 Church of the Immaculate Conception Formosa is a small hamlet located in Bruce County, in Southern Ontario. Image File history File links FormosaChurch. ...
Image File history File links FormosaChurch. ...
Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and is one of his best-known and most-quoted plays. ...
Bruce County is a county in western Ontario, Canada, and includes the Bruce Peninsula. ...
Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (de facto) Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 106 24...
Prominent features of Formosa include:
- a hilltop church (named the Church of the Immaculate Conception) built from 1875-1883
- Lion and Lioness Park - a picnic stop
- Formosa Springs Brewery (Brick Brewing Company)
- site of the Formosa Mutual Insurance Company (1880)
- Formosa Inn and Oberle's General Store (1886)
Neighbouring towns include Mildmay and Walkerton. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ...
Mildmay is a town in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. ...
Walkerton is a small town on the Saugeen River in Bruce County, Ontario, 75 km southwest of Owen Sound. ...
Formosa means 'Beautiful' in Portuguese.
The postal code for the hamlet is N0G 2W0. A postal code (known in various countries as a post code, postcode, or ZIP code) is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. ...
Origins
Rev. Gaspar Matoga, a Jesuit missionary, visited the area in January 1853, on one of many trips to minister to the new settlements of the region. Upon seeing the valley in which the present day hamlet is situated, he described it as 'Formosa'. The Portuguese word (meaning beautiful) stayed on as the name of the new community.
Formosa Church The Formosa church, situated at the top of the hill at the North end of the hamlet, was envisioned as a large permanent church for the growing Roman Catholic parish. At the time, a wooden church that had been completed in 1857 had required two expansions to handle the increasing number of German immigrants flowing into the area. The architect was charged with designing a stone church capable of seating 1200 to 1500 people.
Rev. Archangelus Gstir arrived to lead the Formosa parish in 1861. Soon afterwards, he oversaw the expansion of the original 1857 wooden church, appealing on behalf of the parishioners to Ludwig I of Bavaria via the Ludwig Missions-Verin in Munich. He received 2000 Thalers from the King for this initial appeal. Ludwig I (or Louis I, which is the French form of his name, his godfather was Louis XVI of France) (August 25, 1786, Strasbourg – February 29, 1868, Nice) was king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states. ...
In April 1864, Father Gstir again wrote to Ludwig for funds to build a larger stone church, and subsequently received an additional 1000 Thalers.
Father Gstir returned to his native Tyrol in 1865, and passed away in 1870.
After the foundation of the new stone church was laid in 1875, work proceeded at an uneven pace. The new pastor of the day (Father Louis Elena) and the parishioners did not want to go into debt, so work progressed as fast as contributions allowed. Much of the materials (limestone hand-cut from local rock, and timber) were obtained locally at no expense other than volunteer labour. Other materials had to be purchased and shipped to the area, including sandstone from Guelph quarries.
The shell of the new church, completed in 1880, was constructed over the original wooden church. The old wooden building remained in use until the new roof was completed, after which it was dismantled and removed.
Construction continued for a few more years, with the new church being consecrated on September 13, 1885.
The total expenditure on church, not including free labour and materials, was $28,000. It is estimated that after exchange, the 3000 Thalers received from Ludwig (used partly for the older wooden church and partly for the new stone church) amounted to about $2000.
The story of the church construction is used as a fictional backdrop in the Jane Urquhart novel The Stone Carvers. The Stone Carvers is a 2001 historical and World War I novel by the Canadian writer Jane Urquhart. ...
Formosa Spring Brewery The early German settlers quickly established a brewery in Formosa, in 1870. Over the years, the brewery has changed ownership and names many times, and the plant itself changed with renovations, expansions, and reconstructions.
In 1922, the brewery's Buffalo-based owners closed the plant, due to prohibition. In 1924, it reopened as the Formosa Spring Brewery and a program of modernization was undertaken. Beer began to be produced again in 1927, and the brewery operated continually in Formosa from then on to the closure of the plant at the end of 1971.
The summers of 1958 and 1968 were of special note in the history of the brewery; strikes by unionized beer workers shut down beer sales everywhere else in Ontario. Crowds of thirsty Ontario beer drinkers flocked to Formosa, where rationing of one case per customer had to be instituted at times.
In the late 1960's, the plant had reached bottling capacity, and the Formosa site was deemed infeasible for expansion. The owners built a new plant in Barrie, Ontario, and moved operations there, still under the 'Formosa Spring Brewery' name. In 1974, Molson's purchased the Barrie-based Formosa Spring Brewery, renaming it Molson's Brewery. Motto: The People are the City, Barrie Means Business (advertising campaign) Location of Barrie, Ontario Coordinates: Country Province Canada Ontario Established (town) 1837 Established (city) 1853 Mayor Robert J. Hamilton Council Barrie City Council MPP Joe Tascona (PCO) MP Patrick Brown (CPC) Area - City km² Elevation 76 m (249. ...
Molson Canada is Canadas oldest brewery. ...
The Formosa plant was sold and used for a number of years for other industries such as water bottling and fish farming.
With the rise of microbreweries in Ontario in the 1980's and 1990's, the Formosa plant was once again put to use brewing beer. The Algonquin Brewing Company restarted brewing operations in Formosa, and put out a few different varieties of beer, including some they labelled 'Formosa Springs'. The company was subsequently bought by the Brick Brewing Company, who retained the 'Formosa Springs' label on some varieties. Major brewers like Molson produce brands of beer which are now part of the Canadian identity, such as Molson Dry. ...
Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ...
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