Elgin County Archives

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Elgin County Archives Elgin County Archives acquires & manages corporate records of the County of Elgin & private records of enduring importance to the history of Elgin County.

This is a photograph showing students of Richmond Public School, 1920. Identified as, first (top) row, left to right, ...
10/02/2026

This is a photograph showing students of Richmond Public School, 1920. Identified as, first (top) row, left to right, Newtin Palmer, Lydia Alward, Frank Johnson, Eva Scanlon, Chester Stansell, John Palmer, Bob Procunier, Mabel Johnson, Jim Gale; second (middle) row, left to right, Donald Tomlinson, Jim Procunier, Willina Stansell, Geraldine Johnson, Evelyn Godby, Zita Godwin, Ernest Scanlon, Bailey Laing, Chas. Laing; third (bottom) row, left to right, Waite Honsinger, Addie Godwin, Dee Johnson, Grace Procunier, Eva Scanlon, Irene Pilkey, Lawrence Laing. Not shown is teacher Norman Stansell. Included in the Bayham Women's Institute Tweedsmuir History, Volume One.
A school existed in Richmond as early as the 1830's but little is known about this school. About 1860, a new white brick school was built on the south side of County Road 38. From 1846 to 1862, another school operated northeast of Richmond on the north part of Lot 6, Concession 7. This was known as the "Herdman School", being situated on the farm of Thomas Herdman. Two frame schoolhouses were used, the first being built in 1846 and the second in 1852. The "Herdman School" was closed in 1862 with most of its pupils going to Richmond and a few going to S.S. #16 (Corinth). The school in Richmond was destroyed by fire on January 15, 1941 after which school was conducted in the basement of the church next door. A new brick school was completed on February 11, 1943. In September, 1960, Grade 7 and 8 pupils from Richmond began attending school in Straffordville, and in June, 1965, S.S. #11 was closed.
Information taken from Elgin County Schools, written by Jim Doelman and published in 1982.

This is a colour postcard depicting people waiting in line in front of the Port Stanley Roller Coaster, ca. 1913. Has ...
10/01/2026

This is a colour postcard depicting people waiting in line in front of the Port Stanley Roller Coaster, ca. 1913. Has a West Lorne postmark dated August 13, 1913. Addressed to Miss B. Hull of Ingersoll. From the Robert Moore Postcard Collection.
The wooden roller coaster at Port Stanley was built in 1908 by Erie Amusements and stood near the beach and incline railway until it was dismantled in the early 1930s.
It was built in 1908 by the Erie Amusement Company as part of a major beach development boom, and was situated on the shoreline west of the incline railway, near present-day Edith Cavell Boulevard. It featured a classic wooden structure with a figure-8 layout, offering rides for just 5 cents.
The coaster was a central landmark during Port Stanley's peak era as a bustling lakeside resort, sharing the beachfront with a Ferris wheel, dance pavilions, and the London & Port Stanley Railway.
The ride was dismantled in the early 1930s as changing economic conditions and the rise of the personal automobile shifted vacation trends.

Today is the sixth annual , a day to honour the children who never returned home from residential schools, survivors, a...
09/30/2026

Today is the sixth annual , a day to honour the children who never returned home from residential schools, survivors, as well as their families and communities. In 2021, the government of Canada passed legislation to make September 30 a federal statutory holiday called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Today, we would like to highlight some of the images in our collection relating to the Oneida Nation of the Thames! These images showcase the Oneida Nation’s military service. Please click on each image, for the full caption.
Oneida Nation of the Thames holds a unique position among the First Nation communities in Canada, in that they purchased their lands and arrived as settlers from New York State. Their original homelands are in the Madison County area of New York and well beyond. However, following the American Revolution, the Governor of NY saw fit to reward returning American soldiers with parcels of Oneida lands. Documented from living memory of stories handed down (orature), money was thrown at the feet of Oneidas by the NY officials, telling them that this was payment for their lands and they should leave the state. Arrangements were quickly made between Oneida Castle and the Land Commission of Upper Canada to purchase the land in Delaware Township along the banks of the Thames where they now reside in collective ownership. Two hundred forty men women and children arrived to the settlement in 1840 and each paid $42 to settle there. The settlement later became Reserve No. 41, after the Oneidas were unable to pay the huge debt of backtaxes, most of which had been accumulated by the previous owners. Todays population is about 5700.
[This history was taken from the Oneida Language and Cultural Centre’s website https://oneidalanguage.ca/oneida-culture/our-history/...]

