Arthur, Ontario

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Arthur
Unincorporated community
The Village of Arthur Sign at the Intersection of Hwy 6 and Wellington Road 109.
Coordinates: 43°49′58″N 80°32′16″W / 43.83278°N 80.53778°W / 43.83278; -80.53778
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Wellington County
Township	Wellington North
Area
• Total	524.38 km2 (202.46 sq mi)
• Density	21.3/km2 (55/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Forward sortation area	N0G 1A0
Area codes	519 and 226
NTS Map	040P15
GNBC Code	FADVI

Arthur (population 2,628) is a community located just north of Highway 6 and Wellington Road 109 in the township of Wellington North, Ontario, Canada. Formerly an independent village, Arthur was amalgamated into Wellington North on January 1, 1999.

History

The village was named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Settlers began arriving in 1840. The area was first surveyed in 1841 by John McDonald and then officially in 1846 by D.B. Papineau. During the first survey in 1841, the population of Arthur was 22 people. Over the next 15 years this number rose to 400 and by 1900 the population had risen to just over 1500. The saw and grist mills on the Conestogo River encouraged people to settle here. In 1851, a post office, church and school were organized. Development increased in 1872 when the train line of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway reached the village which was incorporated in that year.^[1] The Arthur Enterprise News, established in 1863, was one of the few non-syndicated weekly newspapers in Canada. By 1890, a high school had been opened.^[1] In 1897, Arthur was one of the first villages in Ontario to be connected to an electricity line; power was only available in the evenings.^[1]

Canada's most patriotic village

On November 2 1942, the Toronto Star ran a front-page headline that read "Arthur Village Gives Sons and Money to Aid the War", as one out of every seven Arthur residents fought in the Second World War. At that time 100 residents had enlisted from the population of 890. The Toronto Star article only calls the village 'patriotic' and does not use the phrase "Canada's Most Patriotic Village" ^[2]

It was the highest ratio in comparison to villages of comparable sizes in Canada. By the end of the war, 338 Arthur residents had enlisted, and 25 were killed in action.

During the first war bond campaign of World War II, the village of Arthur was the first community in Ontario to reach its quota, which it did within a few minutes. Arthur also led the communities in Wellington for every other war and victory bond campaign and surpassed all objectives that had been set. By the end of the fourth campaign, Arthur had raised a total of $250,000 which was an amount equal to 64% of the assessed value of the village's taxable property.

In 2002, David Tilson, MPP for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey stated in the Ontario legislature, that because of the village of Arthur's extraordinary World War II record, the community was now being recognized as "Canada's Most Patriotic Village".

The sacrifice of these soldiers is honoured by the Cenotaph of Arthur, located in the heart of the village. The monument was unveiled on August 6, 1923, by Mrs. David Brocklebank, whose son was killed at the end of World War I, before the largest crowd ever assembled in Arthur village. After the unveiling the Toronto Star described the cenotaph as "a war memorial whose design and beauty cannot be equaled as yet in the Province." On the cenotaph are engraved the names of the 193 men who enlisted in World War I (including the 40 who were KIA), as well as the 363 men and women who enlisted in World War II, among whom 25 made the ultimate sacrifice. One unique feature of the cenotaph was that when it was being designed a decision was made to build the monument with stones gathered from local farms. It was later discovered that the memorial was the first fieldstone Cenotaph Memorial built in the province.

Some of the men that enlisted from the Arthur area were British Home Children that were sent here from orphanages in the UK. Between 1869 and 1948 over 118,000 orphaned and abandoned children up to the age of 16 were sent to Canada to work as farm hands and domestic servants.

Demographics

The population of Arthur at the 2021 census was 2,628.^[3]

See also

• List of unincorporated communities in Ontario

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur, Ontario.