In 1897, Bronte harbour was sold to the Trafalgar Township with the hopes that it would be fixed up to accommodate the boats coming in and out. As it was, the harbour was unable to host larger, heavily loaded vessels for fear that they would run aground. The estimated cost of purchasing and repairing the harbour at the time was $5000. The repairs were integral to allowing fishing and stonehooking to take off in Bronte. Later changes to the harbour included concrete piers to replace the 58 year old wooden ones in 1946, and a concrete beacon to replace the original lighthouse in the 1950s, which had been kept by many Bronte residents over the years until it was destroyed in a storm.

In the early 1900s, the fishing industry in Bronte was also beginning to disappear, and as fishermen left the town, the waterfront became virtually abandoned. Trash, stagnant water, and debris from abandoned structures littered the once busy harbour. It stayed this way until the late 1960s when the federal government labeled Oakville and Bronte Harbours as “harbours of neglect,” causing Mayor Harry Barrett to form the Oakville Harbours Development Authority, whose purpose was to restore the harbours to their former glory. One of the 12-member group’s first accomplishments was slowing erosion along the lakeshore, which had been a big problem in Bronte since the first settlers arrived.

Today, Bronte Harbour is one of the community’s defining features, having been renovated and improved over the 160 years since it was first set up.