Kenilworth is an unincorporated rural community in Wellington North Township,

Wellington County, Ontario Wellington County is a county and census division located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The county consists of two towns and five townships, with its seat in the City of Guelph, which is geograp ...

, Canada. Kenilworth was located in Arthur Township until 1999. A post office has operated continuously in Kenilworth since 1848.

History

Kenilworth is named for a pioneer storekeeper who immigrated from

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District of Warwickshire, England, southwest of Coventry and north of both Warwick and Leamington Spa. Situated at the centre of t ...

, England. Many of the first settlers in Arthur Township were very poor, and moved here because the land was inexpensive. Among them were a number of Irish Catholics, and some German Catholics. Members of the

Jesuit Order The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...

established the township's first Catholic church at Kenilworth in 1852. The log church served whole township until 1857, when a Catholic church was established in the village of

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

. The Kenilworth church closed in 1870 after being condemned as structurally unsound. In 1903, a Catholic church called Sacred Heart re-established in Kenilworth. A Methodist church and cemetery were established in Kenilworth prior to 1854. Called Ebenezer Church, it was built from logs, and was replaced in 1885 by a red brick church. The congregation merged with the United Church in 1925. Kenilworth United Church closed in 2001 and was demolished. The cemetery also closed; the last inscription being from 2006. A cairn was erected at the cemetery displaying a memorial plaque and the church's cornerstone. By 1869, Kenilworth had a general store, tailor, doctor, saloon, wagon maker, hotel and post office. The population was 50. The

Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway The Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B) was a railway company which operated in Ontario, Canada in the years immediately following the Canadian Confederation of 1867. It connected two rural counties, Grey County, Ontario, Grey County and Bruce ...

established a line through Kenilworth in 1872. Despite having a population at that time of just 75 people, Arthur Township made it conditional that in order to receive funding, the railway had to erect a station at Kenilworth. The railway has since been abandoned and the tracks removed. By 1910, Kenilworth had a bank and telegraph office, and a population of 100. That same year, a steam boiler at a grist mill in Kenilworth exploded causing extensive damage. The administrative offices of the Township of Wellington North are today located in Kenilworth. File:Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church - Kenilworth, Ontario (circa 1903).jpg, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, circa 1903 File:Gristmill steam boiler explosion - Kenilworth, Ontario (1910).jpg, Following an explosion at a grist mill in Kenilworth, 1910 File:Sign - Kenilworth, Ontario.jpg, North of Kenilworth

Culture

Lynes Blacksmith Shop

The Lynes Blacksmith Shop was a forge and carriage works from 1883 until it closed down in 1955. The building was left undisturbed for more than 60 years. In 2017, the shop re-opened and now provides historical tours of the blacksmith shop, the family home full of historical photos, a unique village barn and grounds with a nature trail.

Education

Upper Grand District School Board

Kenilworth is served by the Upper Grand District School Board as Kenilworth Public School is a K-6 school located in the settlement. Grade 7-8 students attend Arthur Public School in

or Victoria Cross Public School in Mount Forest. Local high school students attend

Wellington Heights Secondary School Wellington Heights Secondary School (WHSS) is a high school in Mount Forest, Ontario, Canada. The school is home of the "Wellington Heights Wolverines". The principal is Brent Bloch and the vice-principal is Chris Fiddes. WHSS was built in 2004 ...

, which is also located in Mount Forest. French immersion students from Kenilworth are assigned to Palmerston Public School in Palmerston, Ontario when in K-8. French immersion high school students attend Norwell District Secondary School, also located in Palmerston, when in grades 9-12.

Wellington Catholic District School Board

Kenilworth is served by the Wellington Catholic District School Board as St. John Catholic Elementary School is a K-8 school located in

. Local high school students in the WCDSB are bussed to Saint James Catholic High School in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

Fire and emergency services

*Ambulance: ambulance service in Kenilworth is provided by the Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service. The headquarters for GWPS is located in

and the closest GWPS stations to Kenilworth are located in

and Mount Forest. *Fire services: residents of Kenilworth are served by the Wellington North Fire Service. The WNFS is a volunteer fire service, with approximately 50 volunteer fire fighters. The closest fire stations are located in

and Mount Forest. *Police: the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the State police, provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. The OPP patrols Provincial highways in Ontario, provincial highways and waterways; protects Government of Ontario, provincial government buil ...

provides service for Kenilworth. There isn't an operation centre located within the community. The OPP operation centre that serves Kenilworth is located in

Teviotdale Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

Health care

Kenilworth does not have a hospital located within the community, however, there are hospitals nearby. Louise Marshall Hospital is located in Mount Forest, Palmerston and District Hospital is located in Palmerston and Groves Memorial Community Hospital is located in Fergus. These hospitals are a part of the Wellington Health Care Alliance.

Media

*Print media: print media coverage in Kenilworth comes from ''The North Wellington Community News'' and the ''Wellington Advertiser''. *Radio: while Kenilworth does not have their own

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

, ''88.7 The River'' ( CIWN-FM) from nearby Mount Forest serves the Wellington North area. *Television: ''CTV Kitchener'' (

CKCO-DT CKCO-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside London-based CTV 2 station CFPL-DT (channel 10), although the two ...

) provides local news for Kenilworth and area.

Transportation

Kenilworth sits at the junction of

Ontario Highway 6 King's Highway 6, commonly referred to as Highway 6, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It crosses a distance of between Port Dover ...

(north−south) and Wellington North Township sideroad 7 (east−west). *Air: the closest major airports to Kenilworth is the Region of Waterloo International Airport located in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

. and

Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surrounding region known as the Golden Horseshoe. Pearson is the ...

located in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

. *Bus: the Guelph Owen Sound Transit (GOST) bus service drives through Kenilworth, however, the community does not have a stop. This service connects the area with the cities of

and

Owen Sound Owen Sound (2021 Canadian Census, 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat, seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi River, Pottawatomi and Sydenham River ...

. The closest stops to Kenilworth are located in

and Mount Forest. The bus service also includes stops in Chatsworth, Williamsford, Durham, Fergus and Elora. *Rail: the closest train station to Kenilworth is Guelph Central Station in

. At this location,

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

along the

Quebec City-Windsor Corridor Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

and

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

along the

Kitchener line Kitchener is one of the seven passenger lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends westward from Union Station in Toronto to Kitchener, though most trains originate and terminate in Brampton in off-p ...

is offered. *RIDE WELL: RIDE WELL is an on-demand, publicly-funded, rural transit service offering service that is available in Kenilworth, as well as throughout Wellington County and in the city of

Notable people

* Arthur Cushing (1869 – 1944), politician *

William Henry Cushing William Henry Cushing (August 21, 1852 – January 25, 1934) was a Canadian politician. Born in Ontario, he migrated west as a young adult where he started a successful lumber company and later became Alberta's first Minister of Public Works an ...

(1852 – 1934), Alberta's first Minister of Public Works and the 11th

mayor of Calgary This is a list of mayors of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. List of mayors of Calgary See also *List of Calgary municipal elections *Calgary City Council Notes References SourcesBiographies of Calgary's mayors from the City of Calgary web pa ...

. * George Epoch (1920 – 1986), priest * Albert Hellyer (1860 – 1945), member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

, representing the

United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...

. Uncle of Frank Prewett. * Frank Prewett (1893 – 1962), poet.

References

{{authority control Communities in Wellington County, Ontario