The Founding of Maitland

Photo by Alan L Brown - June 13, 2004

Plaque Location

The County of Leeds and Grenville
The Township of Augusta
In Maitland, on the south side of King Street (County Road 2) just west of Church Street

Plaque Text

In this vicinity, the site of a shipyard used during both the late French and early British periods, a village plot was laid out in 1824 for Jehiel and Ziba Phillips. Adjacent to it George Longley, a recent English emigrant, acquired an estate on which St. James Anglican Church was built in 1826. Longley constructed the nearby stone windmill, opened a store and in 1828 became Maitland's first postmaster. The community, named after Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada 1818-28, was a point of access to the Rideau area and flourished during the building of the Rideau Canal 1826-32. Other local industries were soon established and by 1850 Maitland had 200 residents.