The Story of Swastika, Ontario

A town that looked for good luck with its name

The origin of this town dates back to the summer of 1907 when a prospector named James Dusty was looking at his claim in Ontario, 570 kilometres north of Toronto.

After a couple months of searching, on Sept. 2, 1907, he found gold.

With him were other miners and their families and they quickly came running at his screams of “Gold!”

It was decided the mine needed a name and it was at that point he saw a little girl with a necklace that had a swastika on it. From that, he called it Swastika Mine.

Now, it is important to remember this is 1907, nearly three decades before the swastika was essentially ruined by the Nazis. For thousands of years, the swastika was present in cultures around the world and often meant good luck. The name comes from Sanskrit and was a sacred symbol for many Asian cultures.

In 1908, James and his brother William founded the Swastika Mining Company and full-speed mining began in the area using steam engines. A town soon sprang up as well and in 1911, it had a post office and was called The Town of Swastika.

By 1912, it had a population of 400 people. Inside the town there was a hotel, railway station, barber, church, four saloons, a school and a general store.

Things were looking up for the community.

Then, over the next decade, the legendary gold strike proved to not be so legendary. Within a few years the mining was barely bringing in any gold, but the town remained.

It was around this time that a guy named Hitler started making news and the town of Swastika realized it needed a name change. Not everyone was in favour of this. One town resident put up a sign that said,

“To hell with Hitler, we came up with our name first!”

In the end though, the provincial government removed the Swastika sign and replaced it with a sign that said Winston, in honour of Winston Churchill.

Residents were unhappy with the sudden change that came along without their permission and they tore down the sign. They then put up their own Swastika town sign and added,

The Town of Swastika still remains, and in 2008 celebrated its centennial. In 2023, the community has a population of 500 people.