Chesley (originally Sconeville) is a community in

Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada comprising eight lower-tier municipalities and with a 2016 population of 66,491. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth Governor General of the P ...

, Ontario, Canada, located within the municipality of

Arran–Elderslie The Municipality of Arran–Elderslie is a township in Bruce County in Western Ontario, Canada. The township is located at the headwaters of the Sauble River, and the Saugeen River forms the northwestern boundary. Communities The township comp ...

. The name Sconeville was replaced in 1868 to mark the career of Solomon Chesley, an official in the pre-Confederation

Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Canada in 1860, thus setting ...

. Its town slogan is "The Nicest Town Around." Chesley is located north of both Walkerton on Bruce Road 19 and

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

on County Road 10. The town was named after Solomon Chesley, a former official in the

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

. It is now an example of a typical rural Ontario community. Chesley originally developed around mills built on the

Saugeen River The Saugeen River is located in southern Ontario, Canada, Ontario, Canada. The river begins in the Osprey, Ontario, Osprey Wetland Conservation Lands and flows generally north-west about before exiting into Lake Huron. The river is navigable for ...

around 1858. It expanded further when it was connected to the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

in 1881. A great fire destroyed most of the original downtown core in 1888, and the destroyed wood buildings were replaced by brick and stone. From 1877 to 2004, the town had a weekly newspaper called ''The Chesley Enterprise''. The town's major source of employment is commercial manufacturing. From 1886 to 1987, the Krug family operated the Krug Bros. furniture manufacturing business. Currently Crate Designs, a locally owned furniture manufacturing factory, is the only surviving furniture factory, following the recent downsizing of Durham Furniture (2007). Chesley is part of the

Bluewater District School Board Bluewater District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 7 prior to 1999) is a school board in the Canadian province of Ontario, with jurisdiction for the operation of schools in Bruce and Grey Counties. Its he ...

and has a junior kindergarten to grade 8 school called the Chesley District Community School. In 2014, the original Chesley District High School joined with the Kinghurst Community School to form a junior kindergarten to grade 12 facility. In 2017, the high school section closed and it is now a junior kindergarten to grade 8 facility. A number of franchises also exist in the town, including New Orleans Pizza, Rona,

Home Hardware Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is a privately held Canadian home improvement, construction materials, and furniture retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by Walter Hachborn and headquartered in St. Jacobs, Ontario, the chain is co-operatively owned by ove ...

, and

Rexall Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across th ...

Drugs. The town is known for the statue of a giant bull on the north end of town, which is affectionately known as "Big Bruce." Recently the town has begun to create a network of

walking trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. T ...

that encompasses much of the town's existing infrastructure of walking paths. Known as the heritage trail, it spans a large part of the town, and its waterside parks. In 2005, Chesley was able to open a Heritage and Woodworking Museum due to a Ontario Trillium Foundation grant. The museum was housed in the Dawson House on 1st Avenue, formerly the home of town doctors Stewart and Dawson. The building had been left to the town for public use in the 1970s; in 2013, Chesley put Dawson House up for sale.

Gallery

Famous residents

* Tommy Burns, boxer World Heavyweight Champion 1906–1908 *

Paul MacDermid Paul MacDermid (born April 14, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 690 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hartford Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, Washington Capitals, and Quebec Nordiques. MacDermid ...

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player 1981–1995 *

Mickey MacKay Duncan McMillan "Mickey" MacKay (May 25, 1894 – May 30, 1940) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and rover who played primarily in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHL) and Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) for the Vancouver Mi ...

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

, played 1914–1930 *

Victoria Pratt Victoria Ainslie Pratt (born December 18, 1970) is a Canadian actress, author, and fitness model. Early life Pratt grew up in Chesley, Ontario, a self described "tomboy at heart." She attended the kinesiology program at York University in Tor ...

, actress *

LIGHTS Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

, a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

-winning Canadian singer-songwriter

References

{{authority control Former towns in Ontario Communities in Bruce County