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169-495: The Oxford County regional seat is in Woodstock . Oxford County has been a regional municipality since 2001 but has retained the word "county" in its name. It has a two-tier municipal government structure, with the lower-tier municipalities being the result of a merger in 1975 of a larger number of separate municipalities that previously existed before the restructuring. It also comprises a single Statistics Canada census division , and

338-514: A census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Oxford County had a population of 121,781 living in 47,876 of its 49,445 total private dwellings, a change of 9.9% from its 2016 population of 110,846 . With a land area of 2,038.18 km (786.95 sq mi), it had a population density of 59.7/km (154.8/sq mi) in 2021. The Census Commissioner for Oxford County in 1852, Thomas Shenston, compiled elaborate statistics from census records and published

507-624: A 4,000 pound cheese, believed to have been the biggest ever made, which was exhibited at the New York State Fair in Utica and then the Provincial Exhibition in Toronto in 1865, but the fate of that monster foretold Smith's doom. In the course of hauling it from the exhibition grounds to the railway station for shipment to England for exhibition and sale, a wheel came off the wagon and the cheese

676-527: A Regency predecessor of 1839, the Courthouse is a massive building of sandstone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, with a complex roof line. The first architect was dismissed in 1890 after the walls were found to be faulty, and replaced by Cuthbertson of Woodstock and Fowler of Toronto. Monkey heads are hidden among the capitals of the red marble pillars at the two front entrances, and the monkey at

845-434: A booming market by the 1840s, increased with the improvement of roads by toll companies, and even more so after the construction of railways through Oxford. Grist and flour mills, furniture factories, carriage and wagon factories, tanneries and shoe factories, foundries producing farm equipment, and knitting mills were all becoming commonplace in the county by the 1850s, but the real revolution in manufacturing activity came in

1014-410: A buyout program was implemented by the federal government in 2008, with payouts totalling $ 350 million to farmers who agreed to switch to other crops (the buyout funds came from a $ 1 billion settlement agreed by the major cigarette manufacturers as a result of prosecution for illegal activities). The result was a drop in annual production from 84 million pounds to 20 million pounds. Farmers who agreed to

1183-401: A century old. Downtown promotes itself through its Business Improvement Area members as a place to shop, work, play and dine. Although there are a few vacancies in the city centre, the downtown is full of beautiful historic buildings and several unique retail outlets. In the 1990s the city undertook an extensive makeover of the main street, adding many gardens and cobbled sidewalks. Every summer

1352-705: A challenge achieving high-speed internet connectivity for homes and businesses in all areas, but in response to a request for proposals, county council found a contractor able to create a data service network for residents using cellphone tower infrastructure. Internet access has been important to preserving social connectedness as the ongoing process in Oxford of economizing through centralization has caused neighbourhood schools, churches, post offices and businesses to close. Social media has been widely adopted for service delivery by Oxford County council and its various departments. County residents recognize that quality of life in Oxford

1521-569: A church (Old St. Paul's) in a new area of Oxford that was known as the "Town Plot". The men would later quarrel, which would lead to the construction of a second church known as "New St. Paul's". In 1836 there were 200 people living in Woodstock, and by 1846 the population had grown to almost 1100 inhabitants. There were six churches or chapels, a jail, a court house, one bank agency, a school and two weekly newspapers. Several court and government offices were located here. Industry included two grist mills,

1690-545: A city councillor. Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County, with the County Administration Building located across from City Hall in the area of Dundas and Reeve Streets. The city is governed by both the city and Oxford county councils, each with specific "spheres of jurisdiction". During 2005, economic development services, then exclusive to the county, was negotiated away from them by former mayor Michael Harding. For provincial and federal elections, Woodstock

1859-537: A community of escaped slaves settled around the village of Otterville. There were 47 distinct religious denominations in the total population, of which 8,493 were Methodists in 5 different denominations, 8,300 were in Scotch or Presbyterian denominations, 5,760 Anglicans, 4,579 Baptists in 5 different denominations, 2,194 were Roman Catholics, 730 Quakers, and 161 Mennonites, amongst other smaller groups including Israelites, Infidels, Free-Thinkers and Heathens. Oxford County has

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2028-444: A complete history of the county of Oxford, from its first settlement... in 1852, but in footnotes to several portions of the text he indicates that the historical narrative he had compiled was forced out of the book by the amount of census data tabulated in its pages. Despite its shortcomings, the book was reprinted by the county as a Canada Centennial project in 1967. When the mania for illustrated county atlases swept across Ontario in

2197-512: A decade of lobbying by the "Save the Jail" Committee, with spectacular results, and is now occupied by Oxford County Public Health.(Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Public Buildings of Woodstock, Ontario ) The Woodstock Public Library was built in 1909 by Chadwick and Beckett of Toronto on a Carnegie library grant, and it is considered one of the most attractive Carnegie libraries in Ontario. It

2366-440: A detailed analysis based upon reports submitted to him by citizen groups in 57 townships who yearned for improvements. Gourlay spent the next 35 years away from Canada but returned to his land in Oxford in 1856 to run for election. Gourlay was just one of many voices that created dissatisfaction in Oxford and area over the slow pace of growth that continued in the 1820s and 1830s. American-born settlers were again making their way to

2535-469: A domed cupola. It served as the first market, first fire hall, community hall, and lockup for the town, and was the location of the world-famous Birchall-Benwell murder trial in 1890. Canada's first elected female mayor of a City, Bernadette Smith, served here from 1952 to 1965, and the original town council chamber used from 1871 to 1968 inside has been restored. (Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Buildings of Woostock, Ontario ) The Woodstock Market

2704-479: A million birds per year (12% of the provincial total). It is the second highest pork producer in Ontario, with 128 farms raising nearly 1 million hogs per year (14% of the provincial total). The county's beef farmers raise about 100,000 head per year (6% of the provincial total). Farm cash receipts from these 4 categories of livestock were about $ 190 million in Oxford in 2016. The earliest activities which could be categorised as manufacturing for sale were byproducts of

2873-643: A multitude of place names identifying the communities which have grown up as service hubs in the course of the county's history. A large proportion of these were granted their own post offices and thus became known as "postal villages", details of which can be found in the online database maintained by Library and Archives Canada. For purposes of modern land use planning, the county now distinguishes between Large Urban Centres being Woodstock, Tillsonburg and Ingersoll, and Rural settlement areas, categorized as Serviced Villages, Villages or Rural Clusters. There are 21 Villages and nearly 40 Rural Clusters currently identified by

3042-553: A paddlewheel steamer being used in the Niagara River by the exiled rebels, leaving it to drift over Niagara Falls. The decade of political turmoil that followed resulted in greater democratic government at the local and provincial levels, as Oxford repeatedly elected Reformers to serve as the county's representative in the legislative assembly. They included a Prime Minister ( Sir Francis Hincks ) and two Fathers of Confederation ( George Brown and Sir Oliver Mowat ). Enormous growth in

3211-633: A part of various other Iroquoian nations. Historical records kept by the French do not discuss the Neutrals as a nation or confederacy after 1672. The Neutrals' name for themselves was Chonnonton , or 'people of the deer', or, more precisely, 'the people who tend or manage deer'. They were called '' Attawandaron'' by the Huron , meaning 'people whose speech is awry or a little different'. The Iroquois called them Atirhagenrat (Atirhaguenrek) and Rhagenratka. Some of

3380-576: A primary resource, allowed them to trade simultaneously with often-warring Huron and Iroquois tribes. Since they were not at war with the Huron or the Iroquois in 1600, Jesuits travelling in the area of what is now Hamilton, the lower Grand Valley and Niagara, called them the Neutrals. However, the confederacy had feuds with an Algonkian people called the Mascouten or "Fire Nation", who were believed to live in what

3549-724: A regional campus in Woodstock. Kitchener's Conestoga College has a skills training centre in Ingersoll. Work towards creation of a university in Oxford County continued for several decades in the second half of the 19th century with the creation of the Canadian Literary Institute (incorporated 1857, later renamed Woodstock College) in Woodstock, but came to an end in the late 1880s when its departments were divided and transferred to Toronto and Hamilton to become today's McMaster University . Woodstock, Ontario Woodstock

