About 1850, some ten years after this area was settled, a school and a Methodist meeting house were erected here on the town-line between the townships of South Dorchester and Malahide. Shortly afterwards, a post office named Clunas was opened, with Archibald Clunas as postmaster. Although a village plot called Springfield was surveyed in 1857, its growth was slow until the Canada Southern Railway, completed in 1873, selected Springfield as a station site. The community quickly became the commercial centre for the surrounding fertile agricultural area and attracted a number of industries, including a flax mill and several gristmills. The population numbered about 800 in 1877, when Elgin County Council passed the bylaw incorporating Springfield as a village.

Location

At the municipal building, 51137 Main Street, Springfield

Themes

• Agriculture
• Communities
• Transportation systems and communications