User:Jross263/Dresden, Ontario

Dresden is an agricultural community in southwestern Ontario, Canada, part of the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It is located on the Sydenham River. The community is named after Dresden, Germany. The major crops in the area are wheat, soybeans, corn, and tomatoes.

Dresden is best known as the home of Josiah Henson, the former U.S. slave whose life story was an inspiration for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Henson homestead is a historic site located near Dresden, owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust.



Inception
Dresden, named after the German city, was first founded in 1825 by a lumber merchant. In 1872, the settlement reached sufficient size to be classified as a village, and only ten years later received town status.

Dawn Settlement
As an important terminus of the Underground Railroad via overland and marine routes, Dresden was part of a settlement formerly known as the Dawn Settlement. Founded in 1841 by former U.S. slave Josiah Henson, Dawn Settlement served as "a community where Blacks could share their skills, labour and resources to help each other and give aid to newly arriving settlers." The settlement included a community church, one of the first vocational schools in Canada, the Henson family home, and Henson family cemetery.

Sydenham River & Trillium Trail
The Sydenham River which flows through the town, is known for its rare fauna and the Trillium Trail. The downtown's arboretum area features signage that educates on rare plants and animals that live in the area.

The town and its organizations (including the Horticultural Society, Rotary and IODE), have striven to develop the town's historical legacy and its natural features, particularly the Sydenham River. Dresden's floodplain area, since a 100 year flood in 1968, has been constantly improved with the addition of landscaped parklands, an arboretum featuring the area's original and diverse Carolinian flora, and the Trillium Trail which includes a historical walk portion. The gateway to the Trillium Trail with its eight interpretive signs can be accessed at St. George Street in the center of the town, near the bridge. The trail itself features 20 plaques and interpretive signs which point out historical sites along a bricked path. The trail celebrates history which is both typical to small rural towns of the period and unique to Dresden's ties to the Underground Railroad story.

A recent discovery through the Trillium Trail Project which has been verified by research done in partnership with the Promised Land Project, headed by Boulou de B'beri of the University of Ottawa, is that large sections of the original town site were owned between 1853 and 1873 by William Whipper, a prominent member of the William Still Underground Railroad network. Today a number of artifact houses from this time period are still extant in the community. The local Catherine McVean Chapter of the IODE offers historical tours to visitors who wish to know more of the town's history. The town is also home to civil rights actions both in the 1850s and 1950s, and this and other historical events are commemorated on various Ontario Heritage historical plaques in the town.

Human Rights History
Hugh Burnett returned to his home town of Dresden, after serving his country in World War II. However, he was not served in some restaurants because he was black. So, in 1948, he and other African Canadians founded the National Unity Association. They collected 115 names on a petition to end discrimination. This resulted in a referendum in Dresden which asked "Do you approve of the council passing a bylaw licensing restaurants in Dresden and restraining the owner or owners from refusing service regardless of race, colour or creed?" 108 voted that restaurant owners should serve everyone. 517 voted against.

In 1954 Burnett was part of a delegation to Ontario Premier Leslie Frost and the cabinet. Soon after that the Ontario Fair Accommodation Practices Act passed. It stated that "no one can deny to any person or class of persons the accommodation, services or facilities usually available to members of the public."

However some restaurants and barber shops still refused to serve African Canadians. Justice William F. Schwenger investigated the complaints as a one-man commission. On the basis of his recommendations, Charles Daley, the minister of labour, refused to prosecute the two Dresden restaurant owners who had refused to serve black people. Daley said "I understand these people will in future obey the law".

On October 29, 1954, Hugh Burnett, Bromley Armstrong and Ruth Lor Malloy went to Morley McKay's restaurant with a reporter. They were denied service. Mr. McKay was the first person to be charged under the Act. After a long legal battle, Mr. McKay opened his restaurant to everyone.

The conflicting attitudes of white and black Dresden residents over the issue was recorded in the National Film Board's documentary the Dresden Story in 1954.

