The Founding of Oliver Township

Photo by Thomas William Kirkbride - March 14, 2006

Plaque Location

The District of Thunder Bay
The Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge
In front of the municipal building, Oliver Road, Murillo at road number 4569

Plaque Text

In the late 1860s the need to develop a local agricultural base to serve a growing population of the Thunder Bay region became apparent, and when the 1873 survey of Oliver Township indicated that it contained good agricultural land, attention focused here. Active efforts were begun to encourage farmers from the region and elsewhere in Ontario to settle on the free grant lands in the township, and within five years some seventy families had moved there. In 1878 to facilitate a construction of badly needed roads two settlers, Robert Hopkins and David Squiers, led a movement to establish a local township government. Elections were held on December 30, 1878, and three days later the newly elected township officials were sworn into office.