There’s a large bronze statue of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, in the former mill town of Almonte, now a ward of Mississippi Mills. This picturesque little town is located just southwest of Ottawa, on Ontario’s Mississippi River.
During the NBA basketball playoffs, I decided to take a day trip to Naismith’s birthplace in Lanark County in eastern Ontario.
Invented in the U.S.A.
Photo courtesy of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
I had read about how James Naismith had moved to the U.S. after completing his degree at Canada’s McGill University. He had taken a job teaching at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.
While working there, his department head, Luther Gulick, apparently instructed James to design an indoor game “that would provide an athletic distraction” to keep his track athletes in shape during the off-season. Gulick said, “Make it fair for all players and not too rough.”
Well, James Naismith decided to use a large, soft soccer-style ball and place the goal high overhead to reduce body contact; these goals were originally two peach baskets.
He came up with the game of “Basket Ball,” with 13 basic rules. These rules, of course, went through many changes as time passed, but the game of basketball had begun.
Basketball Begins
The first game was played in December 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts and later Naismith wrote the original basketball rule book. He eventually moved to Kansas, founded the University of Kansas basketball program and became the Kansas Jayhawks’ athletic director and coach.
He remained at this Kansas school for about 40 years, guiding basketball’s early evolution. When he died, his book, “Basketball—Its Origins and Development,” was published posthumously.
He was buried in Lawrence, Kansas and there’s a street named in his honor, plus a James Naismith Court at the university and a Naismith Hall (a college residential dormitory).
The James Naismith Statues
Photo by John M. Smith
It took over 100 years, but Almonte, Ontario, Canada, has now honored James Naismith with his own bronze statue. It’s located right in Almonte’s historic downtown area, next to the old post office, and has become a popular tourist attraction.
The statue shows Naismith seated on a bench, with a basketball and two peach baskets (his original net choices). A similar statue is also located in Springfield, Massachusetts, near the very gymnasium where that first game was played in 1891. There’s yet another located on the Kansas campus where he spent most of his career.
Basketball’s Popularity
Many of us think of hockey as being Canada’s national sport, but it’s actually lacrosse. Many of us also probably associate basketball with the U.S. because it’s so popular and such a big business there.
However, basketball has become one of the most popular sports in the world. Therefore, it’s rather nice for Canadians to be able to say that one of them invented basketball. Now, we’ve honored this Canadian with this bronze statue located in nearby Almonte, his birthplace.
Almonte’s Old Town Hall & Naismith’s Boyhood Home
After checking out this statue, I’d also recommend visiting the Old Town Hall, where you’ll find the Naismith Museum & Hall of Fame. Many of Naismith’s personal artifacts are found here, including photos, manuscripts and letters.
There’s even a handwritten diary from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (where basketball officially became an Olympic event). Naismith’s boyhood home is also nearby, and a provincial plaque was erected on site in 1965 (it’s located at the corner of Highway #29 and James Naismith Way).
Almonte River Walk and Its History of Woolen Mills
While in this area, I’d also recommend a casual stroll along the paved Almonte River Walk, where you’ll enjoy spectacular waterfalls and rapids.
Ontario’s Mississippi River drops 65 feet as it passes through Almonte. The resultant powerful torrent attracted many woolen mills to this area in the late 1800s. There were seven busy woolen mills here, and mill work became the area’s main industry, but the last of these mills closed in the early 1980s.
To learn more about this history, I’d recommend a visit to the nearby Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, which is located in the former annex of the Rosamond Woolen Complex (at one time it was the largest woolen mill in the country); it now interprets and displays this textile history.
For More Information: www.almonte.com
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Author Bio: John is a freelance travel writer and photographer who enjoys travelling the world and writing about his adventures. He has written weekly travel features for a group of community newspapers, presented several travelogues, and is the author of two major cycling books: “Cycling Canada” and “Cycling the USA.”
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