Ontario Basketball Celebrates 40 Years • Ontario Basketball Association

Ontario Basketball (OBA) is celebrating 40 years of our organization, which dates back to our incorporation in 1977.

In order to celebrate the milestone, we traveled around Ontario with the support of some of our local communities and recognized 40 landmarks that represent our province’s heritage.

Thanks to all who contributed and also to Spalding for their continued support as the official basketball of the OBA.

: The St. Francis Centre is the hub for arts and culture in Ajax and represents the first publicly owned and accessible heritage facility in Ajax. Unique features of the building include, the distinctive octagonal church spire, which is covered with the original polychromatic slate, and a roof that is marked by three rose colored window dormers, which are very rare in a church and have the original decorative ironwork at each peak.

: The Spirit Catcher (sometimes called Dream Catcher) is a sculpture situated on the shore of Kempenfelt Bay. It was originally created by sculptor Ron Baird for the Expo 86 in Vancouver. The twenty ton, 25 m (70 ft) wide by 21 m (65 ft) tall sculpture was transported to Barrie using two flatbed trucks, and was installed by volunteers and two cranes. The sculpture has 16 kinetic quills, which rock back and forth when the wind blows.

: Belleville City Hall is home to Belleville City Council, and was one of few civic complexes completed during the economic depression of 1973. It is one of a very few public buildings of its period designed in the High Victorian Gothic Revival style.

: Gage Park is the city of Brampton’s oldest municipal urban park, opened in 1903. It serves a multi-functional park as it hosts various city events such as weekly concerts. In the winter the circular paved path is converted into an ice rink.

: This bronze 12-foot monument of the “great one” stands outside the front of the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre. The sculpture was built in honour of Wayne Gretzky as well as his family for what they have done in both the community and across Canada.

: The Brockville railway tunnel is Canadas’s first railway tunnel that was created to allow the fledging Brockville and Ottawa Railway to connect the Brockville industrial waterfront area to the outlying areas lying between the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers. It originally opened in 1860, built by Ottawa and Brockville Railway, and reopened to the public in summer 2017.

: The Burlington skyway bridge is a steel structure bridge located in Hamilton and Burlington, officially opened on October 30th,1958, separating Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario. This structure was responsible for the QEW being widened to eight lanes from Burlington street to Highway 403 due to the fact the bridge was twinned because of heavy traffic volume in 1985.

: Galt Collegiate Institute is one of sixteen secondary schools in the waterloo Region, but it in particular has been designated as a historic landmark in Cambridge. The property was designated by the City of Cambridge in 1983 for its historic and architectural under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

: Blue Mountain Ski Resort was founded by Jozo Weider beginning in 1941 when the main lodge was also built. As of 2017 the hill has five detachable chairlifts and seven beginner lifts, making it the largest ski resort in Ontario.

: Tew’s Falls is a 41-metre ribbon waterfall is the tallest waterfall found in Hamilton’s surrounding regions and is only a few meters shorter than Niagara Falls.

: The Humber River Arch Bridge forms an important pedestrian, recreational and commuter cyclist link, and carries the Waterfront Trail, a multi-use pathway that will eventually parallel the entire north shore of Lake Ontario. The bridge is part of the Martin Goodman Trail and is 139 meters (456 ft) in length, with a clear span of 100 meters (330 ft) over the mouth of the Humber River to protect the environmental integrity of the waterway.

: The Church of our Lady Immaculate was built between 1875 and 1883 to serve as a Roman Catholic parish for German settlers. This Gothic Revival style church was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990 and was designated a basilica by Pope Francis in 2014.

: Tim Hortons Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamilton is a CFL (Canadian Football League) stadium for the hometown Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The stadium currently seats approximately 24,000 spectators for Canadian football, with expansion potential to boost capacity to more than 40,000 seats for special events (i.e. Grey Cup).

: Engine 1905, also known as ‘The Spirit of Sir John A,’ reminds visitors that Confederation Park was once an active train yard and that Kingston was home to the Canadian Locomotive Company for over 100 years that built over 3000 steam, diesel and electric engines for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

: Oktoberfest is an annual nine-day festival in Ontario’s ‘twin-cities’ is called Canada’s Greatest Bavarian Festival and is the second-largest Oktoberfest in the world, attracting roughly 700,000 visitors to the region every year.

: The Flame of Hope is an eternal flame that honours Sir Frederick Banting’s discovery of insulin, serves as a reminder that a cure has yet to be found. Kindled in 1989 before 4000 spectators including Queen Elizabeth, the flame will be extinguished only when a cure is found.

: The brick and glass Civic Centre is the city hall of the city of Markham. All entrances of the building, except the great hall entrance are named after the major communities in Markham, Ontario (Thornhill, Unionville, and Milliken).

: Rattlesnake Point is an eco-tourism area in Milton, Ontario. This popular scouting area is home to many golf courses, country markets, and boarding facilities. Also, this area is frequently visited by cyclists, hikers, climbers, due to the wide array of cliffs and caves.

: The Marilyn Monroe Towers are a set of curvaceous condominiums which were awarded “Best Tall Building in the Americas” for 2012 by the CTBUH (council of tall buildings and urban habitat). Also in 2012 the two identical condominiums were deemed the city’s most iconic buildings.

