Parry Sound: Gateway to Northern Ontario - Softcover

Author Adrian Hayes began his journalistic career in Parry Sound. This is his third book on the area.

A graduate of Parry Sound High School, Adrian Hayes developed an interest in the community’s past while studying for a Bachelor of Arts in history from Laurentian University. In the fall of 1986, just prior to the town’s centennial celebrations, he began writing a column on local history for the Parry Sound North Star while still a student. Parry Sound: Gateway to Northern Ontario is the result of his continuing curiosity about the days of old in his hometown.

Hayes received a Bachelor of Applied Arts in journalism from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in 1991 and accepted his first job as a reporter at the North Star. He has since worked for Orillia Today, The Barrie Examiner and The Uxbridge Times-Journal, and is currently employed by Transcontinental Publishing. He is the author of Pegahmagabow: Legendary Warrior, Forgotten Hero, a biography of former Wasauksing First Nation chief and Aboriginal rights activist Francis Pegahmagabow, a First World War veteran who had been awarded the Military Medal and Two Bars for valour, published in 2002.

Adrian Hayes lives in Newmarket, Ontario, where he is president of the Newmarket Historical Society.

The history of the former sawmill community of Parry Sound is filled with scallywags, lawsuits and scandals long forgotten -- until now. This book includes the story of a prominent physician wrongly fired from a government position for dishonesty, as well as the reason why construction of the first waterworks system almost bankrupted the town. Then there is the tale of why the long-awaited arrival of the Canadian Pacific railway resulted in disharmony between residents and in numerous legal actions against the municipality.