1884 photo

AthleticsLacrosse.com footnote: Henry O'Loughlin was born in St. Catharines on December 13, 1856 and would become a significant force in 19th century lacrosse in the Garden City.

He was the son of a Barnard O'Loughlin, an Irish immigrant who operated a well-known St. Catharines saloon that he named the Mansion House, an establishment that exists to this day. Henry was once the youngest purser on a great lakes ship, served in the St. Catharines Garrison Artillery for nine years, was secretary of the Citizen's Hose Company (as the volunteer fire department was then known), founded the O' Loughlin Insurance Co., and was Sheriff of Lincoln County for well over 10 years.

But his accomplishments in the sport of lacrosse were no less impressive. He assisted in the formation of the St. Catharines Lacrosse Club in 1876 and a year later joined the newly formed Athletics Lacrosse Club. After several years as an Athletics player, O' Loughlin would perform as an executive with the team, then an executive with the old Canadian Lacrosse Association before becoming that league's vice-president and eventually president.

He was also a referee of note and was often called upon to officiate the games between Cornwall and the Torontos at the old Rosedale Grounds. And in 1901 he was one of the driving forces along with W. B. Burgoyne in the formation of the original St. Catharines Old Boys Association.

Henry O' Loughlin passed away in 1933, a legend of the great game in St. Catharines.

Other notables on the team included James Chaplin, who would become president of the Welland Vale Manufacturing Co. and a long time Member of Parliament for Lincoln Riding, and Art Collins, who would become a physician and practice medicine in Buffalo N. Y. for many years.

James Adie and wife Frances would see their four sons enlist into the Canadian Expeditionary Force of World War I, and the Adie family of Adams Street, St. Catharines would make a tremendous sacrifice... Gunner Allan Adie, aged 21, was killed at Passchendaele in 1917, 26-year-old Archibald Adie died of wounds in April 1918, and then in the closing days of the war, 35-year-old Lieutenant John Adie would perish in November of 1918. Captain Robert Adie of the 19th Canadian Infantry would be wounded on April 11th 1916, but survived the war.