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3718-483: A result of soil exhaustion and insect infestations by the 1860s, greater reliance was placed on dairying for butter and cheesemaking. Corn and soybean production now compete with dairying for available farmland, driving up land prices. Wheat is also resurgent. In 1852, only 2,700 acres were devoted to corn. By 2012, corn was being grown on 158,000 acres, producing 25 million bushels. In the same year, soybeans were grown on 77,000 acres yielding 3.7 million bushels, and wheat

3887-531: A saw mill, a fulling mill, a brewery and a distillery and four wagon makers. Woodstock was incorporated as a town in 1851 and had its first town meeting in the Royal Pavilion Hotel. This year also saw the start of the Town Hall and local government. In 1901, Woodstock, with a population of nearly 9,000, petitioned the provincial legislature for city status and the "Town of Woodstock" was incorporated into

4056-538: A setback in 2018 with the closing of the Cold Springs Farms turkey processing and feed mill plant at Thamesford, with the loss of 425 jobs. Cold Springs was founded by W. Harvey Beatty (1916–1994), a dynamo who worked around crippling injuries to build an enterprise starting in Thamesford in 1949 that eventually included 60 farms in Ontario. For his business accomplishments and commitment to industry organizations, he

4225-411: A single electoral division for federal and provincial elections for which the precise boundaries have been revised from time to time. For part of its history, it was divided into two ridings, Oxford North, for federal and provincial elections, and Oxford South, for federal and provincial elections, for each of which see their own pages. Oxford County had its own school board until 1998, when it

4394-490: A strategy used while hunting. Another group, the Onguiaahra ('near the big waters' or possibly 'the strait' – or something else, see Niagara Falls § Toponymy ), populated the more southern Niagara Peninsula and allegedly account for the origin of the word "Niagara". The Chonnonton territory contained large deposits of flint, which was a valuable resource for sharp tools, fire-starting and, eventually, firearms, which, as

4563-517: A thing of the past. It did by the 1970s. After lying vacant for many years, the Ingersoll cheese factory was reopened in 1999 as Local Dairy producing artisanal cheese, cultured butter, and yogurt. Other artisanal factories such as Gunn's Hill near Woodstock have also taken off, giving a new meaning to Oxford's Cheese Trails tourism promotions. There are currently 5 provincially-licensed factories in Oxford. The county's economic development efforts aimed at increasing food processing within Oxford suffered

4732-424: A time in this way and bring back goods to sell upon return, but it was a ten- to fourteen-day journey. Export sales were more frequent for potash and pearlash derived from burning timber and boiling the ashes; individual settlers had little wheat to spare in their early years, but plenty of wood ashes that could be boiled and bartered with local merchants in exchange for supplies. Export of sawn lumber eventually became

4901-604: A tribal confederation of Iroquoian peoples . Its heartland was in the floodplain of the Grand River in what is now Ontario , Canada. At its height, its wider territory extended toward the shores of lakes Erie , Huron , and Ontario , as well as the Niagara River in the east. To the northeast were the neighbouring territories of Huronia and the Petun Country , which were inhabited by other Iroquoian confederacies from which

5070-421: A variety of Provincial IHF Facilities and Specialists including Large outpatient Cardiology Centre KMH, which houses Cardiologists and Internal Medicine Specialists offering Cardiology Testing such as Echocardiograms, SPECT nuclear medicine, and Holter monitors. Woodstock has two sister cities : Sylvania , Ohio , United States, and Pesche , Italy. The Woodstock Art Gallery is located at 449 Dundas Street in

5239-493: A variety of full- and part-time programs. Fanshawe has applied for a permit to add onto their campus. The addition would double the size of the current campus and allow the institution to offer a much wider selection of programs. - Thames Valley District School Board (Anglophone, Public) - London District Catholic School Board (Anglophone, Catholic) - Conseil scolaire catholique Providence (Francophone, Catholic) - Private Woodstock has several parks and gardens. Most notable

Oxford County, Ontario - Misplaced Pages Continue

5408-503: A winter among the Nation, during 1625–1626. A Franciscan Récollet , Father Joseph de La Roche Daillon , spent time with the Nation in 1626 and estimated the population as 40,000 at that time. About 14 years later, Brébeuf and Chaumonot visited 18 Neutral Confederacy settlements and stayed in ten villages. By that time, the estimated population was only "about 12,000 people and 4,000 warriors in about 40 villages and hamlets". After destroying

5577-469: Is Southside Park , which has a playground, baseball diamonds, public washrooms, soccer fields, gardens, and a new Skatepark. It also has a large pond, and many walking trails. Tip O'Neill Field at Southside Park is home for the Woodstock Rangers OBA Junior baseball team. Neutral Nation The Neutral Confederacy (also Neutral Nation , Neutral people , or Attawandaron ) was

5746-434: Is Vansittart Avenue, named after Admiral Henry Vansittart , one of the city's first settlers. Woodstock has a large community centre with a rink capable of accommodating 1,800 spectators for hockey games. The centre also has a large banquet hall and atrium which play host to many social gatherings for the community. The community was first settled in 1800 after it was determined by Sir John Graves Simcoe , governor of what

5915-694: Is a city in Southwestern Ontario , Canada. The city has a population of 46,705 according to the 2016 Canadian census . Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County , at the head of the Thames River , approximately 128 km from Toronto , and 43 km from London, Ontario . The city is known as the Dairy Capital of Canada and promotes itself as "The Friendly City". Woodstock was first settled by European colonists and United Empire Loyalists in 1800, starting with Zacharias Burtch and Levi Luddington, and

6084-705: Is also under study by Lafarge at its branches worldwide. Lafarge and its 1,400 acres north of the Carmeuse lands are not a part of the Walker/Carmeuse garbage landfill/recycling proposal currently in contention, and Oxford County residents are concerned Walker has declined to disclose its future business plans for the quarry sites other than the nearly 200 acre section being made available by Carmeuse along Ingersoll's eastern boundary for which Walker seeks megadump approval. Oxford County has approximately 2,000 farms of varying sizes, averaging out to 400 acres per farm. The old saw

6253-484: Is heard in Oxford just like elsewhere in the country, 'Canadians don't want to work on farms for the wages offered.' Filling farm labour needs in Oxford County during growing and harvest seasons includes approximately 2,000 foreign seasonal workers. Oxford is still categorized as an 'emerging community' by the Living Wage Canada movement. Due to low population density over most of its territory, Oxford County faced

6422-534: Is home to a campus of Fanshawe College . The city plays host to a number of cultural and artistic exhibits, including the Woodstock Museum, a national historic site . Woodstock's summer festivals contribute to its tourism industry; however, its economic activity is centred on the manufacturing centre, the city being home to several auto-manufacturing factories. The city's west end has exceptionally well-preserved Victorian streetscapes; most notable of these streets

6591-508: Is in classical revival style, with a graceful entrance, bi-chromatic brickwork, and well-balanced windows; the rotunda inside is beautifully proportioned and dramatic. The library traces its history back to a reading society formed in 1835 with Rev. William Bettridge of Old St. Paul's Church as president, and possesses the only complete set of minute books in the province dating back to 1835. Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Public Buildings of Woodstock, Ontario Built in 1892 to replace

6760-590: Is included in the riding of Oxford. Currently, the MP of Oxford is Arpan Khanna (Conservative), and the MPP is Ernie Hardeman (Progressive Conservative). Woodstock General Hospital was located on Riddell Street in central Woodstock for over a century. In the fall of 2011, the WGH moved to a new location in a newly developing area in the southern end of Woodstock. Through millions of dollars in local private donations, backed by government grants,

6929-1108: Is increasingly decided by multinational businesses. When planning on ways to oppose the proposed megadump on the Carmeuse quarry property, the importance of communicating directly with Carmeuse at its head office in Belgium was obvious. Achieving job stability at the CAMI auto assembly plant in Ingersoll required challenging General Motors over threats that the plant's production would be moved to Mexico. The Thames Valley District School Board operates five high schools in Oxford – three in Woodstock ( Huron Park SS , College Avenue SS and Woodstock Collegiate Institute ), Glendale High School in Tillsonburg, and Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute in Ingersoll. The London District Catholic School Board operates St. Mary's Catholic High School in Woodstock. The French-language Catholic school board, Providence , operates Ecole Secondaire Catholique Notre-Dame high school in Woodstock. London's Fanshawe College operates

