Editing Sarnia (section)

==History==
===Name===
The word "Sarnia" is [[Latin]] for [[Guernsey]], a  British [[Channel Islands|Channel Island]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Mare Clausum |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_km0PUYnIg5cC |author=John Selden |year=1635 |page=333|publisher=excudebat Will. Stanesbeius }}</ref> In 1829 [[John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton|Sir John Colborne]], a former governor of Guernsey, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.<ref name="biographi2000">{{cite web |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4359 |title=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, Sir John Colborne |publisher=University of Toronto |year=2000 |access-date=12 April 2012}}</ref> In this capacity, he visited two small settlements in 1835 that had been laid out on the shores of Lake Huron. One of these, named "The Rapids", consisted then of 44 taxpayers, nine frame houses, four log houses, two brick dwellings, two taverns and three stores.<ref name="sarnia2005">{{cite web |url=http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/visit.asp?sectionid=117 |title=City of Sarnia-About Our Name |publisher=City of Sarnia |date=21 December 2005 |access-date=12 April 2012 |archive-date=28 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928040216/http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/visit.asp?sectionid=117 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=History-Geography of Sarnia|url=http://virtualwalk.ca/index.php/Sarnia-Ontario/History-Geography.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721180807/http://virtualwalk.ca/index.php/Sarnia-Ontario/History-Geography.html|archive-date=21 July 2013|access-date=5 April 2012|publisher=VirtualWalk.ca}}</ref> The villagers wanted to change its name but were unable to agree on an alternative. The English settlers favoured the name "Buenos Aires", and the ethnic Scottish favoured "New Glasgow".<ref name="Colborne">{{cite web |url=http://www.lambtonshield.com/voices-from-lambtons-past-part-3-of-old-home-week/ |title=Voices from Lambton's Past: Part 3 of 'Old Home Week' |date=2 September 2011 |access-date=25 June 2013 |archive-date=29 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929125104/http://www.lambtonshield.com/voices-from-lambtons-past-part-3-of-old-home-week/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Sir John Colborne suggested Port Sarnia. On 4 January 1836, the name was formally adopted by a vote of 26 to 16, and Colborne also named the nearby village Moore after British military hero Sir John Moore.<ref name="Colborne"/><ref name="sarnia">{{cite web |url=http://thesarniajournal.ca/chronicles-sarnia-lion-lodge-landscaper/ |title=Chronicles of Sarnia: the lion, the lodge and the landscaper |work=The Sarnia Journal |date=15 March 2014 |access-date=12 May 2018 }}</ref> Sarnia adopted the nickname "The Imperial City" on 7 May 1914 because of the visit of Canada's [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]], [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|the Duke of Connaught]], and his daughter [[Princess Patricia of Connaught|Princess Patricia]].<ref name="Sarnia City">{{cite web |url=http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/visit.asp?sectionid=117 |title=City of Sarnia |publisher=City of Sarnia |date=21 December 2005 |access-date=23 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830052021/http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/visit.asp?sectionid=117 |archive-date=30 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://thesarniajournal.ca/whats-in-a-nickname-how-sarnia-became-the-imperial-city/|title=What's in a nickname? How Sarnia became the Imperial City|work=The Sarnia Journal|date=28 May 2017|first=Phil|last=Egan|access-date=1 January 2022}}</ref>

===Early history===
[[File:Sarnia, Ontario satellite image.jpg|thumb|Sarnia from space, 2018]]

Ethnic French colonists, who came from [[Detroit]], were the first European colonizers of what became Sarnia in about 1807–1810; their role is marked by a historic plaque installed by the Ontario Heritage Society. They were fur traders with the Huron and [[Council of Three Fires|Three Fires Confederacy]]. At this time, the French Jesuits also established a mission near the Huron village on the river's east bank. Later, the men established farms, attracted other settlers, and stimulated growth in the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visualheritage.ca/lambton/french.htm |title=Sarnia-Lambton-The French |publisher=Ontario Visual Heritage Project |access-date=1 April 2012}}</ref>

The township was surveyed in 1829, and in the early 1830s, a wave of Scottish immigrants settled in the area. They became dominant as English speakers and, for decades, claimed to have founded the city.

Port Sarnia expanded throughout the 19th century; on 19 June 1856, Parliament passed ''An Act to Incorporate the Town of Sarnia,'' and the name Port Sarnia was officially changed to Sarnia, effective 1 January 1857. The Act mentioned 1,000 inhabitants in three wards.<ref>{{cite book |title=Statutes of the Province of Canada |publisher=Government of Canada |page=258}}</ref> The important lumber industry was based on the wealth of virgin timber in the area, at a time of development around the Great Lakes. Lumber was especially in demand in the booming US cities of [[Chicago]] and [[Detroit]].

