Gore Bay became a town on 7 April 1890, on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. Located on Gore Bay, a bay of Lake Huron's North Channel, it is one of the two incorporated towns of Manitoulin District, of which it is the administrative and government seat. After the Treaty of 1862, Manitoulin Island was open for white settlement. Small towns began to emerge from the wilderness, and hotels were developed to provide lodgings for prospective land purchasers. This led to the formation of the town Gore Bay. The town's name is believed to be referencing the gore-shaped harbour. Other theories for the namesake are probably for Sir Francis Gore (1769-1852), Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1806 to 1817, or after the steamer Gore (c. 1839 and scrapped 1861[4]), which ran between Sault Ste. Marie and Collingwood from 1860 to 1870.
Boats were regularly travelling from Sault Ste. Marie, Collingwood, and Owen Sound; establishing regular ports of call on Manitoulin Island, specifically Gore Bay, and prospering hotels due to increased traffic. The new hotel industry in Gore Bay welcomed commercial travellers, fishermen, doctors, lumbermen and tourists.
Three hotels served Gore Bay for many years:
The Atlantic Hotel
The Campbell House, located on the harbour
The Ocean House and Pacific Hotel
Community life in Gore Bay has always been closely connected to water, in fact before roads were built water was the only means available for travellers to get to the port of Gore Bay by boat. Boats would arrive and leave town with goods until the late 1950s, meaning the population was also quite low in the town's early years.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Gore Bay had a population of 808 living in 382 of its 421 total private dwellings, a change of -6.8% from its 2016 population of 867. With a land area of 5.14 km2 (1.98 sq mi), it had a population density of 157.2/km2 (407.1/sq mi) in 2021.[5]
Craft brewer Split Rail Brewing is located in Gore Bay.
Manitoulin Transport, one of Canada's largest trucking companies.
The first Gore Bay Highschool (which went up to grade 13, which wasn't common in Manitoulin district) now houses the Manitoulin Lodge Nursing home, and the only nursing home is located in Gore Bay. There is no longer any high school in Gore Bay; students get bussed to surrounding communities like M'Chigeeng First Nation/West Bay.
The Pacific Hotel, also known as the "red onion" had a very popular bar where a shot of whiskey could be had for 5 cents
Tourist attractions
Gore Bay Museum – What now houses the Gore Bay Museum used to be the courthouse, a land office and a home for the jailer—with jail cells erected from 1889 when Gore Bay became the judicial seat of Manitoulin Island.
East Bluff Lookout
The Queens Hotel/Inn
All Saints Anglican Church – oldest building in Gore Bay after the town went into flames in 1908.[10]
Climate
View from East Bluff Lookout onto Gore Bay.
Gore Bay experiences a humid continental climate (Dfb). The highest temperature ever recorded in Gore Bay was 37.8 °C (100 °F) on 13 July 1936.[11] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −38.9 °C (−38 °F) on 15 February 1943.[12]
^"Home". Owen Sound Transportation Company. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
^Extreme high and low temperatures in the table below were recorded at Gore Bay from October 1915 to October 1983 and at Gore Bay Airport from November 1983 to present.
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