Sodom, Ontario
Sodom, Ontario, was a small Canadian logging industry-based community that existed in the last quarter of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. It was located on the boundary between the present day municipalities of South Huron and Bluewater, Ontario, Canada, on Dashwood Road approximately 500 meters west of the present-day intersection of Dashwood Road and Ausable Line, at the Dashwood Road bridge over the Ausable River. The original site of the community is now occupied by South Huron and Bluewater.
History
Sodom began in 1873 when two local businessmen constructed a sawmill. Thomas Greenway, a future Premier of Manitoba Province, formed a partnership with Robert Bissett for the enterprise, which was at first inadvertently built on land reserved for road construction, and had to be relocated to the west side of the Ausable River, south of Dashwood Road. The mill was situated in a densely forested old growth stand of hardwood trees in an area known as Hay Swamp. In 1877 the mill and surrounding property were sold to brothers Samuel and Silas Stanlake.Expansion required the construction of a group of small houses to accommodate the growing number of employees and their families. A number of social organizations developed in the community, including a glee club, which performed at local events. A one-room school was constructed, the name of which was recorded as "U.S.S. #13 Hay and Stephen, Sodom School". The school was located on the north side of Dashwood Road and east of the river. Regular church services and a Sunday school existed in private homes in the community, as well as a chapter of the Royal Templars of Temperance, which promoted complete abstinence from all alcoholic beverages, in the context of the temperance movement. The group hosted a district council meeting for the organization in 1896 in a nearby orchard. Public school inspector Elgin G. Tom, a resident of Goderich, Ontario, was the president of the regional district council of the organization.