Beautiful Perth

"Welcome to Beautiful Perth, an ideal holiday destination and a great place to live."

Perth History

1816 April 18th, Perth established as a military settlement. Land for the settlement was obtained from the Algonkians.
1816 Captain Joshua Adams builds the first tavern on Foster St.
1816 John Adamson builds the first house, the Red House, on Craig St.
1816 Fall: 20 houses in Perth, 250 houses in the area, population 1,505.
1817 settlers face starvation.
1817 settlement's first minister arrives in Perth.
1817 1,890 residents in the Perth area.
1819 first Presbyterian church is built.
1820 first Roman Catholic church.
1821 Methodist church starts up in Perth.
1823 Perth has seven general stores.
1823 Summit House built from brick.
1823 Inge-Va House erected.
1824 Perth gets its first lawyer, James Boulton.
1828 The first newspaper in Eastern Ontario founded in Perth; the Bathurst Independent Examiner.
1830 Perth has a population of 350.
1830 McMartin House built.
1833 the steamship Enterprise is launched in Perth.
1833 June 13th, last fatal duel in Canada fought in Perth.
1834 Tay Canal opens.
1836 Perth had 8 taverns, seven stores selling liquor, trhree distilleries and a brewery.
1836 population 1,000.
1841 Haggart Mill built after a fire.
1842 first Baptist meeting house.
1845 Perth's fair begins.
1850 population 1,581
1851 Perth becomes a separate municipality.
1851 Perth Public School erected.
1854 Perth was incorporated as a town on January 1st., population 3,500
1858 the Mallock House was erected, what is now part of Perth's Great War Memorial Hospital.
1859 The B&O (Brockville & Ottawa) railway reaches Perth.
1861 first Anglican church opened.
1863 Perth Town Hall is built.
1874 Perth's community has expanded along the streets of Gore, Drummond and Beckwith.
1875 Perth High School opened.
1880 Economic boom in Perth.
1882-92 Second Tay Canal built.
1887 electricity lights the town of Perth.
1887 nineteen phones and a switchboard in Perth.
1887 one-fortieth of all the money in Canadian banks was in Perth.
1891 Perth's population 3,136.
1892 World's biggest cheese, the Mammoth Cheese, was produced.
1906 Kininvie House built for T.A. Cole.
1908 first car in Perth.
1911 Perth's population 3,588
1914 first Perth library erected.
1915 the old power house at Haggart Dam is demolished.
1923 Great War Memorial Hospital opened.
1925 Stewart Park was a gift to the town by the Stewart family.
1930 Post Office opens across fron the Town Hall.
1947 Stewart Park is developed as a public park.
1953 population 5,000
1961 82 retail stores in Perth.
1964 Haggart Mill destroyed by fire.
1965 town installs a sewage lagoon to stop contamination of the Tay River.
1968 Algonquin College opens.
1974 Inge-Va House donated to the Ontario Heritage Foundation.
1980 first Perth library destroyed by fire.
1991 Perth's 175th anniversary.
1992 St. John's High School opens.
1994 The amalgamation of the Great War Memorial Hospital and the Smiths Falls Community Hospital to become The Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.
2003 Perth's population 6,003
2006 Perth's Population 6,232