Template:Wp-Guelph, Ontario-History

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First Nations peoples used land on present-day Guelph as early as 11,000 years ago. Before colonization, the area was considered by the surrounding Indigenous communities to be a "neutral" zone and was inhabited by the Neutral Nation. According to the University of Guelph, "the area was home to a First Nations community called the Attawandaron who lived in longhouses surrounded by fields of corn". The majority of this nation, about 4,000 people, lived in a village near what is now the Badenoch area of Puslinch, near Morriston. In 1784, the British Crown purchased a tract of land, that included present-day Guelph, from the Mississauga people for approximately £1,180.^[1]

John Galt, the first Superintendent of the Canada Company, was hired to help colonize Upper Canada. He selected Guelph as the headquarters of this British development firm. Galt was a popular Scottish poet and novelist who also designed the town to attract settlers and farmers to the surrounding countryside. His design intended the town to resemble a European city centre, complete with squares, broad main streets and narrow side streets, resulting in a variety of block sizes and shapes which are still in place today. The street plan was laid out in a radial street and grid system that branches out from downtown, a technique which was also employed in other planned towns of this era, such as Buffalo, New York.^[2]

The founding was symbolized by the felling of a tree by Galt and William "Tiger" Dunlop, who would be significant in the history of Goderich, Ontario, on April 23, 1827. That was St. George's Day, the feast day of the patron saint of England.

The name Guelph comes through the Italian Guelfo from the Bavarian-Germanic Welf. It is a reference to the House of Welf and chosen to honor King George IV—the reigning British monarch at the time of the city's founding—whose family, the Hanoverians, descended from the Welfs.^[3] It is for this reason that the city has the nickname The Royal City.^[4] The directors of the Canada Company had actually wanted the city to be named Goderich, because Viscount Goderich had helped form the company, but reluctantly accepted that the village was called Guelph.

Galt constructed what was one of the first buildings in the community to house early settlers and the Canada Company office; "The Priory" (built 1827–1828).^[4] was located on the banks of the Speed River near the current River Run Centre for performing arts and could house up to 100 people.^[4] The building eventually became the Canadian Pacific Railway Priory station on the Guelph Junction Railway before it was eventually torn down and removed. A historical plaque commemorates John Galt's role with the Canada Company in populating Upper Canada's Huron Tract, calling it "the most important single attempt at settlement in Canadian history". (Galt was responsible for finding settlers for the 42,000 acre Halton Block that would become Guelph and its townships but also for the one million acre Huron Tract that stretched to Goderich, Ontario.)^[4]

By the fall of 1827, 70 houses had been built, though some were primitive.^[4] In that year, the community had hired its first police constable; the first police station would be opened in 1856 at the town hall and it was moved in 1900 to the Annex building behind the court house. Also in 1827, the first Guelph Farmers' Market was built; the Market House was located in the downtown area. Founded in 1827, James Hodgert's brewery was managed by John Sleeman until he bought a property and opened the Silver Creek Brewery in 1851. (In 1843, there were nine breweries serving the 700 people living in Guelph.)

The first Board of Commerce also started in 1827, to stimulate economic growth; in 1866, it would be renamed the Board of Trade, and in 1919, it became the Chamber of Commerce. In order to eliminate the need for farmers to take their grain to Galt or Dundas for grinding, the Canada Company built the first grist mill; the Guelph Mill was sold to William Allen in 1832.^[4] A sawmill was erected in 1833 by Charles Julius Mickle, originally from Scotland, on the Marden Creek which runs into the Speed River; its ruin survives today. The Mickle family also built a home nearby, a year earlier. Both properties were off what is now Highway 6, an area that was Guelph Township at the time.

In 1829, the Canada Company fired Galt because of poor bookkeeping and not obeying company policies.^[5] He returned to Great Britain penniless and was imprisoned because he was unable to pay his debts. In 1831, Guelph had approximately 800 residents. For several years, the economy of the village suffered and some residents moved away; relief came in the form of wealthy immigrants from England and Ireland who arrived in 1832.

