Main Beach

Main Beach at Port Stanley has been a tourist attraction for over a hundred years. While Port Stanley's initial growth as a town was due to its shipping industry, it became a resort town around the turn of the century as lifestyles changed. 

At first, the focus was on the top of the cliff (present-day Front Street), where the famous Fraser Hotel was located, as well as Picnic Hill, which drew up to 15,000 picnic guests at a time. There was also an observation tower and an Incline Railway, which took visitors up the hill. The incline rail cars are now at the Elgin County Railway Museum. 

By the mid 1910s, attractions started to be established on the beach, including bathhouses, a casino, a ferris wheel, a dance hall, and a roller coaster. Port Stanley became known as "The Coney Island of the Great Lakes" as thousands of visitors came via train from St. Thomas, London, and farther afield. Tourism started to decline in the 1950s, as more distant travel became more popular, passenger steamers stopped service to Cleveland, and the quality of Lake Erie declined. However, today tourism is one of the most important industries in Port Stanley, and approximately 100,000 visitors come to the town annually. 

Port Stanley Musings and Memories by Frank and Nancy Prothero

https://www.centralelgin.org/en/business-development/resources/Documents/Port-Stanley-Harbour-Economic-Development-Plan---Final-Report---June-26-2013.pdf

https://www.centralelgin.org/en/live-discover/blue-flag-program.aspx#