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• James Morrison 1861-1936
  J.J. Morrison, an influential activist in farmers' causes, lived on a farm 2 km south of Arthur. He entered politics in the early 1900s, a time when many farmers felt ignored in an increasingly urban and industrial society. Morrison became deeply involved in farm organizations and helped found the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) and the United Farmers' Cooperative in 1914. The UFO surprised the province by winning the election of 1919. Morrison declined the...

• The Honourable George Alexander Drew, C.C. 1894-1973
  George Alexander Drew, Premier of Ontario from 1943-1948, was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1894. Educated at Upper Canada College, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall, Drew served in the First World War as an artillery lieutenant. He practised law in Guelph, entered municipal politics there in 1922 and became mayor in 1925. Drew was the first chair of the Ontario Securities Commission (1931-1934). Chosen as leader of the Ontario Conservative Party in 1938...

• Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, 1872-1918
  The distinguished soldier, physician and poet was born and raised in Guelph, Ontario. John McCrae graduated from the University of Toronto in medicine, practised as a pathologist and taught medicine at McGill University in Montreal. In 1899, he served in the South African War as an officer with the Royal Canadian Field Artillery. At the outbreak of the First World War, he re-enlisted with the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, as its Medical Officer. In...

• Early Settlement in Erin Township
  Erin Township was formed from land purchased by the Crown from the Mississauga Indians in 1818. It was surveyed in 1818 and in 1820-21. A few grantees, including three named Roszel, settled near the site of Ballinafad by 1820. Other settlers came in 1821-27. By 1828 Aaron Wheller had built a grist mill on the site of Hillsburgh, where Nazareth Hill later established a village. Another settlement formed near the site of Erin village where...

• Fergus Curling Club, The
  The oldest continuously operating curling club in Ontario, the Fergus Curling Club was formed in 1834 by Scottish immigrants. At the organization's first formal meeting two years later Adam Fergusson, a founder of Fergus, was chosen president and the rules of play were established. Curling matches between local players and against rival clubs were held out of doors until 1879 when a covered rink was opened. No longer the exclusive preserve of Scots, curling became...

• Captain Frederick W. Campbell, V.C. 1867-1915
  Born in Oxford County and raised near Mount Forest, Campbell saw active service in the South African War. He went overseas in 1914 with the first Canadian contingent and was posted to the 1st Battalion, C.E.F. In June 1915, his unit was engaged in the Givenchy area of France. During an attack on the German trenches, Campbell held an exposed position under heavy fire, despite the loss of most of his detachment. He then advanced...

• Charles Clarke 1826-1909
  A leader in the radical reform movement in 19th century Ontario, Clarke was born in Lincoln, England. In his youth, he developed a keen interest in politics and, after emigrating to Upper Canada and settling in Elora in 1848, he joined the ranks of the province's radical reformers. In 1851, Clarke played a prominent role in drafting the "Clear Grit" platform, which included such policies as representation by population, universal male suffrage and the secret...

• David Boyle 1842-1911
  Born in Scotland, Boyle came to Canada in 1856 and settled in this area. As a local school teacher, he began an extensive collection of native artifacts and became an archaeological authority. Boyle moved to Toronto in 1883 and three years later was appointed the first Curator of the Provincial Archaeological Museum, then housed in the Canadian Institute Building. Dedicated to the study and retention of artifacts within Ontario, he initiated an active program of...

• Edward Johnson 1878-1959
  Edward Johnson, one of the world's leading operatic tenors, was born in Guelph and lived for many years in a house that stood near this site. He studied in Italy and made his European debut in 1912 at Padua. During eight seasons, he performed leading roles in Rome and at La Scala Theatre, Milan and, following extensive tours of Europe and South America, he joined the Chicago Opera Company in 1920. He became a principle...

• Founder of Elora, The
  Captain William Gilkison (1777-1833) was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and emigrated to North America in 1796. He served with the British forces in the War of 1812 as an assistant quartermaster-general and, in 1832, purchased some 14,000 acres of land in Nichol Township. He selected this area at the falls of the Grand River as a town site for his proposed settlement and named it Elora. It was laid out by Lewis Burwell, deputy provincial...

• Founders of Fergus, The
  Adam Fergusson (1782-1862) first visited Canada in 1831 to investigate emigration for the Highland Society of Scotland. In 1833, in partnership with a fellow Scot, James Webster (1808-69), he purchased over 7,000 acres of uncleared land in Nichol Township. Attracted by the abundant water power they laid out the town site of Fergus, Webster took up residence here and supervised the settlement's early development. The first house of this predominantly Scottish community was erected in...

• Founding of Arthur, The
  Arthur, named for Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, was the southern terminus of the Garafraxa "colonization road" to Owen Sound. Settlers arrived in 1840, but the town site was not officially surveyed until 1846. The establishment of saw and grist mills hastened growth in the community, which was also the natural market centre for the area's agricultural production. In 1851, a post office was opened and the first church and school were organized. A weekly...

• Founding of Erin, The
  A small community developed here following the erection of mills on the Credit River about 1828-29. These were later rebuilt by Daniel McMillan. In 1839, a post office, Erin, was established at "McMillan's Mills," and, within a year, village lots had been laid out. In 1851, with a population of 300, the thriving settlement contained several prosperous industries, including a distillery, a tannery and carding, oatmeal and grist-mills. Agricultural prosperity and abundant waterpower stimulated the...

