Port Arthur Curling Club
One hundred and twenty five years ago, a hardy group of men went about the task of building the first curling facility at the head of the lakes in the former city of Port Arthur.
Previous to the building of the Port Arthur Curling Club, curlers used a variety of ice surfaces dating back to the early 1870’s when curlers cleared away the snow on Lake Superior at the foot of the Red River Road in Port Arthur.
The first curling stones slid down the 4 inch thick natural ice surface of the new rink in January of 1888,renewing interest in the roaring game, as evidenced from an advertisement appearing in The Weekly Sentinel. Placed by Moir & Mills, the ad reminded curlers to secure their curling stones before they were all sold out. Curlers at that time were required to supply their own stones and a variety of different sized stones were lugged to the curling rink by the members.
A few years later FortWilliam curlers used the frozen surfaces of the KamRiver thus establishing what turned out to be a great curling rivalry between the two cities.
Curling in the formative years saw standard games consist of 16 ends of curling with two extra ends played to break a tie, and if necessary, a nineteenth end. In 1897 the length of games was changed to 14 ends and shortly thereafter this was replaced by the 12-end game. This format prevailed for the next half century.
On April 1, 1910 lots 16 and 17 in the McVicar addition on Egan Street were purchased from John and Elizabeth McVicar of Princetown, Minnesota for the price of $1,320.00. The club had to enter into a mortgage arrangement with Robert Thomas Riley of Winnipeg for $2,000.00 at 7% interest with payments required to be made twice yearly at $100 each until the principal was paid in full.
After a lengthy discussion at the 1911 men’s semi-annual meeting, approval was granted to form a ladies league to curl in the afternoons. That same year saw play in the Strathcona Cup, which featured teams from Scotland and Canada playing at Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg. This competition still exists between the two countries.
In 1935 near catastrophe struck when fire destroyed a good portion of the club. President Charlie Swingler praised ice maker Bill Joss at the semi-annual meeting for the fine condition of the ice and the repairs made to the building after the fire. Thirty rinks signed up for play that season with six sheets in operation.
The difficulties encountered during formative years were many. We thank those dedicated men and women for their perseverance and through their efforts we all can enjoy the wonderful game of curling as we know it today.