Stratford, Ontario: History
In 1832, the development of an area called "Little Thames" as the market centre for the eastern Huron Tract began. By 1834 a tavern, sawmill and grist mill had opened, and by 1835 a post office, called Stratford, was operating. The Smith's Canadian Gazetteer of 1846 describes Stratford as follows: "Stratford contains about 200 inhabitants. Post Office, post three times a-week. Professions and Trades.—Two physicians and surgeons, one grist and saw mill, one tannery, three stores, one brewery, one distillery, one ashery, two taverns, two blacksmiths, one saddler, two wheelwrights, three shoemakers, two
tailors. Settlement was slow until the early 1850s when the railway arrived.
Furniture manufacturing and railway locomotive repairs were the most important parts of the local economy by the twentieth century. In 1933 a general strike, started by the furniture workers and led by the Communist Workers' Unity League, marked the last time the army was deployed to break a strike in Canada. The Grand Trunk Railway (later CNR) locomotive repair shops were the major employer for many years, employing 40% of the population.
1828 - Settlement began.
1832 - Thomas Mercer Jones, an agent of the Canada Company, named the village "Stratford" and renamed the portion of the Thames River running through it the "Avon River." The first sawmill, hotel (Shakespeare Hotel) and gristmill opened.
1834 - The community had a tavern, sawmill and grist mill; in 1835 the first post office opened.
1849 - The Perth County News was Stratford's first weekly newspaper.
1853 - Perth County was created, with Stratford as its county seat.
1854 - Stratford was incorporated as a village.
1856 - Stratford became a railway town with the arrival of the Grand Trunk and Buffalo-Lake Huron railways.
1859 - Stratford was incorporated as a town.
1864 - The 17-year-old American telegraph operator Thomas Edison briefly lived at 46 Ontario Street.
1871 - A major railway repair yard opened (the town's major employer by 1901) and helped accelerate the town's population growth.
1885 - Stratford was incorporated as a city with a population of 9,000.
1887 - The second and current Perth County Courthouse opened; it has received praise for its High Victorian architecture, with several Queen Anne features, and Richardsonian Romanesque elements.
1898 - The massive red brick town hall, in the Victorian "Picturesque" style, with a prominent clock tower, began construction.
1900 - January 29 Stratford City Hall opens; along with its 800-seat auditorium with a balcony and stage.
1903 - The first public library opened, built with C$15,000 of financial assistance from American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
1908 - The Stratford Normal School opened to train teachers; in 1953 it was renamed the Stratford Teachers' College. The school trains nearly 14,000 teachers before closing in 1973.
1909 - The GTR (later CNR) locomotive repair shops building was completed; it is 16,800 square metres (182,000 square feet) in size.
1918 - A gift from J.C. Garden, a pair of mute swans come to live in Stratford. The swan population would expand over subsequent years.
1920s - Stratford is already a major furniture manufacturing centre; nearly one-sixth of furniture made in Canada was shipped from Stratford. …