Oxford County, Ontario - Misplaced Pages Continue

7098-442: Is located in Ingersoll. All three hospitals have 24/7 emergency room facilities. Each has associated with it a branch of Woodingford Lodge, a long-term care living network operated by Oxford County on a not-for-profit basis. The Oxford County Community Support Services Network offers a variety of health based Community Support Services to help Seniors and Adults with Disabilities remain in their homes. 1-888-866-7518 Since Woodstock

7267-608: Is now mounted in Southside Park. (Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Public Buildings of Woodstock, Ontario ) The old Armouries was erected in 1904 by Nagle and Mills of Ingersoll as the home of the Oxford Rifles until 1954. The crenelated towers give it an appearance of heavy fortification, and its architecture reveals function through its exterior form, making interesting use of stone and brick. In 1971, after being declared surplus to Department of National Defence needs, it

7436-590: Is present-day Michigan . In 1616, the Neutral Confederacy had an estimated 40 villages and 4,000 warriors. In 1641, after a serious epidemic, the Jesuits counted 40 Neutral villages, with about 12,000 people. The nation was unable to survive the changes. In the 1650s, after the Iroquois Wars , they dispersed. One source indicates that the reasons included "wars, diseases and famine". The remaining members became

7605-586: The 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Woodstock had a population of 46,705 living in 18,886 of its 19,528 total private dwellings, a change of 13.6% from its 2016 population of 41,098 . With a land area of 56.46 km (21.80 sq mi), it had a population density of 827.2/km (2,142.5/sq mi) in 2021. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, approximately 78.2% of residents were European Canadians , whereas 5.3% were visible minorities and 2.2% were aboriginal (including 1.4% First Nations ). The largest visible minority group

7774-504: The County of Brant (1920) said that the hunting grounds of the Attawandaron ranged from Genesee Falls and Sarnia and south of a line drawn from Toronto to Goderich . During their travels, Jean de Brébeuf and Pierre Joseph Marie Chaumonot gave each Neutral village a Christian name. The only ones that are mentioned in their writings were Kandoucho , or All Saints, the nearest to

7943-491: The Huron Nation ; Onguioaahra , on the Niagara River; Teotongniaton or St. William, in the centre of their country; and Khioetoa , or St. Michel (near what is now Windsor, Ontario). Reville described their territory as having been heavily forested and full of "wild fruit trees of vast variety," with nut trees, berry bushes, and wild grape vines. "Elk, caribou, and black bear; deer, wolves, foxes, martens and wild cats filled

8112-560: The Onondaga , Oneida , and St. Lawrence Iroquoians . It was superior for toolmaking to other local chert varieties around the St. Lawrence Lowlands. That important resource was used to make spearheads and arrowheads and so gave the Neutrals the power to maintain their neutrality. Once the neighbours began receiving firearms through trade with the Europeans, however, the possession of the flint grounds

8281-709: The Petun Nation and may have had shared ancestry. The Jesuit Relations in 1652 describes tattooing among the Petun (also called the Tobacco Nation) as well as the Neutrals: "And this (tattooing) in some nations is so common that in the one which we called the Tobacco, and... the Neutral. I know not whether a single individual was found, who was not painted in this manner, on some part of

8450-400: The "City of Woodstock". From 1900 to 1920, an electric streetcar ran down the streets of Woodstock; as well, after 1920, bricks were used to pave the main street of Woodstock. The bricks were later removed in the 1940s. Sir Oliver Mowat , a native of Kingston, Ontario , served as member of the provincial parliament for the region from 1872 to 1896, during which time he was also premier of

8619-460: The 15th century longhouse village site discovered at Tillsonburg twenty years ago which is considered "off the charts" by comparison to other sites which have been found and studied. Attempts to record the history of Oxford County were few and far between during the first century of European settlement and growth. Thomas S. Shenston (1822–1895), the Oxford County commissioner for the provincial census of 1851, authored The Oxford gazetteer; containing

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8788-718: The 1650s, as a result of warfare with Iroquois and epidemics resulting from European contact. The land was acquired by the Crown by three treaties, signed in 1792 (by chiefs of the Mississaugas First Nation), in 1796 (by chiefs of the Chippewas First Nation) and 1827 (by chiefs of the Chippewas). They depended for their certainty on an earlier treaty known as the McKee Purchase of 1790, signed at Detroit with 35 chiefs from

8957-513: The 1830s was successful in bringing many to Oxford who showed a determination to make Woodstock the seat of a new local aristocracy, just as Simcoe had envisioned 40 years earlier. The "father of the settlement" at Woodstock was Rear-Admiral Henry Vansittart , surrounded by an assortment of retired army and navy officers who had been schooled in the Napoleonic Wars. Resentment of the old settlers grew to rebellion, with Oxford's elected member in

9126-424: The 1840s to the 1860s also became a cure for past grievances. The population chart tells the story and shows the county eventually reached a population plateau in the 1870s that continued well into the first half of the 20th century. A new era of urbanization starting in the 1950s added 25,000 people to Woodstock, 10,000 to Tillsonburg, and 6,000 to Ingersoll, which has been most of Oxford County's modern growth. As

9295-421: The 1850s which was later extended up into Perth County through Tavistock. It endures today as Highway 59. Railways were built criss-crossing Oxford in the 1850s and 1860s, joining Woodstock and Ingersoll to Detroit and Toronto , as well as joining Woodstock to Stratford and Port Dover and Norwich to Brantford and Port Burwell. An electric street railway joined Woodstock and Ingersoll through Beachville from 1900 to

9464-566: The 1860s, with the arrival of cheese factories. It is accepted that the first cheese factories in Canada were established in Oxford County, although there is still some controversy about which one was the very first. Officially the title is given to Harvey Farrington for a factory in Norwich township opened in 1864, but it is likely his was preceded by the factory operated by Andes Smith in the same township. To display his accomplishments, Smith manufactured

9633-544: The 1870s, Oxford was included, but the volume published by Walker and Miles of Toronto in 1876 devoted only five pages to a summary of the county's history. Oxford was not included in the mania which created county history volumes in the 1880s and 1890s, but the Oxford Historical and Museum Society was established in 1897, and a great leap forward took place in 1948 when it partnered with the Royal Ontario Museum and

9802-418: The 1920s, but was replaced by a bus service which succumbed in the 1940s to private automobiles as the preferred mode of travel thereafter. Woodstock has developed a transit system which now operates a fleet of 11 buses six days a week, and charter bus companies have experimented with other local services. A 2008 summary put Oxford's annual milk production at 60 million gallons from the county's 344 dairy farms,

9971-711: The District Court was convened in the Long Point Settlement, first at Turkey Point, then at the village of Vittoria. It was moved to London in 1826. The Brock District, containing Oxford County's territory, was then split off from the London District in 1840. By the time a courthouse had been built for the Brock District at Woodstock, legislative changes were introduced by the province to provide for election of district council members from each township to take over

10140-533: The First World War and had greatly fallen off by the 1930s. By then Oxford's milk production was being trucked to London and Toronto rather than local cheese factories. The Ingersoll Packing Company, later renamed the Ingersoll Cream Cheese Company, continued a large-scale manufacture for international markets, but by 1956 Maclean's lamented to the whole country that Ingersoll cheese might become

10309-595: The Genealogical Society in a modern facility opened by the county in 2012 for the Oxford County Archives. The greatest hindrance to developing pioneer Oxford was its landlocked location, remote from the Great Lakes. Governor Simcoe's vision for the area in the 1790s included planning a government road joining Burlington Bay to the site of a new provincial capital at London, through a government town where

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10478-460: The Governor's Road east of Woodstock, and it was that route which became Highway 53 through Burford and Brantford to Hamilton . The wisdom of a road link from Burlington Bay (Hamilton) through Brantford into Oxford has been reaffirmed with the completion of Highway 403, which also joins the 401 to the east of Woodstock. The portion which originally led into the centre of Oxford is now a county road named

