The Founding of Blenheim

Photo by Alan L Brown - August, 2004

Photo from Google Street View ©2011 Google - January, 2011

Plaque Location

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent
In Blenheim, on the northwest corner of
Talbot Street West and George Street

Coordinates: N 42 20.078 W 81 59.902

Plaque Text

In 1837 James W. Little, a militia officer and land speculator of neighbouring Raleigh Township, purchased land here at the intersection of Ridge Road and Communication Road, the latter planned by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe to connect the town of Chatham with Lake Erie. Little surveyed a village plot, named Blenheim, but sold few lots before 1847. The completion in that year of Rondeau Harbour and of Communication Road fostered the development of lumbering and within a few years a steam sawmill had been erected at Blenheim. By 1857 the population had increased to about 450. As lumbering declined Blenheim emerged as a prosperous agricultural centre. It was incorporated as a Village, with a population of 1,096, in 1874, and as a Town in 1885.

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