7 www.georgianbay.ca GBA UPDATE Fall 2022 Loading blocks of ice into the ice house at the McGregor Bay store in anticipation of a busy summer. St. Christopher’s Anglican Church was dedicated in 1951 and has been holding summer services ever since. Churchill, but wanted to take a break for a few days to go fishing. His friend, Commander Eugene McDonald, founder of the Zenith Radio Corporation and owner of an island in McGregor Bay, suggested he stop by for a few days of fishing. The president seemed to enjoy his week in the area, catching bass, walleye, and pike, and resting away from the eyes of the world. Supplying the Bay Another central character to the development of McGregor Bay was Stuart Jenkins. Despite being born into a well-to-do family and educated at McGill University where he excelled in languages and literature, his desire for adventure and travel eventually drew him, at the age of 63, to bring his wife and family to McGregor Bay. In 1913, he built a log cottage and worked as a game warden and fire marshal. Then in 1917 he built a store on Iroquois Island, primarily as a way to help his daughter Ethel and granddaughter Julia to settle down. Thanks to Stuart Jenkins, for the next 60 years, the store provided mail service, groceries, LCBO provisions, fuel, fishing and hunting licences, and of course gossip to the community of McGregor Bay. Over the years the store has changed hands several times and expanded to include cabin rentals. With the advent of large powerful outboard engines, cottagers started travelling to the mainland more frequently for supplies and the retail business slowly wound down. It eventually was sold to its current owners who fully transitioned it to a cabin rental resort, McGregor Bay Lodge. Also located on Iroquois Island is St. Christopher’s Anglican Church and its parish hall, which acts as the hub of McGregor Bay. Every summer, social events at the hall bring residents together to build on the sense of community that has brought people back generation after generation. We look forward to bringing people together there for many generations to come.
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