10647-632: The Hurons, the Iroquois attacked the Neutrals. Around 1650, during a period that is now loosely referred to as the Beaver Wars , referring to the theft of furs, the Iroquois Confederacy declared war on the Attawandaron. Some historians state that the Iroquois destroyed the Neutral society, which ended as a separate entity in 1651. However, the Neutral population had already been reduced by diseases such as smallpox and measles carried by Europeans. By 1652,

10816-486: The Ingersoll area producing as much as one hundred pounds a day by the 1830s. The queen of cheesemakers was Lydia Ranney on their family farm just south of Ingersoll, who was creating thousand pound cheeses for prize competitions at provincial expositions by the 1840s. The first crop which had earning potential for Oxford's pioneers was wheat. In 1852 it was estimated that the county had produced 611,000 bushels, of which 450,000 bushels were exported. When wheat yields fell as

10985-469: The Iroquois had also destroyed the Huron, Petun and Erie Nations. Some of the Neutrals were incorporated into Seneca villages in upstate New York, and others were absorbed into various other societies. The Kenjockety family, one of the last known families to trace their ethnicity to the Neutrals, still lives among the Senecas. Anthropologist Jackes discussed the year 1651 as particularly significant: "during

11154-502: The Ivan Elliot site was 4,000; the Neutrals lived in longhouses and used the village for about 20 years. Another nearby site, on the McPhee farm, owned by Raymond Reid, was excavated in 1983. The village had a population of about 1,000 around 1500–1530. The Neutral Confederacy decline and eventual end can be attributed to genocide. The final catastrophe that led to its end by the early 1650s

11323-544: The Neutral Confederacy has been extinct for more than three centuries, little is known about the Neutrals' language. Mithun (1979:145, 188–189) cites Jesuits pointing out that the Neutral language was different from the Wendat language, in that the Neutrals were "vne Nation differente de langage, au moins en plusieurs choses" (Thwaites 21.188) / "a Nation different in language, at least in many respects" (Thwaites 21.189). Mithun further cites work by Roy Wright (Mithun 1979:160) where

11492-491: The Neutral Confederacy hunted not only deer but also elk, moose, beaver, raccoons, squirrels, black bear, fox and muskrat. The remains of catfish, whitefish, salmon and trout were also common at many of the sites. In 1983–1985, another site was excavated. One of the largest Attawandaron villages, the location covered 13 acres of the Badenoch section of Puslinch, on the east side of Morriston, Ontario . The estimated population of

11661-603: The Niagara Peninsula to the Detroit River, perhaps as far north as Toronto in the east and Goderich in the west." They had population concentrations on the Niagara Peninsula and in the vicinity of the present-day communities of Hamilton and Milton , Ontario. In addition to this main territory, there was a single population cluster to the east, across the Niagara River , near modern-day Buffalo , New York , which

11830-664: The OPP. On 19 October 2009, the Oxford Community Police Service ceased to exist and the Woodstock Police Service was reborn under the direction of Chief Rod Freeman. The rest of Oxford County is patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Oxford detachment. In 1999 The Government of Ontario downloaded responsibility for the provision of Land Ambulance Services. In the southern half of the province,

11999-630: The Old Stage Road. The 401 itself replicates the old Detroit Road. Transportation within Oxford was greatly improved with toll roads and railways planned in the 1830s which were actually built in the 1840s and later. Ingersoll people collaborated with Tillsonburg and points south to construct the Ingersoll and Port Burwell Plank and Gravel Road starting in 1849, which was later extended as a toll road north through Zorra into Perth County. It endures today as Highway 19. Woodstock collaborated with Norwich and Port Dover to build another north–south toll road in

12168-453: The Potawatomi, Wyandot, Ojibwe, and Odawa First Nations. Oxford County was created by the legislature of the province of Upper Canada in 1798 by an enactment that came into force at the beginning of 1800. The immediate purpose was for better organization of the local militia and the improvement of the social order by the appointment of a lord lieutenant , part of the aristocratic framework for

12337-551: The Sun") who led several raids against the Mascouten (or "The Fire Nation"), who lived in territory in present-day Michigan and Ohio . A 1627 report called him the chief of all of the nation (Neutrals). Tsouharissen died around 1646. Within a generation (by the early 1670s), all of the nearby first nations, the Erie, the Huron, Neutrals, Tobacco tribes, and even the fierce Susquehannocks would all fall between rampaging epidemic diseases or in

12506-468: The Town Hall in Woodstock, was built in 1880 as "The O'Neill House". It saw guests such as Oscar Wilde and Reginald Birchall, and later had a double purpose – it was the meeting spot for media in Birchall's trial. In 1895, the hotel saw a new owner, who named it "Oxford" and it would change hands twice more in the twentieth century. The Oxford Hotel also booked some interesting acts. In 1924, the "Human Fly", who

12675-557: The Town Hall in the Oxford Hotel. On August 7, 1979, the Woodstock area was hit by three tornadoes , two of which were rated F4 on the Fujita scale . On the west side of town along Ingersoll Road, a Dominion Food Store was heavily damaged while the tornadoes skipped over every other home and business. Dickson's Florist was wiped out and the Fry home was moved on its foundation. Father Grondziel of

12844-557: The University of Western Ontario to create the first of what the Ontario government planned as a network of county museums to aid local schools in teaching students about their history. Since then, the Oxford Historical Society has published a series of booklets as history bulletins and a quarterly newsletter, and also ensures that more recent books by local historians are kept in print and available for purchase. Although little

13013-470: The Upper Thames Brewing Company, and the mess hall which has been converted into a community centre for Sally Creek. As well a carved insert with the words "Ontario Hospital" remains in the stone wall on the west side of Highway 59 north of Fairway Road. A polished black granite memorial to the institution sits at Dr. J. J. Williams Park on Lakeview Drive east of Highway 59. Woodstock also has

13182-496: The Woodstock trains in 1914. They would later go bankrupt and be bought out by CN. Via now resides in the heritage building once occupied by Grand Trunk. This fountain sits in front of The Woodstock Museum or Old Town Hall. The fountain was erected in 1916 in honour of Andrew Pattulo, who was head of the Sentinel-Review newspaper in the early twentieth century. The Old Registry Office, now housing Oxford County Social Services,

13351-577: The bloody Beaver Wars between themselves and/or to the last tribe standing with any significant military power, the Iroquois . The Neutrals quarried Onondaga chert from the Onondaga Limestone formation in their lands. Prior to European contact, they used this chert as a tool stone for arrowheads , bifaces , and other weapons and tools. This extended into the protohistoric and post-contact periods, and has been documented at sites associated with

13520-552: The body." The Museum of Ontario Archeology describes the society as "semi-nomadic", living in villages for about 20 years before abandoning a site after depleting the game and the soil of the area. A historian in 1997 stated that the Nation "also made use of hamlets, agricultural field cabins, specialized camps ... and cemeteries. Another source describes the Neutrals as a "hunter-gatherer society who lived in longhouses that sheltered multiple families". Research conducted by anthropologist Mary Jackes states that they remained neutral "in

13689-437: The buyout have favoured a switch to fruit and vegetable crops. The pioneer scene with a few hens scratching in the yard and a rooster crowing atop a fence rail has long since given way to giant poultry barns. As of 2017, Oxford County is the third highest chicken producer in the province, with 108 farms generating 48 million kilograms of chickens per year (8% of the provincial total). It has 15 turkey farms that raise nearly half

13858-511: The carbon. Automobile assembly plants in Ingersoll ( CAMI/General Motors ) and Woodstock ( Toyota ) and related parts manufacturers, warehouses and trucking companies have been a growing part of Oxford County's industrial base since 1985. The Ingersoll assembly plant reached production of its 5 millionth vehicle in May 2018. Oxford County has full service general hospitals in Woodstock and Tillsonburg. A limited services hospital with acute care facilities

