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The Founding of Harriston

Photo by contributor David Brown - June, 2004

Plaque Location

The County of Wellington
The Town of Minto
In Harriston, on the northwest corner of
Elora Street East and Mill Street

Coordinates: N 43 54.715 W 80 52.143

Plaque Text

In 1854 Archibald Harrison (1818-77), a Toronto-area farmer, acquired land here in Minto Township where the Elora and Saugeen Road crossed the Maitland River. Mills built by Harrison's brothers, Joshua and George, formed a nucleus of a small settlement and in 1856 a small post-office, Harriston, was established. The hamlet grew slowly, but from 1862 agricultural development stimulated local trade. By about 1867, with a population of about 150, the village contained many businesses, including blacksmith shops and wagonworks. The construction of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway, completed to Harriston in 1871, spurred the community's growth as a prosperous commercial and farm-implement manufacturing centre. Harriston was incorporated as a Village with about 500 inhabitants in 1872 and as a Town in 1878.

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