One of the Ottawa Valley's most enterprising lumbermen, McLachlin was born in Rigaud Township, Lower Canada, and by 1837 had built a sawmill and grist-mill at Bytown (Ottawa). In 1851, influenced by the timber potential of the Madawaska watershed, he purchased some 400 acres at the deserted hamlet of Arnprior and in 1854 laid out a town plot. The large sawmills which he built here, greatly stimulated the community's growth. In the legislature of the Province of Canada, McLachlin represented Bytown, 1851-54, and Renfrew County, 1861-63. On Arnprior's incorporation in 1862, he was elected to the first village council, and he represented South Renfrew in the first Dominion parliament, 1867-69.

Location

In Robert Simpson Park, at the foot of John Street, Arnprior

Themes

• Industry and trade
• People