Municipality of Leamington, Ontario

 city, town, municipality

Leamington is on the shore of Lake Erie and adjoins the Point Pelee National Park, a major site for migrating birds especially in spring. As such, it plays host to many birdwatchers from Canada, the USA and further afield, especially in the peak month of May. The Municipality of Leamington was created from the merger of the Township of Mersea and the Town of Leamington.

Official Website: www.leamington.ca


www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y55OgjTXcp0

Early French voyageurs and missionaries first began exploring Leamington and Mersea Township back in the 17th Century. Point Pelee was a prominent landfall for these early travellers.

Mersea Township was surveyed in 1792. It was named after Mersea, a finely wooded island in a bay of the North Sea off Essex County, England. Except for a few military posts in the Amherstburg area, Essex County was largely unknown, comprised primarily of a great level plain, covered with almost impenetrable forest and a fair share of swampland.

In 1835, all the land west of what is now Highway 77 was dense forest, broken only by a small clearing on the Ridge. Here Charles Stewart, Phillip Fox and Thomas Whittle established a settlement on the Mersea-Gosfield Townline. Like most settlers, they had acquired this land from Col. Thomas Talbot, the eccentric Irishman who laid out Talbot Road along an old Indian trail. Col. Talbot was responsible for settling 28 townships in South-western Ontario.

Leamington had its beginnings at the same time when Alex Wilkinson started a farm on land north Talbot on both sides of the Mersea Sideroad (Erie Street). Alex had two neighbours, John McGraw and Thomas Quick.

To accommodate travellers along Talbot Road, a store and post office was established just east of “Wilkinson’s Corners” as the tiny settlement was known. Three years later, Leonard Wigle opened the first tavern in the district and its fame spread rapidly.

Up to this point, farmers had been forced to travel long distances over uncertain roads to get their grain to a mill. Isaac Russell and John Coatsworth remedied this problem by building a grist mill along Hillman Creek. A saw mill was later added.

Eli Deming built a store near Wigle’s tavern in 1845, and trade began to concentrate where Talbot Road and Mersea Sideroad intersected. The population began to grow along Talbot Road as well. By 1850, when Mersea Township elected its first Municipal council, Wilkinson’s Corners had become a bustling hamlet. A post office was added in 1854, which was given the name of Gainesborough. Because this name duplicated another post office name, the government suggested a change and Mr. Gaines chose Leamington, the name of the town in England from which he came.

By 1858 the population of Leamington had grown to 75. In 1860, regular stagecoach communication was established between Leamington and Windsor. Growth in the lumbering business brought improvements to the transportation system and saw the establishment of Scott’s Dock in 1869. A second dock was built later and became known as Wigle’s Dock. The Pigeon Bay Dock Company constructed another wharf later. These three docks handled much of the shipments of tobacco, lumber and farm produce.

Leamington’s development was so impressive that Essex County Council passed a by-law in 1874, elevating the status of the hamlet to an incorporated village. Draining, ditching and road building were making the countryside habitable and farms more productive. In these early days, the section around Blytheswood was called Elm Swamp. There was not a single ditch to drain it.

The largest single drainage scheme was undertaken in 1895 when 5,000 acres of marshland on the eastern side of Point Pelee was converted into rich farmland.

In 1883, disaster struck…a fire broke out on May 14 and left most of the village’s business section a charred ruin. Only Wigle’s store and the Deming Hotel were spared. The town was soon restored and progress continued.

The railway arrived in 1887 and an electric light plant was established in 1888. The waterworks began operating in 1891 and natural gas and oil were discovered in the area.

Leamington became an incorporated town in 1890. The business section grew and housing was prospering. In 1899, Leamington’s council was actively seeking new industry. It passed a by-law providing special inducements to manufacturers. The community offered free water, free gas, exemption from taxation, fire protection, and in some cases a free building site. Their enterprising thinking was rewarded in 1908 when the H.J. Heinz Company decided to locate in Leamington.

Along with the H. J. Heinz Company factory, Leamington has also been known for its
greenhouses, and now has the largest number of commercial greenhouses in all of North America.

From this point on, the continued growth and prosperity of the community and surrounding area was assured. Leamington and Mersea Township amalgamated in 1999 issuing in a new Municipality for the future.