The discovery of oil in nearby Oil Springs in 1858 by [[James Miller Williams]], and the arrival of the [[Great Western Railway (Ontario)|Great Western Railway]] in 1858 and the [[Grand Trunk Railway]] in 1859, all stimulated Sarnia's growth.<ref>{{cite web|date=7 May 2013|title=Sarnia Turns 99 today|url=http://blackburnnews.com/sarnia/sarnia-news/2013/05/07/sarnia-turns-99-today/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625201212/http://blackburnnews.com/sarnia/sarnia-news/2013/05/07/sarnia-turns-99-today/|archive-date=25 June 2013|access-date=23 June 2013|publisher=Blackburnnews.com}}</ref> The rail lines were later linked directly to the United States by the opening of the [[St. Clair Tunnel]] under the St. Clair River at Sarnia in 1890 by the Grand Trunk Railway. This was the first railroad tunnel ever constructed under a river.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Peter McDonald|author2=Brian Isherwood|author3=Nadir Ansari|name-list-style=amp|title=Saint Clair River Tunnel, Sarnia. Evolution of the Design and Construction Methods for the TBM Cutterhead Retrieval|url=http://www.deepfoundations.ca/docs/tech/tech_StClairTunnel.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612070747/http://www.deepfoundations.ca/docs/tech/tech_StClairTunnel.pdf|archive-date=12 June 2013|access-date=26 March 2012}}</ref> The tunnel was an engineering marvel in its day, achieved through the development of original techniques for excavating in a compressed air environment.

In 1860 the Prince of Wales met the Chief of the Ojibways of Garden River, with 75 indigenous leaders, at Sarnia and gave them 1860 Queen Victoria Peace medals with the Prince of Wales logo engraved on the obverse.<ref>1860 Great Britain Victoria Peace Medal: Mar 17, 2021, Heritage Auctions, [https://coins.ha.com/itm/indian-peace-medals/1860-great-britain-victoria-peace-medal-bhm-1975-silver-polished-ngc-details-au/a/1330-15183.s]</ref>

===20th century to present===
[[Canada Steamship Lines]] formed in 1913 from many previous companies that plied the waters of the St. Clair River. One of these companies was Northwest Transportation Company of Sarnia, founded in 1870.<ref>{{cite web|title=Canada Steamship Lines|url=http://www.abouthegreatlakes.com/cls.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527100708/http://www.abouthegreatlakes.com/cls.html|archive-date=27 May 2010|access-date=1 April 2012|publisher=About the Great Lakes}}</ref> By 20 April 1914, when Parliament passed ''An Act to Incorporate the City of Sarnia'', the population had grown to 10,985 in six wards.<ref>{{cite book |title=Statutes of Canada |publisher=Government of Canada |page=503}}</ref> Sarnia officially became a city as of 7 May 1914.<ref name="Sarnia City"/>

[[File:Sarnia Grain Elevator from Across the Bay.jpg|thumb|right|Sarnia's grain elevator]]
[[File:Two Lake Freighters Loading in Sarnia.jpg|thumb|right|Framed by the [[Blue Water Bridge]], two lake freighters take on cargo in Sarnia Harbour.]]

Sarnia's grain elevator, which in the early 21st century is the 15th-largest operating in Canada,<ref>{{cite web|date=1 August 2017|title=Grain Elevators in Canada|url=https://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/statistics-statistiques/geic-sgc/2017-08-01.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928150328/https://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/statistics-statistiques/geic-sgc/2017-08-01.pdf|archive-date=28 September 2017|access-date=28 September 2017|publisher=Canadian Grain Commission}}</ref> was built in 1927 after the dredging of Sarnia Harbour to allow access to larger ships.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/sarnia|title=City of Sarnia|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|year=2012|access-date=23 June 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130624235936/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/sarnia|archive-date=24 June 2013}}</ref> Two years later, grain shipments had become an important part of Sarnia's economy.<ref>{{cite news |title=Grain Trade to Benefit by Rate Cut |work=The Lethbridge Herald |page=1 |date=14 May 1929}}</ref>

The grain elevator rises above the harbour, and next to it is the slip for the numerous bulk carriers and other ships that are part of the contemporary shipping industry. They include vessels from all over the world. The waterway between Detroit and Sarnia is one of the world's busiest, as indicated by the average of {{convert|78,943,900|MT|abbr=on}} of shipping that annually travelled the river going in both directions during the period 1993&ndash;2002.<ref>{{cite book |title=Waterborne Commerce of the United States, Calendar Year 2002 |publisher=Department of the Army—Corps of Engineers |page=30}}</ref> Lake freighters and oceangoing ships, which are known as "salties",<ref>{{cite web|author=Paul Malo|year=2007|title=When is a Ship not a Ship?|url=http://www.thousandislandslife.com/BackIssues/Archive/tabid/393/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/62/When-is-a-Ship-not-a-Ship.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819014121/http://www.thousandislandslife.com/BackIssues/Archive/tabid/393/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/62/When-is-a-Ship-not-a-Ship.aspx|archive-date=19 August 2010|access-date=26 March 2012|work=Thousand Islands Magazine}}</ref> pass up and down the river at the rate of about one every seven minutes during the shipping season.<ref>{{cite web|date=June 2006|title=Sarnia, Very Well Connected|url=http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/pdf/SARNIA_PROMO_JUN06.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419050502/http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/pdf/SARNIA_PROMO_JUN06.pdf|archive-date=19 April 2009|access-date=4 April 2012|publisher=Sarnia&ndash;Lambton Economic Partnership}}</ref>