14027-601: The city now has a new state-of-the-art medical facility. The new hospital is close to highway 401, the busiest highway in North America, and has many upgrades including a helipad and an MRI/cancer centre. It caters to a population of about 55,000 people. It has a workforce of nearly 600 people and 270 volunteers. Woodstock was the former home of the Oxford Regional Centre. Opened in 1906 as the Hospital for Epileptics, it

14196-488: The conflicts between the Iroquois from south of the Great Lakes and the Ontario Iroquoians who lived to the north" and thrived through active trading instead of war, although the Huron nation aggressively worked to prevent trade between the Neutrals and the French.      The chief of 28 villages, villas, and towns in the last years of the Neutral confederacy was named Tsouharissen or Souharissen ("Child of

14365-436: The county set off a rivalry between Hornor and Mallory for the prestige of appointment as Claus's resident deputy lieutenant within the county, eventually won by Hornor. Thomas Ingersoll left the county, but the rivalry between Hornor and Mallory for pre-eminence continued for more than a decade, as Mallory was elected as the county's representative in the legislative assembly for Upper Canada in 1804 and again in 1808. All of that

14534-518: The county's land use plan. An online database of historic place names and locations of these communities is maintained by the Oxford County Library. Most unusual place name in the county belongs to Punkeydoodles Corners , located at the convergence of the border lines of Oxford County, Perth County and Waterloo County, thus making it part of all three counties. It drew national attention on Canada Day in 1982, when former Prime Minister Joe Clark

14703-478: The county, such as George Tillson , the founder of Tillsonburg, and Abraham Beach, the founder of Beachville. By 1821 all of Thomas Ingersoll's sons had returned to create the village that became Ingersoll. Thomas Hornor was elevated again as the county's champion, appointed in 1820 to head the Oxford Militia and served as the county's representative in the legislative assembly throughout the next decade. There, he

14872-489: The deposit area has been licensed by the Ontario government for limestone quarrying. The village of Beachville is atop the deposit and became well known from its earliest days for small kilns burning limestone to produce lime, but manufacturing on a heavy industrial scale now takes place in mills adjacent to quarry properties covering thousands of acres in the county, operated by Lafarge Canada Inc. (1,400 acres) and Carmeuse Lime (Canada) Limited (1,800 acres). The mills which burn

15041-521: The existence of many villages southwest of Hamilton, comprising a Neutral Confederacy, which he believes to have been centred at the Walker site and was presided over by the chief Souharissen. Noble was instrumental in excavating and documenting other Neutral sites in Thorold , Grimsby , and Binbrook . Reports from those and other Southern Ontario sites near Milton ( Crawford Lake ) and Oakville have indicated that

15210-646: The expense of making the path passable for wagons between Brant's Ford and the Thames River as part of his efforts to develop Oxford township in the mid-1790s. Later government appropriations extended that roadwork all the way down the Thames to Detroit – what was henceforth known as the Detroit Road. Woodstock's merchants gained support to improve the road along a detour taking it to the Vansittart landholdings (Eastwood) along

15379-409: The exterior stone carving. Built of warm sandstone, with decorative trim in the gables and a bold corner tower with four clocks, it was converted to municipal offices in 1968. Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Public Buildings of Woodstock, Ontario The Perry Street firehall was built in 1899 at a cost of $ 7,500 to house the horse-drawn wagons. On Saturday evenings, people would gather to see

15548-456: The fierce ways in which they waged war. A largely agrarian society, the Neutral Confederacy developed farmsteads that were admired and marveled over by European leaders writing reports to their sponsors. The Neutral Confederacy were primarily engaged in hunting; they traded with others through furs and animal skins. The largest group identified as Chonnonton ('keepers of the deer'), partly because of their practice of herding deer into pens,

15717-425: The final Iroquois onslaught...the Neutral fled into the woods and dispersed for the last time ... The years of famine and disease no doubt contributed to the rout".   The last reference to the Neutrals as an independent society is from the fall of 1653. A historical mention in 1864 refers to the "Huron de la nation neuter" and "Hurons neutres" (neutral Hurons). The Neutral Confederacy had much in common with

15886-538: The first doctor and teacher in Woodstock. 210 Vansittart Ave, Woodstock ON, N4S 6E9, CANADA. The home was built in 1895 by Thomas "Carbide" Willson , inventor of the first commercial calcium-carbide process for the manufacturer of acetylene gas. It was the residence of the Sisters of St. Joseph's until 1975. It's now a Guest House/B&B named Château la Motte (www.chateaulamotte.ca) owned by Alida and François Joubert. They are from South Africa, but François' family comes from

16055-435: The highest output of any county in Ontario, considered to be enough to supply 3 million people. Farm cash receipts for dairy farming in Oxford in 2016 were more than $ 223 million. The first two cows were brought into Oxford-on-the-Thames by Thomas Ingersoll in the 1790s, and by 1810 the township was famous for butter and cheese made by farmers' wives for local sale. On some farms this grew to a truly industrial scale, with some in

16224-428: The home of the newly created Canadian Dairymen's Association in 1867, and also the cheese export market seat for a throng of cheese factories which quickly went into operation around the county. Cheese factory production in neighbourhood factories surged for the next half century, and millions of pounds of cheese passed through export warehouses in Ingersoll, then later Woodstock as well, but then began to taper off before

16393-415: The horses rush out of their stalls at the sound of the regular 9 o'clock bell, race around the building and back themselves into the shafts ready to be harnessed by firefighters as they slid down the pole from their upstairs quarters. The firehall features a square tower with detailed brickwork at the top, and a miniature tower to the right. The tower bell used to ring for fires, curfews, and lost children, and

16562-503: The infamous Birchall, who posing as "Lord Somerset" duped the entire town and murdered his gentlemen farmer apprentice; this was Victorian Canada's most sensational murder case. The death mask at the entrance is of blind Thomas Cook, hanged in 1862 for murdering his wife; his head rolled into the crowd, and afterwards public hangings were discontinued. The building was recently restored by Carlos Ventin of The Ventin Group architects of Simcoe, after

16731-645: The large numbers of Sutherlandshire Highlanders who created a Gaelic-speaking enclave around the village of Embro in Zorra Township. Many of them arrived destitute in Oxford after they had suffered brutal evictions from their homeland, often by mass burnings of homes described by their countryman, Donald McLeod, who lived out his remaining days in Oxford after completing his book Gloomy Memories . A new government program that gave preferential grants to encourage retired British military officers to settle in Upper Canada in

16900-434: The latter notes from the Neutral name given to Chaumonot that the Neutral language did not have sound changes that distinguish Wendat from other Northern Iroquoian languages. Hanzeli (1969), referencing Thwaites (21:228–230), notes Brébeuf and Chaumonot considered Neutral different enough from Wendat to write a separate Neutral grammar and dictionary, now lost. The Southwold Earthworks , near St. Thomas, Ontario , contains

17069-560: The legislative assembly, Dr. Charles Duncombe, taking on the role as leader of an uprising in December 1837. In the aftermath, Duncombe was driven into exile, and one of the Woodstock retired Royal Navy veterans, Captain Andrew Drew (Vansittart's right-hand man), created an international incident that is still studied by legal scholars, when he led a raid into the United States to seize and burn

17238-493: The limestone were built in the 1950s with revolving kilns which were the largest pieces of mobile factory equipment in the world, some measuring 10 feet in diameter by 450 feet long. The rate of extraction estimated in the 1980s was an average of 600,000 tonnes per year. It is an energy-intensive industry with very high carbon outputs. Research involving Lafarge in England aims to develop products that will use rather than release some of

17407-601: The local government role from the Justices of the Peace, but appointment of the warden and senior administrative officers for each district council remained the responsibility of the provincial government. District councils were abolished and replaced with fully elected county councils by the implementation of the Baldwin Act in 1850. The provincial legislation defined the structure for fully-elected local municipal government in Ontario for

17576-406: The longest serving being Chief Arthur R. Moore who was appointed Chief Constable in 1920 and served for almost 30 years. In January 1999, the Oxford Community Police Service was formed amalgamating the former Woodstock Police Department, Tavistock Police Service and Township of Norwich Police Service. In addition to the amalgamation of these police services the Oxford Community Police Service assumed

