 On a sunny summer morning in Bala, there are all sorts of interesting and colourful places to visit. |
 |
|||
BEGINNINGS
 Early in the 20th century the Summer Station in Bala, was a hub of tourist activity as trains and steamers connected at the government wharf.Sadly, the Summer Station, which was located across from the Post Office, has long since disappeared. |
||||
| More About Bala | Beginnings | Music a Part of Bala's History | Bala: a Centre for Sports of all Kinds | | Fishing | Scuba Diving | Food | Bala's Museum | Indoor Sports | | Churches | Nature Trails | Bala, Cranberry Capital of Ontario | Business Directory Location of Bala Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce |
||||
|
Muskoka Information
|
||||
Bala is a fantastic town! It's been here since 1868! From its founding by the first homesteader, Thomas Burgess, who said that the area reminded him of Bala, Wales, the town has kept changing. Just 40 years after its humble beginnings, Bala was a fully incorporated town with a growing population of 300. So promising was the area that at the turn of the century, there was even a steam ship called the 'City of Bala'. By 1906 the railroads had been pushed through the area and for much of the first half of the century, trains and steam ships connected at Bala's Government Wharf making the town into a summer passenger terminal. Vacationers from all over southern Ontario converged on Bala to meet ships such as the R.M.S. Segwun, Cherokee, and Islander. These lake steamers, and there were many, transported visitors to cottages and resorts all over Lakes Muskoka, Joseph, and Rosseau. When better roads made automobile access to all parts of the area easier, the passenger train and steamship connection died off, however the number of people vacationing in the area grew even greater! Bala, and all of Muskoka became known all over southern Ontario as 'Cottage Country', a name that is as true today as it was fifty years ago.