The [[St. Clair Tunnel|Paul M. Tellier Tunnel]], which was named after [[Paul Tellier|the retired president of CN]] in 2004, was bored and began operation in 1995. It accommodates [[Double-stack rail transport|double-stacked rail cars]] and is located next to the original tunnel, which has been sealed.<ref>{{cite web|year=2006|title=The Paul M. Tellier Tunnel (2005)|url=http://www.railfame.ca/sec_ind/technology/en_2005_PaulTellierTunnel.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728211214/http://www.railfame.ca/sec_ind/technology/en_2005_PaulTellierTunnel.asp|archive-date=28 July 2014|access-date=26 November 2018|publisher=Canadian Railway Hall of Fame}}</ref>

A petroleum industry was established in the Sarnia area in 1858, and in 1942, [[Polymer Corporation]] manufactured synthetic rubber there during [[World War II]], enhancing Sarnia's notability as a petrochemical centre.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/polymer-corporation|title=Polymer Corporation|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|year=2012|access-date=23 June 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130624235906/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/polymer-corporation|archive-date=24 June 2013}}</ref> During the [[Cold War]], the United States Government included Sarnia on its list of possible targets for a Soviet nuclear strike because of its petrochemical industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA359603 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408133553/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA359603 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 April 2013 |title=NUCLEAR CRASH The U.S. Economy After Snail Nuclear Attacks, Appendix 2, Targets in the Counter-Energy Attack |publisher=DTIC |author1=M. Anjali Sastry |author2=Joseph J. Romm |author3=Kosta Tsipis |page=132 |access-date=22 June 2013}}</ref>

On 1 January 1991, Sarnia and the neighbouring town of Clearwater (formerly Sarnia Township) were amalgamated as the new city of Sarnia-Clearwater. The amalgamation was initially slated to include the village of [[Point Edward, Ontario|Point Edward]], although that village's residents resisted. They were eventually permitted to remain independent of the city. On 1 January 1992, the city reverted to the name Sarnia.<ref name="sarnia2005"/>

Sarnia's population continued to grow from 1961 to 1991, with a 1991 population of 74,376. In 2001, the population had declined by approximately 3,000. Since 2001, Sarnia's population has been growing slowly, with a 2011 population count of 72,366.<ref name="2011Census data">{{cite web |title=Sarnia 2011 Census | date=8 February 2012 |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=3538030&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=sarnia&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1 |access-date=30 August 2013 |publisher=Government of Canada}}</ref> An April 2010 report "Sarnia-Lambton's Labour Market" states: "Large petrochemical companies are the community's main economic drivers. Over the recent past, several plants have shut down,&#91;sic&#93; and of those still in operation, increased automation and outsourcing has led to significantly fewer workers."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sltb.org/documents/SL_LabourMrkt_final.pdf |title=Sarnia-Lambton's Labour Market |publisher=Employment Ontario |date=April 2010 |access-date=18 April 2012}}</ref>

These shutdowns and the resulting loss of jobs, and therefore of population as workers search for employment elsewhere, will contribute to a general decline as forecast by an August 2011 study. It projects a 17% decline in population over the next twenty-five years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.city.sarnia.on.ca/pdf/IntensificationCentresCorridorsStudyFINAL.pdf |title=Intensification in Centres and Corridors Study |publisher=Monteith and Brown, Planning Consultants |date=August 2011 |access-date=4 April 2012}}</ref> The Monteith-Brown study cited outlines a plan for restructuring the city based on hybrid zoning areas, which will bring work opportunities closer to the neighbourhoods where people live. The City of Sarnia and Lambton County are also implementing an economic development plan with an emphasis on bio-industries and renewable energy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2646991 |title=Jolt For Declining Towns |work=The National Post |author=Karen Mazurkewich |date=20 March 2010 |access-date=27 March 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 2020, Sarnia began to experience a "soaring murder rate".<ref name="Hunter">{{cite news | last = Hunter | first = Brad | date = 4 May 2022 | title =  Soaring murder rate ravaging small-town Sarnia | url = https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/hunter-soaring-murder-rate-ravaging-smalltown-sarnia | newspaper = Toronto Sun}}</ref> Sarnia had one homicide from 2016 to 2019 and eight homicides from 2020 to 2022.<ref>{{cite news | last = Bridge | first = Terry | date = 20 January 2022 | title =  22 months. 13 dead. 20 murder charges: A 'very unusual' and 'concerning' two years in Sarnia-Lambton | url = https://www.theobserver.ca/news/local-news/22-months-13-dead-20-murder-charges-a-very-unusual-and-concerning-two-years-in-sarnia-lambton | work = The Observer}}</ref> The ''Toronto Sun'' reported that the increased murder rate was drug-related, with local youth unable to find opportunities for themselves in the city.<ref name="Hunter"/>