: Old Town Hall opened in 1883 and began operating as a farmer’s market which brought prosperity to the area long before it was used for municipal purposes. Since 2012 the building has undergone substantial renovations to make it fully accessible and function as a cultural hub for theatre, dance, music and arts.

: Niagara Falls was created when glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age, and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. The Falls is famed both for its beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power.

: Although the Gateway Arch has undergone many alterations since it was first constructed in 1928, it remains an important symbol of the gateway to the North and part of North Bay’s identity as a “Gateway City” between the traffic of north and south.

: Lighthouses dot the shores of Oakville and Bronte area and remind residents and passers-by of the history of the region’s harbours where great ships would come to dock. Though times have changed the lighthouse remains attached to a series of rental condominiums attached on the premises that walk out to a series of docked boats.

: Parkwood was the residence of Samuel McLaughlin, the founder of General Motors of Canada, and was home to his family from 1917 until 1972. It became a national historic site in 1989 and was opened to the public. Of note is the eleven greenhouses and finely manicured grounds where the family employed 24 gardeners. Many films and shows have been shot at Parkwood including X-Men, 12 Monkeys and Billy Madison.

: Parliament Hill is the centerpiece of Ottawa’s downtown landscape. It attracts approximately 3 million visitors each year, as it is the political and cultural heart of the city. The Parliament Buildings sit atop the hill and overlook the Ottawa River. The grounds of Parliament Hill are dotted with numerous sculptures of important Canadians.

: The 401 Foot Bridge is a fully enclosed landmark pedestrian bridge spans 14 lanes of Highway 401 and connects transit to the city centre. The bridge is fully accessible from both ends and was funded by federal and provincial governments, and Metrolinx.

: The Blue Water Bridge is a twin-span international bridge across the St. Clair River that links Michigan in the United States with Point Edward in Canada and opened in 1938. The twin bridges are the second-busiest commercial crossing on the United States-Canada border.

: This Algoma Welcome Arch is one of the most visible ways that the City welcomes visitors. The new Welcome Arch is a replica of the original, and like the original it was created through partnerships between the City, the Rotary Club, Essar Steel, and local architects, engineers, and electricians. The arch now welcomes people to the downtown waterfront, Civic Centre, and the John Rowswell Hub Trail.

: The Scarborough Bluffs is one of the most significant landmarks/ natural features in the province, which runs parallel above Lake Ontario’s shoreline. The Bluffs have become a community meeting place for people of all ages. It features various recreational hiking and walking trails, as well as picnic tables, and a large marina with a boating club.

: The present Port Dalhousie lighthouse is the third one on the site and was constructed in 1898 and was decommissioned 90 years later in 1988. It was designated a historical building in Ontario in 1997 and is one of only three remaining lighthouses on the Great Lakes with this shape.

: The Battlefield Park monument was constructed after the turn of the century when both men and women were active to improve their communities by developing schools, libraries and/ or museums. The Stoney Creek monument is the most impressive of the contemporary monuments built to commemorate a battle of the War of 1812. The Battle of Stoney creek was fought on June 6TH, 1813 during the War of 1812.

: The Stratford Festival is an internationally recognized theatre festival founded in 1952, running annually from April to October. Theatre-goers, actors, and playwrights flock to Stratford to take part in the festival with Shakespearian roots and it remains one of the most prominent arts festivals in Canada and vital to Stratford’s tourism.

: The Big Nickel is a nine-metre (30ft) replica of a 1951 Canadian nickel was completed in 1964. It symbolizes the wealth that Sudbury has contributed to the Canadian economy through mining production of the mineral. It remains the largest coin in the world and is about 64,607,747 times the size of a real Canadian nickel.

: The 9-foot-high historic bronze Terry Fox statue, set on a 45-ton granite base is a testimonial to the courageous one-legged runner who embarked on a cross-country run for cancer research – the Marathon of Hope. This iconic sculpture is located west of Thunder Bay and you can view the natural wonder of Sleeping Giant from Terry’s viewpoint.

: The current McIntyre Mines are represented by an abandoned underground gold mine that is one of the nation’s most historically important. The iconic headframe, located near downtown Timmins has come to represent the Porcupine Gold Rush and also yielded a considerable amount of copper.

: The CN Tower is the world’s 3rd tallest tower and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, measuring at 553.3 M- high (1,815.3 ft., 5 inches.). This concrete communications and observation tower is located in downtown Toronto and was completed in 1976. It was named one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

: Canada’s Wonderland is a 330-acre seasonal theme park located in Vaughn, Ontario which officially opened in 1981. Canada’s Wonderland is not only the largest major theme park in the country, but also the most visited seasonal amusement park in North America for several consecutive years.

: This vertical lift Main Street bridge is located in the heart of downtown Welland, crossing an abandoned portion of the Welland Canal stretching 232 ft (70.6 metres) and was opened in 1930. The last ship passed under the bridge in 1972 and was locked permanently in the lowered position.

: The Abilities Centre is an “innovative community hub” where individuals of all ages and abilities can enrich their lives by engaging in either social, cultural or health activities. The 40-million-dollar registered charity operating centre delivers sports, health and fitness, arts, leading-edge research, education and life skills programming to the general public.

: Built between 1792 and 1798, the Duff Baby House is considered to be the oldest building in Ontario. The house was built by Alexander Duff as a fur trade post. Today the building is owned by the Ontario Heritage Trust and houses government offices.