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The town of Gravenhurst, situated at the south end of Lake Muskoka, was named by a Canadian postmaster general in 1861. The first settler to arrive here was James McCabe, who built a tavern at the site in 1859.

The settlement of Gravenhurst grew at a rapid pace thanks to Peter Cockburn, who began a lumbering business in 1865–66. Cockburn was responsible for making Gravenhurst a lake port when he launched the Wenonah, the first steamer on Lake Muskoka, in 1866. The community expanded after the Free Grants Act of 1868, when settlers flocked to the area to take advantage of free land. By the 1870s, Gravenhurst could boast it was the mill capital of Northern Ontario, or “Sawdust City” as it was otherwise known. At one time a total of 17 mills operated in the area. A thousand saw blades helped to carve out an economy. According to the Toronto World of July 13, 1887, Gravenhurst had four churches, a library, a school, a town hall, a telephone exchange, a bank, a foundry, a ginger-ale bottling works, many fine stores, and four hotels.

Dougald Brown, who had previously built the Steamboat and Stage House Hotel in 1867, founded Brown’s Beverages in 1873. This company is the oldest continuing industry in the community. Two years later Gravenhurst was incorporated as a village.

Gravenhurst was booming, but tragedy came in the guise of fire! On the blustery night of September 22, 1887, between midnight and one o’clock in the morning, a fire started at Mowry and Sons foundry on Muskoka Road, just north of the present-day post office. By the time the alarm was sounded, the whole building was ablaze, and it spread quickly to Brignall’s wagon shop and home. The residents of Gravenhurst rallied to the scene with a horse-drawn engine but, unfortunately, the men had difficulty operating the pumps and by the time they got things rolling, the fire had reached the four-storey Fraser House Hotel. By then, things were really out of control. The wind carried burning debris across the streets, and the fire spread to all of the wooden buildings in the business section of town. Burning cinders rained upon Gravenhurst, setting a dozen different buildings ablaze.

A telegraph appeal went out to Bracebridge, Orillia, and Barrie requesting help. The Barrie brigades loaded their equipment onto the nearest railway handcars, but it was too late. As if things weren’t bad enough, the ammunition stocked in stores began to explode. A towering inferno raged for three long hours, until nothing was left. It was all over by daybreak. The buildings destroyed totalled 50, including the Anglican Church and a brand new public school.

The citizens of Gravenhurst did rebuild, this time using stone or brick as a building material. The Fire Department was also upgraded.

Tuberculosis (TB), commonly called consumption, was prevalent in the 1890s. No one knew the cause and the mortality rate was high. The treatment recommended was rest, good nutrition, and fresh, clean air. The Muskokas seemed to be the perfect place to establish a sanatorium. In 1896 Sir William James Gage began the construction of a sanatorium on the east shore of Muskoka Bay, just north of Gravenhurst. The following year, the Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium opened its doors and welcomed 35 tuberculosis patients. It was the first such dwelling of its kind in Canada.

Business was brisk and expansion began; capacity reached 100 patients. Those in the early stages of the disease were admitted at rates of $12 to $15 per week, in 1910. If conditions required a stay-in bed, an extra dollar per day was levied. The sanatorium looked more like a posh hotel, and brochures implied that patients would require only a few months of Muskoka’s clean, healthy air before returning to home and work.

In 1902 The Muskoka Free Hospital for Consumptives was built. It was a welcome addition to Ontario tuberculosis facilities. This title certainly implied that other TB hospitals were not “free.” Unfortunately, the original infirmary and most of the central administration building burned down in November 1920. Nearby Massey Hall, a recreation centre for patients, was temporarily used for accommodation. In 1958 the province bought the premises and converted the site into the Ontario Fire College.

Cottages with open fronts enclosed by windows were often constructed to house TB patients. Tents also played some part in the treatment of the disease. Many of these shelters lacked any significant heat source but were occupied during cool temperatures in spring and fall. Many believed that if breathing fresh air didn’t kill the germs, maybe freezing them would.

Muskoka, Gravenhurst, circa 1900. The Muskokas were thought to be the best place for sanatoriums — lots of fresh, clean air.

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In 1916, the Calydor Sanatorium brought the number of TB treatment centres along Muskoka Bay up to four. It was Dr. C.D. Parfitt who persuaded a group of investors to construct a new centre for the treatment of private patients. During the 1930s the provincial government handled the cost of TB treatment, but the depression and subsequent restriction of funds closed Calydor in 1935.

1939 marked the beginning of the Second World War, and as the number of German prisoners of war increased, Britain soon arranged for prisoner confinement in Canada. In June 1940 the Calydor Sanatorium was renamed Camp 20 and used for the imprisonment of German officers and soldiers.

Guard towers and barbed wire went up, and since the Calydor grounds were smaller than the Geneva Convention required for the number of prisoners, additional playing fields and gardens were acquired. Daily activities included marching, building stone walls, and fishing at a pier at Gull Lake Park. The German prisoners also presented frequent plays and concerts. Using their own instructors, they offered a variety of courses, up to and including university level, and were also able to study correspondence courses from Canadian universities.

In 1942 Wilhelm Bach, a German army major, died at Camp 20 and officials accorded him a full military funeral. His swastika-draped casket was transported by hearse to Mickle Memorial Cemetery. The funeral procession included a truckload of floral tributes — one of the largest came from Adolph Hitler.

In 1943 the second-largest prison-break from a Canadian camp took place at Camp 20. Seven German prisoners of war, shrouded in sheets that camouflaged them in the snow, made their break for freedom. Two were captured almost immediately as they crossed the final enclosure. Four others were captured that night and the next day near Barrie and Washago. One prisoner made good his escape to America.

Ironically, German prisoners were succeeded by Jewish vacationers when the Gateway Hotel opened in 1949. A decade later the property became a youth camp, which ultimately closed. Fire claimed the Calydor in November 1967.

Another landmark and social centre for many years in Gravenhurst was Sloan’s Restaurant. Sloan’s originated in April, 1915, when Archie and Sarah Sloan opened their confectionery and ice cream parlour on the west side of Muskoka Road. In those days customers sat on ice-cream chairs at small, round tables, and ordered sarsaparilla for 5 cents, a soda for 10 cents, or a marvelous two-scoop sundae submerged beneath rich toppings for 15 cents. The candy counter tempted with its licorice plugs, chocolate cigars and brooms, and various other confectionaries, each for only a penny.

In 1930 a youthful Gordon Sloan took over the business after the death of his father. In 1947 Sloan undertook a major renovation. He bought the grocery store then operated by Charles Tomlinson, joined it to the original restaurant, and created the Old Muskoka Room. Under his imaginative and energetic management, the revitalized Sloan’s Restaurant prospered. Anyone travelling to the district had to stop in Gravenhurst to sample a piece of blueberry pie at Sloan’s.

Sloan’s Restaurant was later sold to Winchester Arms, a chain of restaurants operating in Ontario. The company renovated the building, but kept the traditional menu. During renovations the original recipe for Sloan’s blueberry pie was discovered. Eventually this business closed.

Tourists and residents also attend the many concerts held at the popular opera hall and players’ theatre built in 1897, and some considerable local talent has been spawned there.