17745-536: The loyalist forces, which destroyed the American steamer Caroline during the 1837 Rebellion. North of Park Row, west of Mill St. A movement to build a church for black people resulted in its construction in 1888. The church closed in 1985 when it was sold for a house. 419 Vincent St. Neo-classical style house built in 1849. The first owner, Hugh Richardson, was the presiding judge at the Louis Riel trial in 1885. Richardson

17914-419: The main street is shut down for the city's "Summer Streetfest" celebrations, a mix of retail sales and various entertainment. The Old Town Hall, now the Woodstock Museum, NHS was built in 1853 and modelled architecturally on the Town Hall in Woodstock, England. Designed by Peter Craib, the Town Hall was built by David White, W.P. Dixon and William McKay. It is majestic for its size, with semi-circular windows and

18083-657: The nations of the Iroquois Confederacy . During the late 16th and the early 17th centuries, the territory of the Attawandaron , as they were called by the Huron Nation, was mostly within the limits of present-day southern Ontario . The Museum of Ontario Archaeology summarizes that territory as follows: they "inhabited dozens of villages in Southwestern Ontario stretching along the north shore of Lake Erie from

18252-638: The new Polish Roman Catholic Church , next to the Dominion Food Store, had just stepped into the washroom when one of the tornadoes passed by and took off the roof of the church and everything in the room he had just been in. No one on the street was injured but the cleanup took many weeks. On the south side, the buildings of the Maranatha Christian Reformed Church and the John Knox Christian School were destroyed. In

18421-661: The new province that had been put in place by Governor Simcoe. The county lieutenant appointed for Oxford was William Claus , a grandson of Sir William Johnson and then head of the Indian Department responsible for oversight of the Six Nations settled along the Grand River tract running north and south on the eastern boundary of Oxford. As first established, Oxford County consisted of the townships of Blenheim, Burford, Oxford-on-the-Thames, Blandford, Norwich, and Dereham (lands to

18590-420: The next century. In addition to defining the powers of the county council, the legislation created authority for township councils and provided for creation of village, town, and city councils. Woodstock, Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, and other communities within Oxford County were in time incorporated under those provisions as separate municipalities. At around the same time as the Baldwin Act came into force, some of

18759-606: The north of the Neutral. They throve on trade, rather than war." Jackes re-examined French reports including the Jesuit Relations and the artefacts found in the Grimsby site. When grounds were prepared for a new housing development in Grimsby, Ontario, in 1976, a Neutral Confederacy burial site was uncovered in sheltered embayment of the Niagara Escarpment. The excavation by Kenyon was closed after only two months in 1977, and

18928-515: The north of the Thames River had not yet been purchased by the Crown). The first three had been receiving settlers since the summer of 1793, under the leadership of Thomas Hornor (Blenheim), Benajah Mallory (Burford), and Thomas Ingersoll (Oxford-on-the-Thames), each of whom was also captain of the militia in his respective township. Claus remained resident in Niagara, and his appointment as the Crown's head for

19097-462: The peak is said to have been carved by the contractor to represent the county council after a dispute over payment. The current City Hall was originally built in 1901 as a post office during the term of Alexander McClenaghan, postmaster for thirty years. Bourgue DesRivieres of Ottawa were the architects and William Hall Burns, a prominent Ottawa sculptor of the Library of Parliament, was commissioned to do

19266-488: The pioneers' war on the forests which covered the county. As part of his experiment in granting townships to proprietors such as Thomas Hornor, Benajah Mallory and Thomas Ingersoll in the 1790s, Gov. Simcoe imposed terms which sometimes required construction of saw mills. Thomas Hornor was the first to comply, putting a mill into operation in Blenheim Township by 1795, but his millpond dam collapsed and no immediate attempt

19435-483: The policing responsibilities for the three rural townships of Blandford Blenheim, East Zorra Tavistock, and Norwich. Chief Joe Opthof, Chief Rod Piukkala and Chief Ron Fraser, all served as Chiefs of the Oxford Community Police Service. However, a few communities such as Ingersoll, Norwich and Tillsonburg were patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Oxford detachment, with Ingersoll formerly having its own independent police service for many years before merging with

19604-458: The powerful Iroquois Five Nations Confederacy, who were also Iroquoian speakers. That dissolved in 1639, with devastating effects, particularly to the Wenrohronon. The Wenrohronon made an alliance with the Huron , who were located farther away and could not offer much support. Traveling south from Midland, Ontario , Étienne Brûlé passed through the Attawandaron territory circa 1615 and spent

19773-483: The powers given to them through enabling statutes, as was demonstrated in the decision by the Ontario government in 2018 to reduce the size of Toronto's council, despite the city's opposition. In the early days of Upper Canada, the relevant legislation provided for convening an annual meeting of property owners in each township, who were obligated to choose such officers as a township clerk, a constable, property tax assessors and collectors, fence viewers and pound keepers. It

19942-473: The prize but could not believe that the township was still a complete wilderness. He began a public movement to find solutions through public gatherings and newspaper advocacy all over Upper Canada but in return was prosecuted and jailed by the government for sedition. Gourlay's two-volume Statistical account of Upper Canada, compiled with a view to a grand system of emigration , published in London in 1822, presented

20111-414: The province and to carry out decisions made at the district level by the area's Justices of the Peace, appointed by the Governor, who met periodically at the designated district courthouse for deliberations known as Quarter Sessions. The paternalistic authority of the Governor and his chosen Justices of the Peace continued as the hierarchy for local government until 1841. From the earliest days of settlement,

20280-637: The province of Ontario. The 1890 Trial began with the arrest of Reginald Birchall in Niagara Falls, Ontario . Birchall was held at the Woodstock jail for seven months until his murder trial began in September of that year. The trial took place at the Woodstock Town Hall as the Court House was under construction at the time. The trial received worldwide media coverage, with reporters camped out across from

20449-543: The purchase of two Crestline Coach Fleetmax XL3 Hybrid ambulances. Residents of Ingersoll and surrounding area have been in a militant state of opposition since the announcement in 2012 that the international conglomerate Carmeuse intends to give a 20-year lease to Walker Industries to operate a megadump taking in garbage from Toronto and London to fill the spent portion of the limestone quarry operated by Carmeuse on its nearly 2,000 acres stretching east and north from Ingersoll's eastern boundary. Walker has referenced plans to use

20618-762: The quarry site for a multi-use 'campus' for garbage and recycling operations. Carmeuse has also announced plans to switch to burning garbage in its kilns, which must be heated to 1,000 degrees to process limestone into industrial lime. As a preliminary, it will conduct a pilot Alternative Low-Carbon Fuels ("ALCF") project to assess pollution levels that result from burning 'engineered' garbage to be trucked in from New York state. Long term, ALCF garbage to be burned would include non-recyclable paper and plastic packaging materials, cardboard/paper sludge, non-recyclable rubber and plastic from automotive manufacturing, nylon tire fluff/belting, waste materials from diaper manufacturers, and wood refuse. Burning garbage in its cement plant kilns

20787-523: The remains of a precontact Neutral village and is a National Historic Site of Canada . It is known for conspicuous earthworks, which were rare in southern Ontario, and are well preserved. The Museum of Ontario Archaeology in London, Ontario , is located adjacent to the Lawson site . It is another 500-year-old Neutral village which has been under study since the early 1900s. An Ontario historical plaque commemorates

20956-581: The renovated John White Building. The Art Gallery, which originally started in the basement of the Woodstock Public Library, proudly showcases the work of Florence Carlyle. Theatre Woodstock houses plays year-round in the former market building across from the museum. Downtown Woodstock stretches from Vansittart Avenue to Huron Street on Dundas Street, the city's main street. It houses the city's banks, administration buildings, independent retailers and several restaurants. The majority of buildings are

21125-473: The responsibility fell onto Upper Tier Municipalities, such as county or regional governments. Woodstock Ambulance Ltd. and Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital Ambulance were transferred to the County of Oxford on January 1, 2002, to form Oxford County Paramedic Services. In 2017, Oxford County became the first municipality in Canada to introduce electric hybrid ambulances as part of its Paramedic Services fleet with

