Thessalon

Thessalon is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located at the junction of Highway 17 and Highway 129 on the north shore of Lake Huron. It is surrounded by, but not part of, the municipality of Huron Shores, and is part of Algoma District. The main industries are timber and tourism. The town is a popular retirement community. It is the administrative headquarters of the Thessalon First Nation.

History


The region was first surveyed by Europeans in 1869 to determine if the area could support a viable lumber industry. By the winter of 1870 the beginnings of a lumber camp had taken root and in 1877 a more permanent settlement was established. Thessalon was incorporated in 1892 with Walter Barrett serving as mayor. Nathaniel Dyment of Barrie, the owner of Dyment Co., one of the earliest and most prominent lumber companies in the area, is considered the founding figure of Thessalon. He named his 1903 King's Plate-winning thoroughbred horse after the town.

The exact origin of the town's name is unclear. Area historian J.E. MacDonald reported that "Thessalon" is a corruption of a name given by local First Nations, Neyashewun, meaning "a point of land". It is also theorized that the town may have been named by Jesuit missionaries who compared their travels through the region to the plight of the Thessalonians described in the Pauline epistles. The town was spelt "Tessalon" on some early maps.

Amenities and recreation
There is an arena, a curling club and one primary school in the town. The town was also home to the Thessalon Flyers. The Voyageur Hiking Trail passes near the community.

The Thessalon River flows through the town and into Lake Huron at Water Street. Fishing is excellent in the river: yellow perch, pickerel, bass, northwater salmon and muskie.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Thessalon had a population of $1,260$ living in $559$ of its $600$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $1,286$. With a land area of 4.38 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Population trend:
 * Population in 2016: 1,286
 * Population in 2011: 1,279
 * Population in 2006: 1,312
 * Population in 2001: 1,386
 * Population in 1996: 1,485
 * Population in 1991: 1,543

Transportation
Ontario Northland provides intercity motor coach service to Thessalon as a stop along its Sault Ste. Marie–Sudbury–North Bay–Ottawa route, with one bus a day each headed eastbound and westbound from Sunday to Friday, with no service on Saturdays.

Thessalon station was once a divisional point along the Canadian Pacific Railway's Sudbury–Soo Line. Passenger service began in the area around 1905, and a station building was constructed around 1910. With dwindling passenger traffic along the line, service was gradually discontinued, and the station was demolished sometime after 1971.

Notable people

 * John Fullerton, politician
 * Henry Horricks, minister, pacifist, (born near Thessalon)
 * Jack Markle, hockey player
 * Wilfred Lynn Miller, politician