The Founding of Wingham

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted October, 2004

Plaque Location

The County of Huron
The Township of North Huron
In Wingham, in front of 273 Josephine Street (Road 4)
on the east side about half way between John and Patrick Streets

Coordinates: N 43 53.228 W 81 18.727

Plaque Text

In the early 1850s, settlers began moving into the townships in the Queen's Bush north of the Huron Tract. One of these townships, Turnberry, was surveyed by 1853 and a plot for a market town designated where two branches of the Maitland River met. Among the earliest settlers on the plot was John Cornyn who was operating a hotel here in 1861. A year later, a post-office named Wingham was established and by 1866 Wingham had become a prominent supply and distributing centre for the agricultural and lumbering hinterland. In the 1870s, railway expansion stimulated tremendous growth and led to Wingham's incorporation as a Village in 1874 with a population of 700. Five years later, its population numbering 2000, Wingham was incorporated as a Town.

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