If Ryan Farquhar’s plans are permitted to materialize, a lighthouse will soon stand on the little island off the municipal dock at the end of Callander’s Lansdowne Street.
Farquhar owns the property and has presented to council about his plans to build a functional lighthouse on the small island to serve as both a safety feature for boaters, and as a destination landmark for residents and tourists alike.
See: Callander lighthouse on the horizon?
Currently, Callander’s council is working on rezoning the island to accommodate the lighthouse, and those plans might be ready before the year’s end.
In the meantime, Farquhar is working to change the name of the island to Farquhar Lighthouse Island.
Such requests to name or rename an island must be made to and approved by the province. Specifically, one must reach out to the Office of the Surveyor General through the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry.
From there, you will reach Yves Blanchard, the acting Ontario Geographic Names Specialist.
Blanchard is currently “conducting surveys of local residents and businesses” about the island’s requested name change.
The survey “determines what names are in local usage” for the island, “and if there is support for this name proposal.”
Callander’s planning administrator, Taylor Craig, has posted Blanchard’s survey to the municipality’s website. However, he emphasized that although the town is facilitating access to the survey, all decisions about the island’s name are out of their hands.
The province is the sole decider on that, as “official names appear on government maps and publications,” the province explains on their site.
Renaming an island inspires thoughts on the current name, and for many, that island is known as Morrison Island.
Craig also noted “while looking at a legal description of this island, it’s known as Island W.,” a designation “from the old surveys” of the area.
He also mentioned that from personal experience “most people called it the Lighthouse Island,” in reference to the original lighthouse that stood for many years before a storm took it down in 2006.
“Nothing has ever existed on it,” Craig added, “except for a lighthouse.”
Others will know the island as East Morrison Island, which is the correct designation, and the one acknowledged by the province.
Callander’s museum curator, Natasha Wiatr, offered some insight as outlined in Donald Clysdale’s book, Callander: Now and Then.
Clysdale notes that “George Morrison, the first reeve of Callander, had no streets or buildings named after him, but he is commemorated in two islands in the area.”
“East Morrison Island is the little island near the main dock which formerly had the unofficial lighthouse,” Clysdale’s book explains—“unofficial” because the lighthouse never functioned as a lighthouse, it simply looked like one.
“It is called East Morrison Island, to differentiate it from Morrison Island, a small island northwest of Smith Island, in the main lake.”
Morrison owned a large farm lot where downtown Callander stands. In 1884, he created that original core of Lansdowne, Main, First, High, King, and Burritt Streets when he subdivided his property.
Since there is a Morrison Island, if the government allows for the renaming of East Morrison Island “we won’t be losing that namesake,” Craig noted, adding that Farquhar is “wanting to contribute an impressive monument to the municipality.”
Residents are welcome to contribute to the province’s survey regarding the proposed name change by visiting Callander’s website. The deadline for responses is December 31.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