21294-449: The results in a book that year, the first ever to give a detailed examination of the county. His analysis of place of birth shows that more than half (17,990) of the county's population had been born in the province, and of the remainder, the largest groups were from Scotland (4,685), England (3,724), the United States (2,618), Ireland (2,371), and Germany (322). He reports that there were 123 Negroes, 101 of them in Norwich township, which had

21463-468: The road first reached the Thames River in Oxford township (now Woodstock), and also plans for a canal across Blandford and Blenheim township joining the Thames River to the Grand River, thereby creating an inland water transport route through the whole area from Detroit to Brantford (see 1795 and 1800 map views on this page). The canal was never built, and the 'Governor's Road' (today a part of Dundas Street ) could not be used for decades because no bridge

21632-516: The site "is among a cluster of Attawandaron villages in this part of the region". In 1976, a Neutral Confederacy cemetery was unearthed in Grimsby, Ontario . The area that now comprises Morriston in Puslinch, Ontario is said to have been inhabited by the Neutral Confederacy, in a village of 4,000. This region may have had the largest Neutral Confederacy settlement in Ontario, at one time. Onondaga chert

21801-508: The site, which was occupied by Neutrals in the 1500s. About 1000 to 2000 people lived in longhouses in the fortified community. Scientific excavation was first completed in 1921–1923, when the site was owned by the Lawson family. The searches have recovered 30,000 artifacts and the remains of 19 longhouses. Some of the longhouses and the pallisade have been reconstructed. The McMaster University professor William Noble has excavated and documented

21970-433: The skeletons were reburied near the original site. It was estimated that over 100 bodies were recovered at the time. "Natural disruption, disease, famine and years of severe weather would have been sufficient to begin population decline. Intensifying war, with many killed, taken captive or forced to become refugees, led to almost complete population collapse." Jackes suggested that this burial site "had significance and that it

22139-455: The south of France (hence La Motte-d'Aiques, Provence). 145 Delatre Street, built in 1846, was originally owned and built by Malcolm Douglas. Malcolm married Christina Hay of the James Hay family. Douglas was the owner of the local tannery. His son built a twin of the house in town to a smaller scale. Douglas street is named after him. The campus is located at the south end of the city, offering

22308-694: The southern portion of Oxford County and the northern portions of Elgin and Norfolk. The crop gained in popularity in the 1920s and by the 1960s the whole economy of the area was dominated by tobacco growing, accounting for 90 per cent of all tobacco grown in Canada. Aggressive expansion of crop area led to recognition of increased risk the area could turn into a desert, but this was remedied with tree-planting. The seasonal workforce demands drew annual influxes of migrant workers and conditions which were made legend in Stompin' Tom Connors' 1970 hit song "Tillsonburg". To cut back production as part of its anti-smoking campaigns,

22477-537: The term Neutrals Attawandaron was derived. The five-nation Iroquois Confederacy was across Lake Ontario to the southeast. Like others of Iroquoian language and culture, the tribes would raid and feud with fellow Iroquoian tribes. They were generally wary of rival Algonquian -speaking peoples, such as those who inhabited Canada to the East, along the St. Lawrence Valley basin . Iroquoian tribes were later known to historians for

22646-439: The townships that had been included in the Brock District were severed off to become parts of a new Brant County and a reconfigured Middlesex County. Norwich Township was divided into North and South in 1855. In the 1960s, the Ontario government began simplifying the structure of local government in select parts of the province, and the process reached Oxford County in 1975, when the number of separate township and village councils

22815-576: The tribes of the Neutral confederacy included the Aondironon, the Wenrehronon, and the Ongniaahraronon. They spoke Iroquoian languages but were culturally distinct from the Iroquois and competed with them for the same resources. The French called the people "Neutral" ( French : la Nation neutre ) because they tried to remain neutral in the many wars between the confederacy of the Huron tribes and

22984-452: The trim. (Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Public Buildings of Woodstock, Ontario ) The old jail was built in 1854 by Hamilton architects Clark and Murray in the Italianate style, with many arches, and an octagonal 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -storey tower; in this case, the architecture camouflages the function of the institution. Four men and one woman were hanged in the yard, including

23153-454: The war by defecting to the American side as a captain in a volunteer corps. By the end of the first quarter-century of its development, Oxford's population was nearing 2,000 people, but many problems were holding back its development. Robert Gourlay, a Scotsman whose wife had inherited nearly 1,000 acres in Dereham township (around today's Mount Elgin), made the journey to Oxford in 1817 to inspect

23322-430: The winter of 1626–1627. Daillon visited 28 Neutral villages, including the capital, which the French referred to as Nôtre Dame des Anges. The fertile flats of the various oxbows that Big Creek makes three miles from its mouth at Grand River , were ideal for long-term settlement. Noble uses the term "Neutralia" to designate the concentration of Iroquoian -speaking natives in the area. F. Douglas Reville's The History of

23491-473: The woods." According to the City of Waterloo, Ontario , the indigenous people who lived in the area in the precontact era included the Neutral Confederacy. In 2020, a site in nearby Kitchener, Ontario was found to include artifacts from an Iroquioan village that was inhabited circa 1300 to 1600. Archeologists found some 35,000 objects including stone tools and a 4,000 year old arrowhead. Another source states that

23660-480: Was Black Canadian with 1.6% of the population. No other visible minority makes up more than 1% of the population. The median household income was $ 68,213 as of 2016. The city government, Woodstock City Council, consists of four city councillors, two city and county councillors, and the mayor who serves as the Head of Council. The current mayor, Jerry Acchione, was elected as mayor on Oct. 24, 2022 after serving two terms as

23829-453: Was a dialect of Iroquoian. They believed that all three groups had once been a part of a single group. Their neighbours, the Wendat (Wyandot, or Huron) Nation referred to the Neutrals (Chonnonton) impolitely as "Attawandaron," meaning "Those whose speech is awry" because their dialect was different. (Apparently, the Chonnonton referred to the Wendat by the same term.) Because the language of

23998-402: Was a matter of pride in each township to keep track of population growth, and several townships were divided as they grew, giving separate town meetings and local officers to East, West and North divisions of Oxford-on-the-Thames, East and West divisions of Nissouri, and East and West divisions of Zorra. The individuals were responsible for the administrative work necessary to enforce the laws of

24167-467: Was also the first reeve of Woodstock. An Italianate-style home built in 1878. There is a lamp post from the Vansittart farm on the property. A plaque for James Hay, a well-known industrialist born in Woodstock, who was one of the founders of the Board of Trade in 1878, elected to Town Council in 1880 and Mayor between 1893 and 1894. 130 Finkle St. It is the oldest house in Woodstock, built in 1819 by Dr. Perry,

24336-433: Was among the members who sought repeal of the law that had been used to imprison Gourlay and opposed laws aimed at restricting rights of settlers who had come from the United States. The Crown entered into a treaty to purchase the lands north of the Thames River and two more townships were added to the county, Zorra and Nissouri, which was followed by an influx of Scottish and Irish immigrants displaced from their homes, such as

24505-404: Was built in 1895 by the architect W.B. Ford, using 140,000 feet of lumber, 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 tons of nails, and 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles of putty on a site previously occupied by wooden market sheds. The low roof and wide canopies are typical of market construction in this period, and interesting features included the twin towers, the drinking fountain at the front door, and the use of stone in

24674-425: Was built where it was to cross the Grand River (now Paris, which did not begin to develop as a village until the 1820s). The reality was that pioneer land transportation continued to follow the ancient footpath from Burlington Bay to the Thames River using a river crossing at what became known as Brant's Ford (Brantford) on the Six Nations lands, then down the banks of the Thames River to Detroit. Thomas Ingersoll bore

24843-405: Was carried out by William J. Wintemberg (1876–1941), the "Father of Canadian Archaeology", who grew up just outside the northern boundary of the county and conducted extensive studies throughout Oxford during his career. Modern-day evaluations of new site discoveries still reference Wintemberg's concepts, although researchers sometimes caution against fitting old moulds, particularly when interpreting

