A sign of Barrie’s times has had its day.
The old metal and blue Nine Mile Portage sign, which sat for years in what is now Meridian Place, is being stored at the city’s Operations Centre.
And there it’s most likely to stay.
“The intent is to move forward with the new modern Waterfront Heritage Trail signs,” said Scott LaMantia, manager of marketing and communications with Access Barrie, the city’s communications arm.
“(City) staff consulted with Ontario Heritage Trust during the planning of the Waterfront Heritage Trail,” he added. "The intent of the Waterfront Heritage Trail was to consolidate our interpretive sign collection into thematic trail lay-by stations and upgrade to the interpretive sign system now in place.”
LaMantia said the city replaced the old Nine Mile Portage metal sign with the two new updated interpretive signs in Station 9 at Heritage Park, near its parking lot along Simcoe Street, providing more information and graphics.
All of which solves the mystery for Dieter Mueller, an amateur Barrie historian, who wondered where the old Nine Mile Portage sign had gone and if it was lost for good.
Mueller said Memorial Square/Meridian Place, located in downtown Barrie at the bottom of Owen Street, used to be known as post office square and Fred Grant square, after a nearby street.
“Here on the former lakeshore of Kempenfelt Bay was the Landing Place, the eastern end of the Nine Mile Portage,” Mueller said. “Indigenous people used the portage.
“They were followed by French explorers, fur traders, the British military, surveyors and pioneers,” he added. “The portage became unnecessary with the expansion of local roads in about 1835.
“Sadly, when the city of Barrie grew, the Landing Place was buried and became land locked and away from Kempenfelt Bay.”
Mueller said the Nine Mile Portage sign was erected in post office square in June 1957.
“The spot where it was rooted was the exact location of the Landing Place on Kempenfelt Bay, where canoes and batteaux used to arrive,” he said. “Eventually, the post office was torn down and the square was renovated and called Fred Grant square.”
But the historic name has survived with the Nine Mile Portage Heritage Trail, a multi-use recreational trail running between Memorial Square/Meridian Place in downtown Barrie and Fort Willow in Springwater Township.
