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• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• La Guayra Settlers, The
  In 1827, some 135 destitute settlers arrived at Guelph. They formed part of a group sent in 1825 to La Guayra, Venezuela by a British land company. Unsuited to the tropical climate and unable to work their poor land, they abandoned the colony and requested assistance from the British government. Transported to New York, they were directed to the Canada Company's settlement in Upper Canada. For going the required charges, the superintendent, John Galt placed...

• Ontario Agricultural College, The
  The portico was the entrance of the Frederick W. Stone farm house, the building in which the first classes of the Ontario School of Agriculture were held on May 1, 1874. Renamed the Ontario Agricultural College in 1880, this institution, the first college established on the University of Guelph campus, was affiliated with the University of Toronto in 1888. A Provincial Act of 1962 created the Federal Colleges of the Ontario Department of Agriculture, comprising...

• Ontario Veterinary College, The
  This college known until 1869 as the Upper Canada Veterinary School was the first in Canada to offer courses in veterinary medicine. It was established in Toronto in 1862 by the Board of Agriculture, and although partially sponsored by this government body it was operated as a private enterprise by Prof. Andrew Smith, a graduate of Edinburgh Veterinary College. Incorporated in 1896, the college was affiliated with the University of Toronto in 1897, although the...

• Wellington County Court House
  In 1837, the provincial legislature established the provisional District of Wellington and authorized the erection of a court house and jail at Guelph. Construction of the two structures, designed by the noted Toronto architect Thomas Young, commenced under the supervision of a committee of local magistrates. Built by William Allan of Guelph, the limestone court house is one of the few structures in Ontario executed in the castellated style reminiscent of medieval fortifications. It was...