25012-669: Was constructed in 1876 to replace an earlier building on the County Square's opposite front corner, and served as a registry office until 1952. Italianate in style like the old jail, it is highlighted by semi-circular masonry over the windows carried out in the arch over the door. Its walls are two feet thick and its roof is said to be filled with sand, making the structure fireproof, and conforming to design plans common to registry offices of that era in Ontario. Start, Turner, Gardhouse, Bennett, Historic Public Buildings of Woodstock, Ontario Plaques: The first Registry office built in Oxford County

25181-465: Was first settled in the early 1800s, the city has experienced a rich police history. Early law enforcement in the area was conducted by British military veterans who established a system of law based on their British military background. On 13 May 1865, a by-law was passed to establish a "Town Lock-up", and William Currie, was appointed Chief Constable for the Town of Woodstock. The first Police office and lock up

25350-535: Was grown on 21,000 acres, yielding 2.1 million bushels. As of 2016, Oxford was growing 7 per cent of the corn produced in Ontario, 4 per cent of the wheat, and 3 per cent of its soybeans, resulting in more than $ 180 million farm cash receipts. Despite decades of public education and government restrictions on marketing, the worldwide revenue in the tobacco industry is still in the range of $ 500 billion annually. Ontario's tobacco belt – an area with sandy loam and warm temperatures ideal for growing tobacco – stretches across

25519-436: Was incorporated as a town in 1851. Since then, Woodstock has maintained steady growth, and is now a small city in Southwestern Ontario . As a small historic city, Woodstock is one of the few cities in Ontario to still have all of its original administration buildings. The city has developed a strong economic focus towards manufacturing and tourism . It is also a market city for the surrounding agricultural industry. Woodstock

25688-562: Was inducted into the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2018. Vast portions of Oxford County are underlain with limestone deposits which are ideal for manufacture of lime and cement. A deposit of unusual purity 100 feet deep stretches from Norwich up to Embro through the centre of the county, with potential extraction volumes of 3.5 billion tonnes. Over 3,000 acres of

25857-401: Was investigated by the archaeologist Mary Jackes. The demise of the Neutral Confederacy occurred in spite of reports by the French, who first met it, "in 1610 as strong, healthy and numerous. They lived in the most fertile and warmest part of Ontario. They were determined to remain neutral in the conflicts between the Iroquois from south of the Great Lakes and the Ontario Iroquoians who lived to

26026-519: Was later renamed the Ontario Hospital in 1919. Originally on the west side of Highway 59, the hospital then expanded on the east side in the 1950s and transformed into a house for mentally disabled individuals. At its peak, the centre employed 1,500 people. It closed in 1996, and since then all buildings have been demolished except for part of the powerhouse, now the Brickhouse Brewpub - part of

26195-404: Was located in the basement of the present day Woodstock Museum. The Woodstock Police Department continued to grow and by 1875 consisted of a Chief Constable and two Police Constables. On 1 July 1901, Woodstock was incorporated as a City. This placed policing under the control of a Board of Commissioners. A long succession of Chiefs continued to guide the force as it grew in numbers and expertise with

26364-484: Was located west of here at the corner of Hunter and Light Streets, Woodstock, 1847. This building, the second Registry Office, was constructed in 1876 and remained in use until 1952. Five registrars of deeds served Oxford in their private homes and in these offices: Capt. Thomas Horner (1800–1834), James Ingersoll (1834–1886), George R. Pattullo (1186–1922), Wallace L. MacWhinnie (1922–1950), and Ross V. Tuck (1950–1969). The Oxford Hotel, located across from Market Square and

26533-486: Was made to rebuild. Efforts in Dorchester Township just to the west of Oxford's boundary by William Reynolds and Seth Putnam were more successful, but production from their saw mills remained on a small scale for many years. A visitor in 1804 described the difficulty faced rafting lumber from those mills down the Thames River nearly 300 kilometres to sell at Detroit – three or four men could deliver 25,000 board feet at

26702-561: Was merged into the Thames Valley District School Board . It had its own Health Unit until 2018, when it was merged into the Southwestern Public Health Unit. Oxford County consists of eight lower-tier municipalities (in order of 2016 population): Local municipal governments in Ontario exercise authority delegated to them by the provincial government, which may choose at any time to increase or decrease

26871-402: Was much less of an advantage. Flints were still used in trade for the flintlocks on guns. The Neutral continued to trade commodities such as maize , tobacco , and black squirrel and other high-grade furs for steel axes, glass beads, cloaks, conch shells, gourd containers, and firearms. Records left by Jesuit priests in the 1600s indicate that the Neutral language was similar to Huron and so

27040-450: Was overturned and broke apart. Smith went bankrupt the following year, and fame passed to Harvey Farrington who had built a co-op factory at which risk was shared. The real coup came when a consortium in Ingersoll manufactured the 7,300 pound "Mammoth Cheese" which was successfully displayed in New York state as well as in England. The success of the Ingersoll venture led to the town becoming

27209-644: Was plentiful in Neutral lands due to the presence of the Onondaga Limestone formation. This tool stone was also available to the Five Nations Iroquois in their own lands, but not to other neighbouring peoples. The Neutral territory marked the furthest northern and western extent of useable chert deposits, even though the Onondaga Limestone runs further. The Neutrals had an alliance with the Wenrohronon , also Iroquoian-language people, to defend against

27378-416: Was present for festivities. To mark the occasion, a post office was opened there for one day to issue commemorative stamps and a monument was erected. For the first several generations of European settlement, knowledge of First Nations occupation was limited to souvenir hunters who searched freshly-plowed fields for whatever relics had turned up. The first comprehensive scientific archaeology in Oxford County

27547-441: Was reduced to the current five townships. Three urban municipalities also remained: Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, and Woodstock. The county boundaries were also enlarged to include the entire urban areas of Tavistock in the north and of Tillsonburg in the south. The geographical area that is now Oxford County was populated with Neutral/Attawandaron longhouse villages for many centuries but was abandoned to First Nations nomadic peoples by

27716-510: Was swept away with the coming of the War of 1812. Appointed temporary administrator of the government, General Isaac Brock moved Claus to the head of the Lincoln Militia and appointed Henry Bostwick to head the Oxford Militia, thus passing over Hornor for any role in the war effort (Bostwick was the son of a former associate of Thomas Ingersoll). Mallory lost the 1812 election and turned traitor during

27885-517: Was then all the rage across Canada and the United States, walked across the walls of Oxford's Hotel. (SR, July 21, 1924) The Hotel sits empty now and is available for purchase. There is a historical plaque on the building, recognizing its contributions to local history. 735 Rathbourne Ave. Built in 1833. Drew divided the eastern section of the town into town lots and formed the nucleus of this community. A plaque for Captain Andrew Drew, R.N., 1792–1878. Co-founder of Woodstock with Henry Vansittart . He led

28054-399: Was then known as Upper Canada , that the area would make a good townsite. The early settlers were generally American immigrants from New York state, such as Levi Burtch and Dr. Levi Hoyt Perry. Increased immigration from Great Britain followed in the 1820s and 1830s, including the half pay officers Henry Vansittart and Andrew Drew. Admiral Vansittart commissioned Col. Andrew Drew to build

28223-634: Was transformed into offices for the Oxford County Board of Education, at which times its two wrought-iron spiral staircases (valued at $ 3000) were sold at public auction for $ 250 apiece. A stone cairn made with stones from the beach of Dieppe, where members of the Battalion participated in The Battle of Dieppe in August 1942, accounts the history of the Oxford Rifles. The Grand Trunk Railway owned and operated

28392-428: Was west of the Wenro people. – Souharissen was the warrior chief who lived in a village called Ounontisatan, which was visited by the French in 1625-1626. His trade agreement with the Neutral people provided protection for them by his warriors. The principal headman took on and defeated the Fire Nation in what is present-day Michigan . The Recollect priest Joseph de la Roche Daillon lived with him for five months in

28561-401: Was written in the 19th century about the county's history, directories of businesses and property owners were very popular and most of those which were published between the 1850s and 1890s are now available and searchable online – a boon to genealogists. Oxford County has a very active branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. The Oxford Historical Society collections are housed with those of

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