Oshawa Quiz
What did Roger Conant ship from Oshawa in the late 1700s?
Roger Conant built an export business shipping salmon to the United States. His success drew more settlers to the area.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Durham Region trivia
Fun facts about Oshawa
26 facts and quiz questions about Oshawa, Ontario. Each one links to its source. A new fact of the day goes live every morning.
Fact of the day
Oshawa People
How old was Sam McLaughlin when he died?
He lived to 100. Born in 1871, he stayed chairman of General Motors of Canada until his death in January 1972.
Source: Wikipedia, Samuel McLaughlin
Oshawa Numbers
What was the first truck built when Oshawa's GM plant reopened in 2021?
The first Canadian-made Chevrolet Silverado. GM spent 1.3 billion dollars to retool the plant, which had been closed for about two years.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa History
What old trail does Simcoe Street follow?
Simcoe Street was built in 1822 as a colonization road. It roughly follows the Nonquon Road, an old Indigenous trail from the harbour north toward Lake Scugog.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa Sports
What was the Tribute Communities Centre first called?
It opened in November 2006 as the General Motors Centre and took its new name in 2016. It hosted boxing and weightlifting at the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Oshawa History
What was the Oshawa Strike of 1937?
In April 1937 about 4,000 General Motors workers walked out for higher wages, an eight-hour day and recognition of their union. It is a landmark in Canadian labour history.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa History
How did Oshawa's airport begin?
It opened in June 1941 as a wartime flying school, where students learned to fly Tiger Moths. The town took over the airfield in 1947.
Oshawa Places
What is unusual about the Canadian Automotive Museum's building?
It was a 1920s car dealership, and it still has the elevator that moved cars to the second floor. The museum, founded in 1962, shows many Canadian-made cars.
Oshawa Quiz
True or false: a McLaughlin brother created Canada Dry ginger ale.
John J. McLaughlin, Sam's older brother, was a chemist who founded the Canada Dry company. Sam ran it briefly after John died in 1914.
Sources: Wikipedia, Samuel McLaughlin, Wikipedia, Robert McLaughlin (industrialist)
Oshawa Quiz
What did the McLaughlin company build before cars?
McLaughlin Carriage Works was once promoted as the largest maker of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire. Robert McLaughlin moved it to Oshawa in the late 1870s.
Sources: Wikipedia, Samuel McLaughlin, Wikipedia, Robert McLaughlin (industrialist)
Oshawa History
Which group of English settlers came to Oshawa in large numbers in the 1800s?
Settlers from Cornwall. Oshawa and Ontario County drew an unusually large share of Cornish immigrants in the 1800s.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa Culture
Which famous films were shot partly in Oshawa?
Parts of It, Billy Madison, Chicago and X-Men were filmed in Oshawa. Parkwood Estate is the city's most popular filming location.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa History
How many cars did McLaughlin build in its first full year?
In 1908 the McLaughlin Motor Car Company built 154 cars with Buick engines. In 1918 it became General Motors of Canada, with Sam McLaughlin as president.
Source: Wikipedia, Samuel McLaughlin
Oshawa History
How did Oshawa begin?
As a stop in the fur trade. Mississauga traders loaded furs into canoes at the harbour, and around 1760 the French built a trading post there. Its ruins later sheltered the first settlers.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa Quiz
Which architect designed the Robert McLaughlin Gallery?
Arthur Erickson designed it. The gallery is the largest public art gallery in Durham Region, with more than 4,500 works in its collection.
Oshawa Sports
Which Hockey Hall of Famers played for the Oshawa Generals?
Bobby Orr, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio, Dave Andreychuk and Eric Lindros all played for the Generals, who hold a record 13 OHL championships.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa Generals
Oshawa Quiz
Who are the Oshawa Generals named after?
The junior hockey team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor. The Generals have won the Memorial Cup five times, most recently in 2015.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa Generals
Oshawa Nature
How snowy is Oshawa compared with the rest of Ontario?
Not very. Oshawa gets some of the lowest yearly snowfall totals in all of Ontario.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa Culture
What were Oshawa's car-themed mottos?
The City that Motovates Canada, and later The City in Motion. Both came from the car industry that grew from the McLaughlin carriage works.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa Quiz
What does the name Oshawa mean?
The name comes from the Ojibwe word aazhawe, which means the crossing place, or a cross.
Source: Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa Places
How many students did Ontario Tech University start with?
The university was founded in 2002 and opened with 947 students in September 2003. It now has more than 10,000 students.
Oshawa Culture
Where was the Painters Eleven art group founded?
In the Oshawa studio of member Alexandra Luke. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery holds the largest collection of Painters Eleven works in Canada.
Oshawa Nature
How many gardeners worked at Parkwood?
The McLaughlins loved gardens: Parkwood had eleven greenhouses and a staff of 24 gardeners. Leading designers, including John Lyle, shaped its grounds.
Source: Wikipedia, Parkwood Estate
Oshawa Quiz
How many rooms are there at Parkwood Estate?
Sam McLaughlin's Parkwood is a 55-room mansion where his family lived from 1917 to 1972. It became a National Historic Site in 1989.
Source: Wikipedia, Parkwood Estate
Oshawa Quiz
How many people lived in Oshawa in the 2021 Census?
Oshawa counted 175,383 people in the 2021 Census, up 10 percent from 2016, the most of any Durham municipality. Its wider metro area had 415,311.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile, Oshawa, Wikipedia, Oshawa
Oshawa History
How many working military vehicles does the Ontario Regiment Museum have?
More than 130, including jeeps, trucks and tanks, the largest collection of its kind in North America. Over 200 volunteers keep them running.