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A Brief History of Cochrane
CHOO-CHOO! NEXT STOP COCHRANE, ONTARIO!
The Town of Cochrane owes its existence to the trans-Canadian rail network. Located on the junction of the Canadian National Railway and the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) rail line, previously the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, many came to work on the rail line and settled in Cochrane in the early 1900’s. Cochrane soon developed other important industries around the rail line, including agriculture, forestry and other commerce, merchant stores, bakeries among other business ventures necessary for people working in the area.
Although many settlers arrived in 1906, like many Canadian town sites, populations of First Nations resided or migrated through these geographical areas. The aboriginal heritage that characterises the landscape of Cochrane is that of the Cree, Ojibwa and Algonquin ancestry; traditions that can still be found within our community today. The first crossing of the Cochrane town site would have been of settlers on their way to trade fur in the Moosonee area while travelling the Abitibi River.
"THE TOWN BETWEEN THE TWO RIVERS"
The Town of Cochrane was initially called the “Town Between the Two Rivers”, because the town site was laid out on the the Commando Indians Little Lakes Campgrounds (now Commando Lake), which was the center point between the Abitibi River and the Frederickhouse River, on the Old Overland Packet Trail to Moosonee. Only later after the town was formally incorporated in 1910, was the Town named Cochrane after the Hounourable Frank Cochrane, the Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines at that time.