Today marks the sixth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the children who never returned ...
09/30/2026

Today marks the sixth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.
As an action towards reconciliation, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation recommends learning about whose land we live on, and a great starting place to do this is here: https://native-land.ca/.
Today, we would like to highlight resources where people can learn about Indigenous culture and history. Raising awareness of and acknowledging Indigenous history and the diverse cultures of Indigenous peoples can advance the principles of indigenization, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
This post highlights the Southwold Earthworks National Historic Site. The Southwold Earthworks is the remains of a pre-contact village site of the Neutral people, occupied about AD 1450 to 1550. The Neutral Confederacy, Neutral Nation, or Neutral people (also called Attawandaron by neighbouring tribes) were an Iroquoian-speaking people who lived in what is now southwestern and south-central Ontario in Canada, North America. They lived throughout the area bounded by the southern half of Lake Huron, the entire northern shoreline of Lake Erie, from the Detroit River in the west to the Niagara River in the east, plus northward around the western end of Lake Ontario. Their territory was southwest of the Tabacco Nation (Petun) and west of the southern area of the Huron people, or Wendat territory. The entrance to the Southwold Earthworks site is located on Iona Road, approximately three kilometres south of Iona. A double oval ring of raised earthworks surrounds the remains of the village.
The official website for this historic site is here: https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=370.
The Elgin County Archives has a number of records relating to this site, including photographs, a plan of the site, a programme relating to the opening of the site, reports and brochures. Please click on each of the images to find out more information.

TW: Canadian residential school system, abuseThis is a ca. 1910 image of the Mount Elgin Industrial Institute. From the ...
09/30/2026

TW: Canadian residential school system, abuse
This is a ca. 1910 image of the Mount Elgin Industrial Institute. From the Scott Studio fonds.
The Mount Elgin Indian Residential School (also referred to as the Mount Elgin Industrial Institute or the Muncey Institute) was one of the first residential schools in Canada. It was located on land that is now owned by the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.
The school operated for almost a century, from 1851-1862, and 1867-1946. It briefly reopened in 1967. It was managed by the Wesleyan Methodist Society and, later, by the United Church of Canada's Home Board of Missions. Children came to the school from over 18 Indigenous communities in Ontario and Quebec, including from local communities.
Students were subjected to neglect, unsanitary conditions, abuse, forced labour, malnourishment, and poor medical treatment. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s National Student Memorial Register honours and preserves the names of Mount Elgin Residential School students who died: https://nctr.ca/residential.../ontario/mount-elgin-muncey/
We remember these children, and every child who was lost, harmed, or forever changed by the residential school system, and we acknowledge the deep and lasting generational trauma these institutions have caused for Indigenous families and communities.
To learn more, please click the links below to watch “Our Healing Journey”, a two-part video created by residential school survivors from the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bb1G6Sjcn4
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WlUvYKC6s0
Timeline of Mount Elgin Indian Residential School: https://thechildrenremembered.ca/.../mount-elgin.../

Our last feature is the Wallacetown Fair! The 166th Wallacetown Fair takes place this coming weekend, October 2nd-4th....
09/29/2026

Our last feature is the Wallacetown Fair! The 166th Wallacetown Fair takes place this coming weekend, October 2nd-4th. Be sure to check out the fair website for more details: https://wallacetownfair.ca/.
Here are some images of the 1948 Wallacetown Fair, from the Stollery Studio fonds. Please click on the individual images for the captions.
Stay tuned next week, for the beginning of our photograph series! It will run until the end of December.

