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This Guelph Public Library archival drawing is a bird's eye view of Guelph done by Augustus King. It dates from the 1880s. Rail reaching Guelph in 1856 meant a boom for the local economy. (supplied photo) In the new year Guelph turns 190 years old. Forty years after that, Canada was born. Both anniversaries are being celebrated in 2017 with special events ranging from talks, to walking tours to regular 'tweets' about the the city and country's past. Called Canada 150, Guelph 190, Guelph Civic Museums plan to celebrate the past with an eye to the future. Events will give "our community an opportunity to reflect and celebrate our collective history," said Guelph Museums manager Tammy Adkin in a news release. "In doing so, we hope to cultivate community connections and a sense of place and inspire future engagement and innovation." While John Galt is first and foremost when it comes to Guelph's founding, reconciliation with people who lived on the land before white settlement will be a recurring theme. "We are committed during Canada 150, Guelph 190–and always–to participate in the call to reconciliation," Adkin told Venture Guelph. The Building Canada Lectures will be
launched by senior project manager at Six Nation Polytechnic Indigenous Knowledge Centre Richard W. Hill Sr. He will present “Kanata to Canada: Ongoing Legacy of the Silver Covenant Chain.” Ojibway storyteller Aaron Bell launches the Oh Canada Concerts. There will be more First Nations, Metis and Inuit-related topics but details have to be finalized, said Adkin. As for Guelph’s founding on April 23, 1827, both University of Guelph history professor emeritus Gil Stelter and Guelph Museums curator Bev Dietrich maintain that the foundation laid by John Galt helped make the city what is today. “Early Guelph was kind of special in the sense that it was an 'instant' town created by Galt and Canada Company, ahead of the general settlement pattern in the region,” said Stelter. “Galt's promotion of the town as the centre of 'improved' agriculture–importing top stock from Britain, for example, led to Guelph becoming the educational and scientific centre of Ontario agriculture.” Said Dietrich, Galt “had a vision that when settlers arrived a ready-made settlement
complete with good roads, a school and a market would be in place.” Galt’s groundwork saw “over 50 workmen and their families begin to build the settlement. Over 30 town lots were sold that first year,” she said. She figures at that time, Guelph’s population was 100-plus people. Growth was slow until the arrival of the railway in 1856, which Dietrich notes, allowed merchants and manufacturers to transport their goods. This led to what Stelter calls “Guelph’s golden age” in the 1860s1870s attracting companies like Raymond Sewing Machine and Bell Piano and Organ. “Great architecture, from (former) city hall to many stone homes and factories made Guelph a very modern town by 1867”–the year of Canada’s confederation, Stelter said. Not only that, “Guelph was well on its way to becoming a city in 1879,” said Dietrich. “Guelph was still an important place by Confederation, but declined in the national picture after that as other places and regions, especially the West grew,” said Stelter. – See page 7 for special event details
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