Highlights of the day

  • 1814 War of 1812 - General Gordon Drummond calls off his disastrous six week siege of Fort Erie.
  • 1826 Col John By starts to build the Rideau Canal; with Thomas MacKay contracting; to 1832.
  • 1911 Robert Borden defeats Wilfrid Laurier’s Liberals with 134 seats to 87; 12th federal election.
  • 1928 Canadian Post Office introduces first airmail stamps.

List of Facts for September 21

  • 1621 King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) officially grants Canada (including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and parts of Maine) to his secretary Sir William Alexander, first Earl of Sterling; he and his son, William Alexander the Younger, create a Nova Scotia baronetcy, and attempt to colonize the territory, but with little success. Edinburgh, Scotland
  • 1812 War of 1812 - Benjamin Forsyth leads American riflemen in raid on Gananoque. Gananoque, Ontario
  • 1814 War of 1812 - General Gordon Drummond calls off British attack on Fort Erie, retreats to Chippawa, Ontario. Fort Erie, Ontario
  • 1815 Francis Gore resumes office as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; serves until January 6, 1818. Ontario
  • 1826 John By of the Royal Engineers starts to build the Rideau Canal; with Thomas MacKay and John Redpath contracting; completed in 1832. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1826 Frederick Beechey explores Arctic coast in the ‘Blossom’; sails east of Bering Strait, from Icy Cape to Point Franklin. Point Franklin, Alaska
  • 1826 John Franklin cuts short trek at Return Reef, without meeting Frederick Beechey and the Blossom; heads back to Fort Franklin, NWT. Return Reef, Alaska
  • 1854 London gets city charter. London, Ontario
  • 1871 Toronto Stock Exchange members regroup & agree on new rules, regulations & meeting room; cost of TSE seat rises to $250; 34 issues listed. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1896 Official opening of the Central Exposition in the new Aberdeen Pavilion in Lansdowne Park grounds; known formerly as the Dominion Industrial Exhibition, now the Central Canada Exhibition, Ottawa’s fall fair started in 1879. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1902 Energy - Rocky Mountain Development Company strikes oil at 1,020 feet in the Waterton Lakes; the First oil find in Alberta. Oil City, Alberta
  • 1911 Federal Election - Robert Borden wins a majority for the Conservatives in Canada’s 12th federal general election; takes 134 seats to 87, upsetting Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberals with 50.9% of popular vote; on issues of reciprocity - free trade with the US - and Canadian Navy. Canada
  • 1918 Blinded war hero Harris Turner of Saskatoon publishes the First issue of Turner’s Weekly. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 1918 Bob Edwards writes in the Calgary Eye Opener, Probably the saddest thing about Ottawa is the number of fourth rate intellects applied to first rate problems. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1922 Filumena Lassandro and Emilio Picariello allegedly kill A.P.P Officer Stephen Lawson at Coleman, Alberta.
  • 1928 Post Office introduces first airmail stamps. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1929 Gerry Seiberling throws First legal forward pass in Canadian football to Ralph Losie of the Calgary Altomah-Tigers in a game against Edmonton. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1931 Finance - Britain goes off the gold standard that Churchill had put them on in 1926; $Canadian hurt; down 25% in New York; TSE & Standard Stock Exchange peg share prices. London, England
  • 1940 World’s First triple dead heat for first place recorded at Willow’s Park, Victoria; First three way photo finish at a horse race. Victoria, BC
  • 1944 Second World War - Greeks and First Canadian Corps take Rimini; overall, the Canadians in Italy are bogged down in slow, vicious fighting from one Italian river to another. Rimini, Italy
  • 1957 Raymond Burr stars in Perry Mason, premiering on CBS; the creation of attorney/novelist Erle Stanley Gardner, it First appeared a CBS radio series (1943-1955); the Vancouver-born actor will play the TV role for 9 seasons, making it the longest-running lawyer series on television. Hollywood, California
  • 1960 Foreign Aid - Canada to grant $22,100,000 over 10 years to international fund to develop Indus River in Pakistan. Pakistan
  • 1963 Arts - Opening of the Place des Arts, despite demonstrations by separatists; new multi facility concert hall; Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier inaugurated with an MSO concert conducted jointly by Wilfrid Pelletier and Zubin Mehta. Montréal, Québec
  • 1964 Blanche Meagher elected chair of Board of Governors of International Atomic Energy Agency; Canadian Ambassador to Austria. Geneva, Switzerland
  • 1967 Peter van Ginkel appointed ‘affiliate artist’ at Waterloo Lutheran University (today’s Wilfrid Laurier University); First such appointment in Canada. Waterloo, Ontario
  • 1971 Media - Canadian cigarette manufacturers to end broadcast tobacco advertising, effective January 1, 1972.
  • 1974 BTO - Bachman-Turner Overdrive - release their rock single, ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet’. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1981 Baseball - Phillies Steve Carlton strikes out his NL record 3,118th batter, Montréal Expos Andre Dawson. Montréal, Québec
  • 1982 Baseball - Only 2,251 fans turn out to see the Montréal Expos play the New York Mets at Shea Stadium New York, New York
  • 1986 Vancouver actor Michael J. Fox wins Best Actor at the 38th Emmy Awards, for his role as Alex Keaton in Family Ties. Los Angeles, California
  • 1990 Nova Corporation sells Polysar division to Bayer AG of Germany for $1.28 billion; Bayer agrees to protect 1,800 jobs at Sarnia. Sarnia, Ontario
  • 1991 Rush’s album, Roll the Bones, enters the Billboard LP chart; will become a hit. New York, New York
  • 1992 New Ottawa Senators hockey team play their First home exhibition game in the Civic Centre; lose 4-3 in overtime to the Washington Capitals. Ottawa is finally back in the NHL after 58 years; the old Stanley Cup winning Senators moved to St. Louis in 1934. [logo Copyright Ottawa Senators Hockey Club Inc. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Brian Mulroney joins British Columbia Premier Mike Harcourt & BC First Nations in deal to set up BC Treaty Commission to broker land claims; to ‘fast track’ negotiations. Capilano, BC
  • 1992 Pierre Trudeau publishes essay in L’Actualité and Macleans calling Québec nationalists ‘master blackmailers’; urges ‘courage’ to resist Québec’s demands, suggests No vote is best. Montréal, Québec
  • 1993 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 to win their second consecutive American League championship. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Currency - Royal Canadian Mint issues First Canadian $2 pieces. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1995 Supreme Court of Canada strikes down 7-year-old federal ban on tobacco advertising; law has to be rewritten. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1999 Manitoba Election - Gary Doer leads Manitoba NDP to narrow majority in provincial election; ousts Progressive Conservative leader Gary Filmon, Premier for 11 years. Manitoba
  • 2005 Trial - Court convicts Rev. Denis Vadeboncoeur (65), a priest, of raping a teenage member of his Normandy parish and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, the second conviction for the clergyman who went to jail for similar crimes in Quebec. France