Jersey artwork © Liam Birch

The Gananoque Canoe and Motorboat Club was officially established in 1906 by a gang of boys who loved to canoe on the weekends, the original clubhouse being built on the St. Lawrence in 1909 (today's Thousand Islands Playhouse). From those humble early days, the club went on to win three consecutive national championships. Although the club withdrew from the Northern Division in 1939, they returned before too long with a string of Northern Division championships. 114 members of the club volunteered for active service in WWII with 7 giving their lives. Gananoque continues to provide canoeing and kayaking programs for the Gananoque community east of Kingston. They now operate out of the John Wing Clubhouse, built in 1974 on the Gananoque river to provide a calmer training course for small boats. Original colours: Red, Blue and White.

* As early as 1889, an iteration of the Gananoque Canoe Club was a member club of the American Canoe Association, one of the attending camps along with other Canadian clubs, with their own red, white and blue penant listed in the ACA yearbooks. Charles E. Britton served as ACA Commodore in 1900 and the businessman purchased and gifted Sugar Island to the ACA in 1903. With Russell E. Britton serving as Gananoque commodore through 1910 long after the 1906 "founding", it is entirely likely that this original GCC was simply rebranded or reorganised more officially in 1906. The club maintained ACA membership well into the 20th century with three of their famed paddlers, Linklater, Allen and Pullaw, winning the ACA Single Blade Singles trophy in 1911, 1912 and 1921 respectively. It wasn't until after the First World War that the name Gananoque Canoe and Motorboat Club started showing up on ACA club lists, their having been known simply as Gananoque Canoe Club prior to the war. There are references to a Gananoque Yacht Club also being involved in the ACA meets near Gananoque (Stave Island and Grindstone Island) during that early period from 1884. The official GYC was founded in 1903, so there may have been a lot of crossover with members and organsiation names.

c1970s-1980s c1930s c1920s