• Founding of Guelph, The
  John Galt, the celebrated Scottish novelist and first superintendent of the Canada Company, founded Guelph on April 23, 1827, naming it "in compliment to the Royal Family." Established and heavily promoted by Galt as the headquarters for the development of the Company's huge land purchase, the Huron Tract, the town subsequently declined on his removal from office in 1829. Increased agricultural settlement in the area and Guelph's elevation to administrative centre for the new Wellington...

• Founding of Harriston, The
  In 1854, Archibald Harrison (1818-77), a Toronto-area farmer, acquired land here in Minto Township where the Elora and Saugeen Road crossed the Maitland River. Mills built by Harrison's brothers, Joshua and George, formed a nucleus of a small settlement and, in 1856, a small post office, Harriston, was established. The hamlet grew slowly but, from 1862, agricultural development stimulated local trade. By about 1867, with a population of about 150, the village contained many businesses...

• Founding of Mount Forest, The
  During the survey of the Garafraxa Colonization Road, constructed from Arthur to Georgian Bay in 1840-48, land was reserved for a settlement here at the South Saugeen River. By 1851, a post office had been established and, two years later, a village-plot named Mount Forest was laid out. Surrounded by excellent agricultural country and stimulated by the improvement of the Garafraxa Road, the hamlet grew quickly and was incorporated as a village in 1864. Three...

• Founding of Palmerston, The
  The opening, in 1871, of a station on the main line of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway, soon to be completed from Guelph to Southampton, provided the nucleus around which a community developed. The station was built on land purchased from Thomas McDowell who, in 1854, had become the first settler on the site of Palmerston. In 1872, McDowell and William Thompson who owned adjoining land began selling town lots and, by 1873, the...

• Guelph City Hall 1856
  This fine example of classical architecture was begun in 1856 following the incorporation of Guelph as a town. It was designed by William Thomas, architect of St. Lawrence Hall, Toronto, and other important buildings throughout the province, and was completed in 1857. Constructed of Guelph stone, it contained a market house, offices and an assembly hall in which many notable persons were entertained, including the Hon. John A. Macdonald, later Canada's first Prime Minister. Alterations...

• Guelph Public Library, The
  One of the first municipally supported libraries formed in Ontario following passage of the Free Libraries Act of 1882, the Guelph Public Library was established on February 10, 1883. It replaced the limited library service that, for several decades, had been available to the community through the Farmers' and Mechanics' Institute. Dedicated to the idea of educating the workingman, the Institute had sponsored lectures and classes and provided a reference and circulating library for members...

• St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
  Prominently sited on a hill-top overlooking Fergus, St. Andrew's was the dominant visual landmark as well as the religious focus of this Scottish community during the second half of the 19th century. It was erected in 1862 to serve a congregation established almost 30 years before and replaced an earlier church which stood on the site. Designed by David Murray of Guelph and built of locally quarried stone, this attractive Gothic-Revial structure is distinguished by...

• Henry Langley 1836-1907
  One of the most prolific architects in 19th-century Ontario, Langley was born in Toronto. In 1862, following his apprenticeship as an architect, he formed a partnership with Thomas Gundry. Langley undertook commissions for residential, commercial and public structures, but soon began to specialize in the design of ecclesiastical buildings. Working with the firm initially known as Langley, Langley and Burke from 1872 until his retirement, he developed an extensive practice fashioning some 70 churches throughout...

• Ontario Vaccine Farm, The
  Established in 1885 by Dr. Alexander Stewart, a local physician, the Ontario Vaccine Farm was the first institution to produce smallpox vaccine in Ontario. The Farm originally consisted of a converted barn where Stewart employed government-approved methods for obtaining and processing vaccine from inoculated calves. During an era of recurrent smallpox outbreaks in Ontario, large quantities were sold to local health boards for preventive vaccination. By 1907, although American farms were supplying most of the...

• John Galt 1779-1839
  Guelph was founded on April 23, 1827, by the Scottish author and colonizer, John Galt, first superintendent of the Canada Company. That body, composed of a group of British speculators, purchased land throughout Upper Canada, including the Huron Tract which embraced most of the unsurveyed lands between Guelph and the site of Goderich. Galt was conscientious and hardworking and showed considerable humanity in his dealings with the Company's pioneer settlers. However, the large expenditures involved...

• John McLean 1799-1890
  In this house from 1847 to 1857 lived the noted explorer and author John McLean, who was born in Scotland and joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. In 1838 he became the first white man to cross the Labrador peninsula from Ungava Bay to Hamilton Inlet and in 1839, discovered the Grand Falls of the Hamilton River, one of the world's greatest cataracts. His book, 'Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory", is an important source of information on the Canadian Fur Trade.

• Joseph Connolly 1840-1904
  This prominent Ontario architect was born in Ireland and received his professional training there under J. J. McCarthy, a leading nineteenth century Catholic church architect. By the early 1860s Connolly had settled at Toronto where he soon established a special practice designing buildings for the burgeoning Roman Catholic community across Ontario. This church, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (1876), in the style of the thirteenth century French Gothic, is one of his earliest known...

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