200 years ago, Corunna was almost Canada's capital. Locals are celebrating anyway

It's not every day you cele‐ brate what could have been.

But for the community of Corunna, Ont., this year is one to remember: 2023 marks 200 years since the town nearly became Canada's capital.

"It's kind of fun to remem‐ ber where you've come from and the possibilities that that could have been," said Tracy Kingston, chair of the Corun‐ na 200 committee.

Lord William Beresford surveyed the land just south of present-day Sarnia along the St. Clair River in 1823 as a possible capital of Upper and Lower Canada. The survey was accepted and a town lay‐ out was designed — St. George's Square was set to be the centre of the city.

But it wasn't meant to be. Corunna's proximity to the United States made it less than ideal for a capital city. Canada's first capital was Kingston in 1841, before it too was deemed too close to the water and the United States, and the capital relocated.

The rest is history.

"All the streets are still named after the original peo‐ ple that they named them af‐ ter and the layout is exactly the same," Kingston said of present-day Corunna's resem‐ blance to the community of yesteryear.

Not everyone knows about Corunna's history as the almost seat of the federal government. It took St. Clair Township Mayor Jeff Agar a trip to — where else? — Ot‐ tawa to learn the little-known fact.

"I've lived here for 40 years, and I grew up 10 min‐ utes from here and I never knew," Agar said.

"I was in Ottawa of all places and I went on a tour.

They said the actual capital was supposed to be in Corun‐ na. I said, 'Hey, I'm from Corunna, that's pretty cool.'"

The Corunna 200 commit‐ tee is kicking off festivities Tuesday to celebrate the mile‐ stone, including a rededica‐ tion of the monument in St. George's Square complete with new story boards that share the town's history.

"[We] decided, 'Let's spruce that up a little bit. Let's rededicate that monument,'"

Kingston said. "So we've added some gardens … there's going to be a com‐ memorative bench there as well.

"It's going to just draw your eye more to where the Parliament buildings could have been built."

More than 400 chil‐ dren from different local schools will gather Tuesday to perform in St. George's Square.

"The kids were actually very excited to learn that Corunna was almost the capi‐ tal of Canada. A lot of them didn't know that," said Jen Brown Nead, a teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School, which will bring over 200 students to the square to sing.

"It's been some great learning on many levels at the school, not just musically and not just community contribu‐ tions, but they've learned a little bit of history about the town they're from, and they're pretty excited about that."

LISTEN | A friend of Rob Thomson, who grew up in Corunna, Ont., was inter‐ viewed in October 2022 about a museum exhibit honouring the Phillies manager:

Corunna is embracing its status as the almost capital of Canada, Kingston said. A local brewery has an Almost the Capital beer, and the town will come together again, on Sept. 23, for a street festival after a summer-long local scavenger hunt.

Kingston said she hopes the designation of "almost capital of Canada" draws a lit‐ tle more attention to what she describes as a small town with lots of amenities, and room to grow.

According to the 2021 cen‐ sus, Corunna's population was close to 6,300.

"Every small town has something unique," Kingston said. "This is our uniqueness as the 'almost capital.'"