West Elgin is a municipality in

Elgin County Elgin County is a county of the Canadian province of Ontario with a 2016 population of 50,069. Its population centres are St. Thomas, Aylmer, Port Stanley, Belmont, Dutton and West Lorne. The county seat is St. Thomas, which is separated from t ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The township was created on January 1, 1998, through the amalgamation of the former township of Aldborough with the village of West Lorne.

Communities

The two main population centres within the township are Rodney and West Lorne. Additionally, it also includes the smaller communities of Churchville, Clachan, Ferndell, Crinan, Eagle, Kintyre, New Glasgow, Port Glasgow and Twin Valleys. File:Rodney ON.JPG, Rodney File:West Lorne ON.JPG, West Lorne File:Clachan.jpg, Clachan

History

The original township of Aldborough was named in 1792 after

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

, Suffolk,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The community of Rodney was originally named Stewart's Mills after the owner of the first sawmill in the community. From 1840 to 1865, it was called Centreville due to its central location at the intersection of Furnival Road and 7th Concession (now Downie Line). In 1865, the community was renamed Rodney after British naval officer

George Brydges Rodney Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at t ...

. The centre of the village was relocated three kilometres to the south when the

Canada Southern Railway The Canada Southern Railway , also known as CSR, was a railway in southwestern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway. Its name was changed to Canada Southern Railway on December 24, 1869. The 1868 ...

was built in the area in 1872. The community of West Lorne also had its origins the

. Originally named Bismarck after the

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

, the community was renamed West Clayton, Dutton, Lorne and finally West Lorne. The name came from the Lorne Mills on the south side of the railway, themselves named for John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne. The station itself was renamed West Lorne in 1907 to avoid confusion with a community named Bismarck in Lincoln County. The villages of Rodney and West Lorne were incorporated as municipalities in 1907 and 1908 respectively, and separated from the township. Subsequently, Aldborough remained a mainly rural municipality. In 1994, Aldborough and Rodney amalgamated to form an expanded Township of Aldborough. In 1998, Aldborough amalgamated with West Lorne to form West Elgin.

Climate

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, West Elgin 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.

Infrastructure

West Lorne is home to western Elgin County's only high school,

West Elgin Secondary School West Elgin Secondary School is a secondary school, located at 139 Graham Street in West Lorne, Ontario. It serves the rural area of West Elgin, including West Lorne, Rodney, Dutton/Dunwich, Wallacetown and Iona Station. WESS is part of the Tham ...

. West Elgin Secondary school draws in students from West Elgin as well as Middlesex County. The school's mascot is a wildcat and their official colours are white and purple.Thames Valley District School Board
Tvdsb.ca. Retrieved on 2013-10-05. West Lorne is linked by Elgin County Road 76 to the

401 __NOTOC__ Year 401 ( CDI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus (or, less frequently, year 1154 ' ...

, a major arterial highway link in Ontario affording easy access to

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, Chatham, St. Thomas,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, and many other places. Local agriculture includes

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

, mixed farming, fruit growing and a sizeable tobacco industry. The town of West Lorne was greatly influenced by the railroad that crossed through the heart of the village. The railroad provided jobs for the first residents of the area. There is also some light manufacturing in the town.

Notable attractions

* Ontario has had some historical claimants, by towns, for the smallest jailhouse in the province. These have included:

Tweed Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

Coboconk Coboconk, often shortened to Coby, is a community in the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the south-central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario. The village lies at the junction of Highway 35 and former Highway 48, on the northern tip of ...

and

Creemore Creemore () is a former village, now part of Clearview, Ontario, Clearview Township, located in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It lies approximately north of Toronto, 40 minutes west of Barrie, and 20 minutes south of Collingwood, Ontario, Col ...

. However, the jailhouse in Rodney has proven to be smaller than all three, measuring in at 4.5 metres by 5.4 metres. Today, it serves as a part-time tourist information centre. Other villages in Ontario with similar jailhouse dimensions include

Port Dalhousie Port Dalhousie is a community in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Known for its waterfront appeal, it is home to the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and is historically significant as the terminus for the first three (19th century) routes of the ...

Providence Bay Providence Bay (russian: Бу́хта Провиде́ния, ''Bukhta Provideniya'') is a fjord in the southern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula of northeastern Siberia. It was a popular rendezvous, wintering spot, and provisioning spot for whaler ...

, and the ghost town of Berens River and Ray.

Notable people

* Bo Horvat, captain and centre for the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

* Travis Konecny, centre for the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

* Justin Azevedo, hockey player for Ak Bars Kazan (KHL)

References

External links

* {{Geographic location , Centre = West Elgin , North = , Northeast =

Dutton/Dunwich Dutton/Dunwich is a municipality located in western Elgin County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The municipality was formed in 1998 through an amalgamation of the Village of Dutton and former Township of Dunwich. It includes the Hamlets of ...

, East = , Southeast = ''

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

'' , South = , Southwest = Chatham-Kent , West = , Northwest =

Southwest Middlesex Southwest Middlesex is a municipality in Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. The restructured municipality of Southwest Middlesex was incorporated on January 1, 2001. This amalgamation joined the Village of Glencoe and the Village of Wardsville wi ...

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

'' Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in Elgin County 1998 establishments in Ontario