alaska; First US President to visit Canada during his term of office. Vancouver, BC
  • 1926 Council of Town of Coleman approves sale of land at Sentinel, Alberta, to East Kootenay Power & Light for construction of a coal-fired electricity generating plant. Coleman, Alberta
  • 1933 Riding Mountain National Park officially opens. Riding Mountain, Manitoba
  • 1936 King Edward VIII dedicates the Vimy Memorial, in the presence of over 3,000 Canadian veterans and families, who made the pilgrimage to the site; the massive twin-tower monument designed by Toronto sculptor Walter Allward, commemorating those Canadians who took Vimy Ridge in 1917; took 11 years to build. Arras, France
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army reportedly captures Tilly before dawn, but they only control half the village, and the German panzers counter-attack, destroying most Canadian tanks and cutting off the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. Tilly, France
  • 1950 Funeral services held in Toronto for former Prime Minister Mackenzie King. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1959 Ottawa, Ontario pop singer Paul Anka’s single ‘Lonely Boy’ hits #1 on the Billboard charts. New York, New York
  • 1966 Espionage - George Victor Spencer found guilty of gross misconduct in supplying information to Soviet Union; former postal clerk. Vancouver, BC
  • 1967 French President Charles de Gaulle ends controversial Canadian tour, flies home to France, after rebuke from Canada for his Vive le Québec libre statement. Montréal, Québec
  • 1977 Canadian composer Gena Branscombe dies in New York at age 95; born in Picton, Ontario in 1881, she is best known for her vocal and choral works. New York, New York
  • 1977 Toronto Maple Leafs name Roger Neilson as their new head coach, replacing Red Kelly. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1978 Queen Elizabeth II starts 10-day visit to Canada to open the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1980 Blues Brothers single ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ peaks at #18 on the Billboard pop singles chart; featuring John Belushi and Ottawa’s Dan Ackroyd. New York, New York
  • 1982 Karen Baldwin of London, Ontario, chosen the 31st Miss Universe; the 18 year old is the First Canadian winner of the title. Lima, Peru
  • 1982 NASA launches Canada’s Anik D1 Comsat on a Delta rocket. Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 1982 Riot - Prisoners kill 3 guards during escape attempt at Archambault maximum security prison near Montréal; two inmates commit suicide. Archambault, Québec
  • 1983 Cookie Gilchrist First player to refuse induction into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame; former CFL star with the Toronto Argonauts. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1984 Pete Rose of the Montreal Expos ties Ty Cobb all-time career singles mark of 3,052, with a base hit in the eighth inning in a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Montréal, Québec
  • 1984 Supreme Court of Canada says that the obligation of parents from other provinces moving to Québec to register their children in French schools is unconstitutional. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Federal government offers $3,840,000 to acquire the Oka, Quebec lands claimed by the Mohawks of Kanesetake as a burial ground and sacred site. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Bryan Adams’ single ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’ stays at #1 on the Billboard pop chart for the second week in a row. New York, New York
  • 1991 Canadian Football League assumes ownership of the nearly bankrupt Ottawa Roughriders CFL football team. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Montreal Expos pitcher Mark Gardner the First to hurl nine no-hit innings against a Dodger home team since Johnny Vander Meer beat Brooklyn at Ebbets Field on June 15, 1938, for his second straight gem; Dodgers win in 10th on two singles off Gardner and Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single off Jeff Fassero. Montréal, Québec
  • 1993 Noel Dinn, founder of the Newfoundland Celtic band Figgy Duff, dies in St. John’s of cancer at age 45. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1995 Creation of the Information Highway Secretariat to manage Canada’s Internet strategy.. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 John Labatt Ltd. sold to Belgian brewer lnterbrew SA, completing a takeover valued at C$2.7 billion; deal makes lnterbrew the world’s third-largest brewery. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Sweden’s Trelleborg AB sells its 28.3% interest in Falconbridge Ltd. to a syndicate of 15 brokerage firms for $1.4 billion. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Wayne Gretzky signs with the New York Rangers. New York, New York
  • 1996 Howard Galganov’s Political Action Committee says it will start a boycott campaign against businesses in the west island of Montréal who post signs in French and not in English as well. Louise Beaudoin, minister responsible for la Charte de la langue française, has noted at least 142 infractions in the Fairview, Cavendish and Rockland shopping centres. Montréal, Québec
  • 1996 Former Roman Catholic bishop Hubert O’Conner convicted of sex crimes committed at St Joseph’s Mission, near Williams Lake, BC, in the late 1960s. Vancouver, BC