The Smith's Canadian Gazetteer of 1846 indicates that the town had a jail and court house made of cut stone, a weekly newspaper, five churches/chapels and a population of 1,240; most were from England and Scotland with a few from Ireland. In addition to many tradesmen, the community had 15 stores, seven taverns, and some industry, tanneries, breweries, distilleries and a starch factory. The Post Office was receiving mail daily.

1855 to 1878

Guelph was incorporated as a town in 1855 and the first mayor elected was John Smith.^[4] Despite optimism, the population growth was very slow until the Grand Trunk Railway reached it from Toronto, en route to Sarnia, in 1856; the town was also served soon thereafter by the Great Western Railway branch from Harrisburg. In 1856, the village became a town. Two years later, the population was estimated at 4,500, up from 2,000 in 1853. The first city hall, now called the Old City Hall (Guelph), was built in 1856 of Guelph stone; the building contained a market house, offices and an assembly hall. Modifications were made in 1870, 1875 and 1961. The new Guelph City Hall opened in 2009 beside the older building, which was declared a National Historic Site in 1984. The national document refers to the historic building as being "in the Italian Renaissance Revival style".

Two very successful major mills operated in Guelph for many years in the 1800s. The first was Allan's Mill, first established in 1830 on the Speed River and significantly expanded to include a distillery by the next owners, the Allan family, in the 1850s. This business was extensively damaged by fire in 1876 and ceased operation as a mill; the site was later used by manufacturing companies. (In 2019, the current John Sleeman reinstated the Spring Mill Distillery on the site which also includes a condominium apartment complex.)

The more recent business, a sawmill known as the Goldie Mill, was also on the Speed; this building was constructed in 1866 by James Goldie, replacing an earlier mill known as the Wellington Mill and later as the People's Mill. The property, a ruin, was listed on the Canadian Register as a historic place in 2009. Goldie was a perennial Conservative candidate for the riding of Wellington South, and his son Thomas Goldie was mayor of Guelph from 1891 to 1892.The limestone Goldie mill structure was damaged by fire in 1953 and a part of it was removed in 1969; the remaining part still stands today, in Goldie Mill Park at Cardigan Street and London Road East. The ruins, owned by the Grand River Conservation Authority, were stabilized in 2019-2021 to solve a problem created by sinkholes.

The board of the Guelph General Hospital was incorporated in 1861, with James Massie as the chairman. The building was completed in 1875, at the cost of $9,869, and opened on August 16, 1875, with 2 beds, a small infectious room and a dispensary.

The Gothic Revival style Roman Catholic church on Norfolk St., called the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate since December 8, 2014, was built between 1876 and 1888.

By 1869, the community's manufacturing companies were served by both the Grand Trunk Railway and the Great Western Railway. The first section of the Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway, between Guelph and Elora, opened in 1870; the line would eventually run as far as Southampton, Ontario, with stations in communities such as Palmerston, Harriston, Listowel and Wingham. The company was not very successful, and never did reach Owen Sound as planned, partly because of stiff competition from the Northern Railway of Canada as well as the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. By the mid 1870s, the Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway was in financial trouble; it eventually became part of the Grand Trunk system, and later, the Canadian National Railway.

By January 1871, some residents of the town had access to gas, provided by the Guelph Gas Company via pipes, initially to about 100 homes. Electricity would not become commonly available until the early 1900s, from the Guelph Light and Heat Commission.^[4]

An 1877 plan to start the Guelph Street Railway, using horse-drawn vehicles to deliver freight and passengers within Guelph, never came to fruition.^[6]

A poor house with a farm, The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge, opened in December 1877 in a rural area near Guelph; many orphans from Guelph were admitted. The building still stands, as the Wellington County Museum and Archives.

