Alma is an unincorporated rural community in Mapleton Township, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada.[1][2]
Alma | |
|---|---|
Unincorporated rural community | |
 Entering Alma along County Road 17 | |
  Alma Location of Alma in Canada  Alma Alma (Ontario) | |
| Coordinates: 43°43′49″N 80°30′08″W / 43.73028°N 80.50222°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| County | Wellington |
| Township | Mapleton |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| GNBC Code | FACPP[1] |
History
editPioneers began settling along the Elora Saugeen Road, which forms the main street of Alma, during the 1840s.[3]
Alexander MacCrea and his wife settled here in 1848, and built a store. The "MacCrae's Corners" post office was established in 1854, and MacCrae was postmaster.[4][5]
In 1854, the settlement's name was changed from MacCrae's Corners to "Alma", after the Battle of Alma.[3]
James Ledingham and his family moved to Alma in 1864, and built a saw and chopping mill.[6]
In 1865, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church was established in Alma. The church moved to a new stone church in Alma in 1892.[3]
The Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway built a line through Alma in 1870.[4] The line was eventually taken over by Canadian National Railway, and was abandoned in 1983.[7] The Alma railroad station has since been destroyed.[8]
After the railway was constructed, Alma became "a bustling service centre for the local settlers and travellers".[5] Alma was noted for having a post office, wagon maker, weaver, telegraph office, shoemaker, grist mill, several saw mills, several stores, three churches, and four hotels. In 1879, the population was 250.[5][9]
Wallace Cummings Park in Alma was constructed in 2003 on 25 ha (62 acres) of donated land. The park features a playground, walking trail, toboggan hill, picnic shelter, community hall, wetland boardwalk, and garden labyrinth.[10]
Education
editAlma Public School, part of the Upper Grand District School Board, is located in Alma.[11]
Notable people
edit- James Scarth Gale (1863 – 1937), Presbyterian missionary, educator and Bible translator in Korea.[12]
- George Alexander McQuibban (1886 – 1937), physician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. McQuibban lived in Alma and had a practice there.[13]
Gallery
edit-
Alma, 1910 -
Houses on Peel Street, 1910 -
Alma, 2017 -
Historic locomotive near the former railroad station
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References
edit
- ^ a b "Alma". Natural Resources Canada. October 6, 2016.
- ^ "Mapleton". Statistics Canada. November 2, 2016.
- ^ a b c "About". St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- ^ a b "Alma". Rural Routes Ontario. March 29, 2009.
- ^ a b c Campbell, Jean (September 11, 2015). "Alma". Drayton Community News.
- ^ "Biographical Sketches of Early Settlers of Wellington County". Wellington County GenWeb. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- ^ "The Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway". Trainweb. December 30, 1997.
- ^ Brown, Ron (2016). Dundurn Railroad 6-Book Bundle. Dundurn. ISBN 9781459736818.
- ^ The County of Wellington Gazetteer and Directory for 1879-80. Armstrong & Delion. 1879. p. 89.
- ^ "Labyrinth & Memory Arboretum Project". Labyrinth Planning Committee. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- ^ "Alma Public School". Township of Mapleton. Retrieved April 16, 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Han, Peter (April 1, 2014). "Sent By God". Presbyterian Record.
- ^ "News". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 36 (3): 324–330. March 1937. PMC 1562069.