ABOUT LUCKNOW

Located in Southern Bruce County, Lucknow has a thriving business community, a sports complex, six churches, seniors homes, schools, service clubs plus cross country skiing and snowmobile trails. The Lucknow Community Greenway with its 5-km walkway follows the banks of three creeks where they meet with the Nine Mile River, and then loops back into town. Anglers can dangle a hook for both warm and cold-water species, including rainbow and brook trout.

History

Lucknow boasts a strong Scottish heritage that reaches back to the late 1800s where the Lucknow Caledonian Games boomed for about 20 years. Lucknow’s welcome sign honours Donald Dinnie a folk hero of Lucknow. This champion wrestler and heavyweight athlete of the world competed in the Games in Lucknow in 1882. Although he had no ties with the community he remains part of the lore.

The village was named after Lucknow, India where, in 1857, a battle Indian Rebellion of 1857 took place between the native rebels and the British army. Lucknow takes the name of “Sepoy” which refers to the Indian foot soldiers who fought on the British side in the Relief of Lucknow. There are two theories about the origin of the name of Campbell Street-one is that the main street was named after Sir Colin Campbell, leader of the relief forces. The other theory is that the street is named after Malcolm Campbell, the community’s first merchant. Several Lucknow streets bear the names of some of the British generals involved in the Relief of Lucknow: Campbell, Ross, Outram, Havelock, Willoughby, Rose and Canning.

Eli Stauffer first settled the unnamed land that was to become Lucknow in 1856 where he constructed a dam and built a sawmill. In 1858, Ralph Miller purchased a parcel of Stauffer’s land and built “Balaclava House”, a log tavern. James Somerville purchased the Stauffer mill and land rights in 1858 and had village lots surveyed, earning Somerville the title of the “Father of Lucknow”. With the “Gravel Road” open into Kinloss in 1866, the village continued to grow and had a population of 430 in 1868.

Hockey

Murray Murdoch – Murray Murdoch played on the Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers in 1928 and 1933

The Chin Family – The Chin family, specifically George, Bill and Ab, terrorized opponents with their goal-scoring prowess in the 1940′s.

Paul Henderson - Paul Henderson, was born in Lucknow and learned to play hockey as a youngster in the basement of the Chin’s family restaurant. A Canadian former NHL  player ( a left winger), Henderson played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlanta Flames, as well as for Team Canada in international competitions. Henderson is best known for scoring one of hockey’s most famous goals (a.k.a. the Goal of the Century), helping Team Canada clinch the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union with only 34 seconds left in the final game.

Dave Farrish -  NHL defenceman who played 430 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the New York Rangers, Quebec Nordiques, and Toronto Maple Leafs. While playing in the American Hockey League, Farrish won the Eddie Shore Award as the league’s best defenceman during the 1981–82 AHL season. Farrish won the stanely cup as an assistant coach with the Anahiem Ducks in 2007.  Farrish is now the assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Events

Lucknow hosts an annual Strawberry Summerfest on the fourth weekend of June. The event includes a youth soccer tournament, male and female Slow-Pitch tournament, beer tent, antique car show, street entertainment on Saturday and two dances. Past performers at the dances have included: The Trews, Trooper, Thornley and Kim Mitchell.

Lucknow also is a big part of Dungannon’s Super Pull.  The 2011 Dungannon Super Pull was voted “#1 Pull of the Year” again by SWOTPA South Western Ontario Tractor Pullers Association