Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Started in 1833 by Americans and Scottish Presbyterians. In 1837, Americans departed with 1837 Rebellion; Church of Scotland took over until 1844. In 1844, went to Free Church of Scotland. James Nisbet became first settled minister since 1842; he remained until 1862, when he was appointed a missionary. Linked from 1844 to 1883 with Knox Church "Sixteen", whose building was upstream at Dundas Street. Voted to remain Presbyterian in 1925.

Originally named Oakville Presbyterian Church, or The Presbyterian Church, Oakville. In 1888 the building was renamed Knox after John Knox.

Knox Presbyterian Church Oakville began with a simple service in 1833 attended by 11 worshippers in a wooden frame building on the east bank of the 16 Mile Creek.

The current red-brick Gothic style building was dedicated May 20, 1888. It replaced the old frame church, called Oakville Presbyterian Church. The new church had taken a year to build and cost $16,000, a huge amount in those days. To build it, 60 members of the congregation signed a promissory note and the church purchased the White Oak Hotel at the corner of Dunn Street and Colborne Street, later to become Lakeshore Road. A church bell was installed several years later - the exact date is in dispute - cast in New York State. By 1894, a "pedal organ" had been approved, to the consternation of the more conservative members of the church who regarded it as "the devil's instrument."

By 1919, the church was ready to expand again, and the sanctuary was renovated to assume the form that exists today. The old organ was replaced with a new $6,625 three-manual Casavant Organ, the chancel was extended through the arch and the stained glass window of the Last Supper was installed in memory of the men in the congregation who died in the Great War, including the son of the minister. These renovations, which cost $20,300, also saw the addition of what is now R.G. MacMillan Hall.

In 1955 the boom following the arrival of the Ford Motor company was being felt and the church expanded again. Completed in 1956, the new section along Dunn Street now includes the parlour, the library, counting room, office, and the nursery. In 1965, a hall was built under the Church at a cost of $80,000, to provide additional space for the church school. It was named for C.K. McNicoll, the minister who guided Knox from its centennial in 1933 to 1961.

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Excerpt from www.oakville.ca: The area that is presently Bronte was first settled by Europeans beginning in 1807, after the land was purchased from the Mississauga tribe and Trafalgar Township was surveyed. By 1856, Bronte was a busy Lake Ontario port, exporting wheat, building ships, and developing a thriving commercial fishery and stonehooking industry. The town's population grew to 550. With the coming of the railroad, the harbour's business declined and the population went down to 220.

Bronte was incorporated as a village in 1952. Ten years later, the village and part of the Township of Trafalgar were amalgamated into the Town of Oakville.

Unlike neighbouring Oakville, where by the late 1820s William Chisholm had financed a harbour privately, development of port facilities in Bronte was delayed until the founding of the Bronte Harbour Company. Led by Samuel Bealey Harrison, a politician, lawyer and judge, residents of Bronte petitioned the government of Upper Canada to incorporate a company to build a harbour at the mouth of Twelve Mile Creek. After a 10-year struggle to obtain support, the Bronte Harbour Company was founded in 1846. By 1856, construction of Bronte's newly dredged harbour with two piers and a lighthouse was complete. The village's waterfront was transformed from a shallow marshland, inaccessible from the water, to a harbour with sufficient depth to sustain itself as a thriving Lake Ontario port.

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Excerpt from www.oakville.ca: The memorial, 12 feet long, six feet high and two feet deep, is constructed of granite with a series of seven etched plaques that feature a fisherman with his nets along with Bronte fishing scenes and the following dedication:

“In memory of the Bronte Commercial Fishermen who ventured onto the lake in good weather and bad to set and lift their nets to earn a living catching fish. Ciscoes, Herring Whitefish Lake Trout. Cleaned at the dockside shanties. Packed in ice and shipped to markets in Toronto, Hamilton and New York City. Twenty-two boats travelled from the harbour at the peak fishing season. As the fish dwindled, so did the boats fishing from Bronte. The last boat left the lake circa early 1950s"
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