Welcome to Stonetown

Photographer Roger Simmons of Lucan, Ont., takes us to nearby historic St. Marys, often used in the filming of a popular Canadian TV show!

- Roger Simmons

Welcome to historic St. Marys, Ont., which was first incorporated as a town in 1863. The area at the junction of the Thames River and Trout Creek sits on a bed of limestone that was easily quarried to be used as a building product. Because of its prolific use, the moniker Stonetown became the town’s nickname. Many of the original limestone structures such as the courthouse, some churches, and the opera house still stand today, making the downtown area a walking tour through history. I fell in love with this quaint city more than 40 years ago when I first visited. I am always in awe when I discover little details that I somehow missed before. While doing a bit of research recently, I discovered that the current Via Rail station that was built in 1907 is actually the third station in St. Marys and not the second as I had previously believed.

The Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) was built through the town in 1858, with the original station located 1½ kilometres north of town at the junction of the GTR north/south line from London and the western branch towards Sarnia, which was constructed in 1859. The second station was opened in 1879, approximately 400 metres south of where the current station sits, on the other side of the water tower. Citizen complaints about that location forced the GTR to rethink and move the station to its present-day location.