On July 31, 2010, a plaque was installed in Dresden that honoured Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association. It reads:

"Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association"

Between 1948 and 1956, the National Unity Association (NUA) of Chatham, Dresden and North Buxton, under the leadership of Hugh R. Burnett, waged a campaign for racial equality and social justice. Their efforts led to the passage of Ontario’s Fair Employment Practices Act (1951) and Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954), and laid the groundwork for subsequent human rights legislation in Ontario and across Canada. Traditional Anglo-Canadian rights, such as freedom of association and freedom of commerce, had historically been interpreted to permit discrimination on grounds of race, colour or creed in providing services to the public. The NUA inspired recognition of freedom from discrimination as a fundamental principle; this led to a revolutionary change to the course of Canadian law and Canadian history. Hugh Burnett and the NUA were early pioneers in the articulation of equality rights for all Canadians, now constitutionally inscribed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 1871, 72% of Dresden's 700 residents were Black Canadians. This number has steadily declined over the years. By 1949, Dresden was 17% Black. The proportion of Black residents dropped to 11% in 2001, and reached a historic low of 5.5% in 2016.

The North Star: Finding Black Mecca, a 2021 film about Chatham-Kent's black communities and history is partly filmed in Dresden.

The Dresden Meteorite
On July 11th, 1939 a Meteorite landed in the sugar-beet field of local farmer Dan Solomon. The meteorite, named after the town, weighted in at approximately 40 Kilograms, making it the fourth largest ever found in Canada. News of the discovery spread fast, and soon Solomon was approached by multiple buyers. He eventually agreed to sell the Meteorite for $4 to a local oil and gas prospector, Luke Smith. Unfortunately for Solomon, he later found out that a meteorite the size and condition of his was worth upward of $200. After some negotiation, the meteorite was eventually sold to the University of Western Ontario for $700, where it now sits on display. The University of Western Ontario later created an award dedicated to the Solomon family for second year students in Planetary Science.

Largest Parade of Tractors
On July 24th, 2010 the Dresden branch of the Canadian Cancer Society achieved a Gunisses World Record of Largest parade of tractors with 1231 total tractor attending the parade. The event raised over $120,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Education
Dresden has one elementary school, Dresden Area Central School (DACS), and one secondary school, Lambton-Kent Composite School (LKCS) operated by the Lambton Kent District School Board. DACS serves Dresden and the surrounding community, and has a student population of around 400 from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8. LKCS offers rural students all the opportunities and programs as a large school while maintaining a small population.

Businesses and Events
Local businesses include ConAgra Foods canning plant, Martinrea Fabco auto parts manufacturer, Waste Wood Disposal, Automation Design Solutions, The Crappie Store, as well as many other retail stores.

Dresden is also the location of the Dresden Raceway, the only harness racing facility in the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It features a 1/2-mile track and modern grandstand facility. The track also serves as a training facility for young pacers and trotters. Local events are held at the raceway such as tractor pulls, demolition derbies, and the yearly Dresden Exhibition hosted by the Dresden Agricultural Society.

Dresden also hosts a semi-annual night market closing down a section of Main Street. Food trucks, local business, and families line the streets. Live music is performed during the event, and an open patio bar is available featuring beers and wines from local craft breweries.

Climate and geography
The climate is mild, being classified as humid continental (Köppen climate classification Dfb) that closely borders on the Dfa climate type. Summer days can be hot and humid with a July high of 27.1 C and a low of 15.7 C. In an average summer, temperatures exceed or reach 30 C on 16 days per year. Winters are cold with a January high of -2.3 C and a low of -9.0 C. Occasionally, mild spells of weather can make the temperature exceed 10 C for 1 or 2 days while arctic air masses from the north can bring temperatures below -20 C for 1–3 days during winter. Dresden is not located in the snowbelt region which begins near London, Ontario, causing winter precipitation to be generally low and snow cover to be intermittent throughout the season. The average annual snowfall is only 84.6 cm.