After 1878

Guelph was incorporated as a city in 1879 with a Special Act of the Ontario legislature. At this time, Guelph became politically separated from Wellington County and was no longer represented on the Wellington County Council. At separation, the population was about 10,000. During the inauguration, Mayor George Howard first used the term "Royal City". The only "royals" to actually visit were John Campbell, the Marquis of Lorne, and his wife was Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, one of Queen Victoria's daughters.

Construction of the Church of Our Lady Immaculate, known as the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate since late 2014, was already underway but would not be completed until 1883. (The twin towers were not added until 1926.)

A few years later, George Sleeman Sr. founded an electric radial railway, the Guelph Railway Company, an important part of the history of Guelph Transit. Only five miles of track had been laid by 1895, but the line was extended in 1902; the radial railway eventually reached Toronto, as the Ontario Hydro Electric Railways - Guelph District (owned by Ontario Hydro). In addition to carrying passengers, the cars carted coal to heat the Ontario Agricultural College.

By 1886, telephones were quite common in the city. An April news article described the situation as follows. "Telephones are rapidly being introduced into private homes, where they prove a great convenience. Ladies order their groceries, consult their medical advisers, call their husbands home from the club and gossip with their friends by telephone."

In 1903 the City purchased the Guelph Light & Power Company, and four years later created the Board of Light and Heat Commissioners. Guelph was one of 13 municipalities that helped to create the provincial entity that became Ontario Hydro.

The Canadian Communist Party began as an illegal organization in a barn behind a farmhouse on Metcalfe Street in Guelph in 1921.

Guelph was the home of North America's first cable TV system. Fredrick T. Metcalf created MacLean Hunter Television (now part of Rogers Communications) and their first broadcast was Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953.^[3] Other news-making items include the fact that the jockstrap was invented here, in 1922, by the Guelph Elastic Hosiery Company and that the man who invented five pin bowling in 1909, Tom Ryan, was originally from Guelph. Other noteworthy items: the city's covered bridge (now part of a walking trail), built by the Timber Framers' Guild in 1992, is one of only two of its type in Ontario, using wooden pins to hold it together. Note too that the Yukon Gold potato was first bred at the University of Guelph in 1966; it became available on the market in 1981.

Guelph's police force had Canada's first municipal motorcycle patrol. Chief Ted Lamb brought back an army motorcycle he used during the First World War. Motorcycles were faster and more efficient than walking.^[3]

Guelph has several buildings on the National Historic Sites of Canada register: the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, McCrae House and Old City Hall. The city is home to the University of Guelph, established in 1964, and Sleeman Breweries Ltd. The Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), the oldest part of the University of Guelph, began in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto. According to Maclean's, the current University of Guelph, founded in 1964, "grew out of three founding colleges: the Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the Ontario Veterinary College (1862) and the Macdonald Institute (1903)". Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI), established in the 1840s, is one of the province's oldest high schools. The Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail/GO Transit) Station at 79 Carden Street was listed in 1992.

In 2017, Scientology Canada announced it would move its Canadian headquarters to Guelph. Some residents protested the plan. The facility was opened in the autumn of the year at 40 Baker Street.

A redevelopment plan for Downtown Guelph had been discussed by Council since 2007 and was finalized as the 2018 Baker District redevelopment project. The intent is to transform the Baker St. parking lot and properties fronting Wyndham Street's north end into a mixed-use development, with urban intensification. Both residential and commercial buildings will be included. The final cost was estimated at between $315 million and $369 million. When finished, this area will include a new library, commercial, institutional and office space as well as an underground parking lot. The private enterprise partner for the project is Ottawa-based Windmill Development Group; there was also discussion about an additional partnership with Conestoga College and the YMCA. Actual construction was not expected to start until 2023. Before that date, up to $7.5 million will be spent to acquire the rest of the land that will be required.

In October 2018, the Ontario Energy Board approved the merger of Guelph Hydro and Alectra Utilities Corporation. After the merger was completed in January 2019, the city received a 4.63 per cent stake in Alectra and a one-time dividend of $18.5 million; afterwards, annual dividends would be received. The city has one permanent seat on the company's Board.