The Founding of Blyth

1851

Text from the plaque

By 1851, Lucius McConnell and Kenneth McBain, two of the earliest settlers in the area, had located here in Morris Township. Four years later, Donald McDonald laid out a village plot on the border between Wawanosh and Morris Townships and in July, 1856, a post-office was established. The village developed slowly but within two years contained a sawmill owned by McBain, a Presbyterian church, a tavern, and store. Originally known as Drummond after an enterprising early family, the village, a market town for the surrounding agricultural region, was renamed Blyth after an absentee landowner. In January, 1876, a station on the London, Huron and Bruce Railway was opened and a year later the village was incorporated with a population of about 800.

Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.