John Galt's Canada Company

The Gore District is bounded on the north and east by the Home district; on the south, by lake Ontario, and the Niagara district; and on the west, by the London district and Indian territory. A considerable portion of this tract belongs to the Canada Company, who have built nearly in its centre, the town of Guelph, upon the river Speed, a branch of the Ouse(Grand).

This rapidly rising town was commenced by Mr. Galt, for the Canada Company, in 1827, and is now of considerable extent and importance, containing several places of worship, grist and saw mills, distileries, market-house, schools, printing office, hotels, and taverns, &c.; many new houses are erected every year, and the population is very considerable.

Guelph was founded on St. George�s Day, April 23rd, 1827 with the ceremonial felling of a large maple tree. Guelph is considered to be one of the first planned towns in Canada and was chosen as the headquarters of a British development firm known as the "Canada Company". The location was picked by the Company�s Superintendent in Canada, a popular Scottish novelist named John Galt who designed the town to attract settlers to it and to the surrounding countryside.

Galt�s plan was quite imaginative, based on a series of streets radiating from a focal point at the Speed River, and resembles a European city centre, complete with squares, broad main streets and narrow side streets, resulting in a variety of block sizes and shapes. Galt chose the name "Guelph" for the new town because it was one of the family names of the British royal family, and it had apparently never been used as a place name before. Hence the current use of the term "The Royal City" for Guelph.

Despite John Galt�s grandiose plans, Guelph did not grow beyond village size until the Grand Trunk Railroad reached it from Toronto in 1856. After this time, many of Guelph�s prominent buildings were erected, a number of which were designed by high profile Toronto-based architects, but most of which were the product of a talented group of local architects, builders and stone carvers who effectively used Guelph�s locally quarried, warm-hued limestone which today gives a visual unity to the older parts of the City.