Stratford, Ontario

Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German immigrants, in almost equal numbers, starting in the 1820s but primarily in the 1830s and 1840s. Most became farmers; even today, the area around Stratford is known for mixed farming, dairying and hog production.

The area was settled in 1832, and the town and river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Stratford was incorporated as a town in 1859 and as a city in 1886. The first mayor was John Corry Wilson Daly and the current mayor is Dan Mathieson. The swan has become a symbol of the city. Each year twenty-four white swans are released into the Avon River. The town is noted for the Stratford Festival, which performs Shakespearean plays and other genres from May to October.

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.

Timeline

* 1828 - Settlement begins.
* 1832 - Thomas Mercer Jones, an agent of the Canada Company, names the village "Stratford" and renames the portion of the Thames River running through it the "Avon River." The first sawmill, hotel (Shakespeare Hotel) and gristmill are opened.
* 1834 - The community has a tavern, sawmill and grist mill; in 1835 the first post office opens.
* 1849 - The Perth County News is Stratford's first weekly newspaper.
* 1853 - Perth County is created, with Stratford as its county seat.
* 1854 - Stratford is incorporated as a village.
* 1856 - Stratford becomes a railway town with the arrival of the Grand Trunk and Buffalo-Lake Huron railways.
* 1859 - Stratford is incorporated as a town.
* 1864 - The 17-year-old American telegraph operator Thomas Edison briefly lived at 19 Grange Street.
* 1871 - A major railway repair yard opens (the town's major employer by 1901) and helps accelerate the population growth.
* 1885 - Stratford is incorporated as a city with a population of 9,000.
* 1887 - The second and current Perth County Court House opens; it is praised 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, is completed.
* 1903 - The first public library opens, built with $15,000 of financial assistance from American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
* 1908 - The Stratford Normal School opens to train teachers; from 1953 on, it is called the Stratford Teachers' College. The school trains nearly 14,000 teachers before closing in 1973.
* 1909 - The GTR (later CNR) locomotive repair shops building is completed; it is 16,800 square meters (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 all the furniture made in Canada is shipped from here. (All such manufacturing will have ceased by 2006.)
* 1933 - The army is called in to attempt to end a general strike (mostly of furniture workers) and try to systematically remove communist leaders, but fails, the last time the military is used to quell a strike in Canada.
* 1936 - The Shakespearean Gardens are created, primarily through the efforts of R, Thomas Orr.
* 1953 - The Stratford Shakespearean Festival Theatre is opened through the efforts of a Stratford journalist, Tom Patterson.
* 1957 - The Festival moves into its first permanent structure, the Festival Theatre.
* 1964 - The CNR shops close, laying off numerous employees.
* 1976 - The Stratford City Hall is designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
* 1979 - an F4 tornado tore through the community, travelling for 39 kilometers and levelling several houses.
* 1992 - Stratford Armoury is recognised as a Federal Heritage building on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings.
* 1993 - Stratford's former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station is designated a Federal Heritage building.
* 1997 - Nations in Bloom crowns Stratford the "Prettiest City in the World."
* 2003 - The Stratford Festival of Canada celebrated its 50th season, welcoming 672,924 patrons to 18 plays. This was a record number of playgoers during the 50 seasons. The Avon Theatre realised a complete renewal and the Studio Theatre, a fourth theatre space seating 250 people, was added.

Geography

Climate

Stratford has a humid continental climate type (Köppen: Dfb). The highest temperature ever recorded in Stratford was in July 1936. The coldest temperature ever recorded was in January 1882. Stratford has warm summers that are lengthy by Canadian standards with cool nights and long, cold, and snowy winters. Precipitation is very high year round.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Stratford had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

The city is in a successful agricultural area and has some auto parts manufacturing, but tourism is still the most significant aspect. According to an estimate by the Conference Board of Canada, it generates $140 million in economic activity, $65 million in taxes and 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. For the past few years however, the town has been working to attract more technical industries with Mayor Dan Mathieson spearheading the effort. The Royal Bank of Canada opened a $300 million data centre here, Starwood Hotels is experimenting with a new type of call centre, and the University of Waterloo has opened a satellite campus with about 500 students specializing in digital media and information technology, and as the home of the technology forum Canada 3.0 and various technology companies.

Arts and culture

Stratford Festival

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival began in 1953 when, on July 13, actor Alec Guinness spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival.

The performances during the first four seasons took place in a concrete amphitheatre covered by giant canvas tent on the banks of the River Avon. The first of many years of Stratford Shakespeare Festival production history started with a six-week season, opening on 13 July 1953, with ''Richard III'' and then '' All's Well That Ends Well'' both starring Alec Guinness. The 1954 season ran for nine weeks and included Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and two Shakespeare plays, ''Measure for Measure'' and ''The Taming of the Shrew''. Young actors during the first four seasons included several who went on to great success in subsequent years, Douglas Campbell, Timothy Findley

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