Port Credit Harbour & Marina

This harbour is really the reason Port Credit became a village.

In 1834, the Port Credit Harbour Company was formed. The following year, Robert Lynn surveyed the village. Wharves and a warehouse were constructed so goods could move between the local community and larger vessels on Lake Ontario.

Imagine this waterfront in the nineteenth century. Instead of recreational boats, you would have seen working vessels, sailors, fishermen, lumber, grain — and eventually stonehookers.

Stonehookers were vessels that brought shale and stone up from the bottom of Lake Ontario. That stone became an important building material in Toronto and surrounding communities.

At the height of the trade in 1991, 23 stonehooking vessels were operating from Port Credit.

Always a natural safe haven from lake storms, the harbour proper began when the Port Credit Harbour Company was founded in 1834. The construction of two wharves and a warehouse allowed for the export of goods by loading them onto larger boats that could go long distances to other parts of Canada and the world. The harbour reached its peak between 1880 and 1900 with the advent of stonehooking; one of the primary building materials for construction in Toronto was shale from the bottom of Lake Ontario. The vessels that raised this stone were called Stonehookers and a great many of them were based at Port Credit. The industry lasted till about 1910 when inland quarries opened up. The peak of the trade was in 1881 when 23 stonehooking vessels operated out of Port Credit.

As we ride around the snug harbour today, imagine the sound of ropes, sails, carts and working boats along this shoreline.