UPDATE: Everyone have now been identified! Left to right: Pauline Campbell (married name Donaldson), 1982-1983 Elgin Cou...
09/28/2026

UPDATE: Everyone have now been identified! Left to right: Pauline Campbell (married name Donaldson), 1982-1983 Elgin County Dairy Princess; Debbie Jenkins; Yvonne Groot-Zevert (married name Schunk); and Mary Catt. The three ladies to the right of Pauline Campbell were the contestants for the following year's competition. Please let us know if you can identify the unidentified person! Thanks!

Our second feature of the day is this photograph shows four unidentified young women, one of whom is the 1982-1983 Elgin Dairy Princess, in September 1983. Please let us know if you can identify anyone in this picture! The image is part of the "Voice of the Elgin Farmer" fonds. The "Voice of the Elgin Farmer" was an agricultural tabloid newspaper that served rural households in Elgin County. It was part of a broader network of "Voice of the Farmer" regional editions (such as the Voice of the Kent, Lambton, and Essex Farmer) published by Leader Publications Ltd. The paper was known for localized, community-focused content, including regular agricultural features like its "Built to Last" series, which highlighted historical homes in the area. By the late 2000s, it merged to become part of "Today's Farmer".
Unfortunately, only microfilm of the "Voice of the Elgin Farmer" newspaper from September 1979 to August 18, 1982 has survived, so it isn't possible to check whether this image was published in the newspaper, or the caption associated with it.

UPDATE: This class has been identified as the Grade 4 class at the Aldborough Public School in 1985, Most of the student...
09/28/2026

UPDATE: This class has been identified as the Grade 4 class at the Aldborough Public School in 1985, Most of the students have now been identified as:
Left of the space ship....far left Amy Peters, Deanna Deleary, unidentified girl. Then behind them left to right is Sherry Deyele, Elev Zelenak, Kate Van Lerop. to the Right of Space ship ....left to right. Roger Kirschner, Natalie Herring, Melanie McGill, and Greg Alderton. Behind them left to right are: Roger Hadash, Jeff McColl, Jeff Badger. This was Grade 4 and right before the Challenger explosion in January 1986. There was a huge push on space travel due to the first school teacher being sent to space, Christa McAuliffe.
Today's first feature of the day is this photograph of a group of unidentified students, likely at the Aldborough Public School or St. Mary's School Public School, in 1985. They are are standing next to a rocket model. Do you recognize anyone? If so, please let us know! Image is from the Harley Lashbrook Collection.

119 years ago today, on September 25, 1907, this postcard showing the Friends Meeting House in Sparta was written. The p...
09/25/2026

119 years ago today, on September 25, 1907, this postcard showing the Friends Meeting House in Sparta was written. The postcard is addressed to Mrs. J. Bellows, Corinth. The message reads "I expect to be with you the start of this week. Loving brother, J.T.D."
Image is from the Donald L. Cosens Collection.

to these photographs published in St. Thomas Times-Journal "Agriscope" Supplement, on September 25, 1979, with the fol...
09/25/2026

to these photographs published in St. Thomas Times-Journal "Agriscope" Supplement, on September 25, 1979, with the following captions:

(1) "Dorothy DeDeckere of RR 1, St. Thomas, shows the hampers full of tomatoes ready to ship to the market for canning recently. Although the tomatoes, like many other crops in the county, were later than usual, the quality is excellent this year."

(2) "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Turville of RR 2, Port Stanley, sort pears during the brief harvest period, which took place earlier in September. The quality of the crop was described as excellent but pear growers have had problems marketing their crop."

Part of St. Thomas Times Journal fonds.

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450 Sunset Drive
Saint Thomas, ON
N5R5V1

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