Originally Published On:
January 1, 2016
Originally Published By:
Haliburton Echo
Visionary: A Tribute to Sir Sanford Fleming
Written By:
Youkie Stagg
Sir Sandford Fleming was born in 1827 in Scotland but later moved to Peterborough in 1845 with his older brother. Fleming made several major contributions to the Peterborough community as well as the rest of the world. His most notable achievement was the establishment of Universal Standard Time which he recommended to the Royal Canadian Institute in 1879 and was adopted universally in 1884. His other achievements include: his design of a prototype of in-line skates, the Foundation of the Royal Canadian Institute in Toronto, the Threepenny Beaver – Canada’s first adhesive postage stamp, a proposal for a railway line spanning “British North America,” a submarine cable that would connect all the nations of the British Empire by telegraph, appointed as Chief Engineer of the Northern Railway, and knighthood by Queen Victoria in 1897. This sculpture includes the elements of a surveyor’s transit, compass, a clock representing time, significant dates in Fleming’s life, and the globe.
The Sculpture Forest offers free guided tours each Tuesday from 10-11:30 am and a shorter “Curator Selection” tour on Wednesday from 12:10 – 12:50. Meet at the kiosk in the Fleming College parking lot.