Friday, January 13, 2017

Founding of Spencerville Plaque

In Spencerville, Ontario on the north side of Centre Street east of Murray Street, just behind the stone wall stands a plaque commemorating Spencerville's founding.



THE FOUNDING OF SPENCERVILLE

By 1821 Peleg Spencer was operating a grist-mill and
sawmill on the South Nation River on a Clergy Lot he
had leased in 1817, having previously owned a sawmill
on the site from 1811 till 1814. David Spencer, son of
Peleg, took over the mills in 1822 and patented the mill
lot in 1831. By 1828 an inn was located near "Spencer's
Mills" and a settlement developed. David Spencer had
a village plot surveyed in the 1840's and a post-office,
called "Spencerville," had been opened by October, 1846. In
1851 the village numbered some 250 inhabitants with a
tannery and other industries, as well as Spencer's mills,
which were later rebuilt in stone across the river.


Erected by the Arhaeological and Historic Sites Board,
Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario