Ontario, Oregon
Ontario was founded on June 11, 1883, by developers William Morfitt, Mary Richardson, Daniel Smith, and James Virtue. In March 1884, Richard Welch started a post office for the quarter of Ontario, so named by James Virtue after Ontario, Canada. Two months later Joseph Morton applied for a Morton post office at an island about one mile south of town, with Oscar Scott as postmaster. Unfortunately for Morton and Scott, merchants Morfitt and Richardson of Malheur City, gold miner Virtue, and lumberman Smith of Baker City acquired more land and were better financed. More importantly, Morfitt had negotiated a train depot for Ontario. All the settlers and speculators knew the railroad was coming and how important that would be to Ontario's future so Scott closed his Morton post office and built a hotel at present-day Ontario. By December, Scott was Ontario's postmaster.
Highways in Ontario
Like most provinces, Ontario established a highway network in early 1920 as a result of the Canada Highways Act. Initially, the responsibility for these roads fell under the Department of Public Highways. In 1930, the department was renamed as the Department of Highways (DHO). Roadways in sparsely populated northern Ontario fell under the Department of Northern Development (DND) until it was merged into the DHO in 1937. That same year, the first divided highway and interchange in Canada—The Middle Road—was opened, inspired by German autobahns. Following World War II, construction of highways was accelerated; the first fully controlled-access highway was opened between Toronto and Barrie in 1952. By 1968, of the length of Highway 401 was navigable, with a final extension being completed through Windsor in 2015, and a network of secondary and collector highways was constructed through the rugged Canadian Shield throughout the 1950s. In 1960, "The Gap" opened along the north shore of Lake Superior and completed the Trans-Canada Highway in the province. The decade that followed saw the opening or planning of almost every freeway in Southern Ontario completed to date. In recent years, work has been focused on twinning existing routes into divided highways rather than establishing new corridors.