Strathroy, Ontario

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Strathroy (2001 population 12,978) is a community in southwestern Ontario, Canada. In 1998 the town government merged with the outlying township of Caradoc to form the Township of Strathroy-Caradoc.

Manufacturing and food processing are major industries in Strathroy.

Strathroy has two secondary schools; Strathroy District Collegiate Institute and Holy Cross Secondary School.

Strathroy is known for turkeys and its largest yearly event is the Strathroy Turkey Festival run by the Strathroy Lions Club. Cuddy Farms the world's top turkey hatching company Canadian headquarters is located here, and Strathroy is known locally as the turkey capital of the world (perhaps incorrectly).

In 2005, Strathroy was connected to the Lake Huron Water Pipeline. This ended the town's reliance on groundwater.

Strathroy-Caradoc's current mayor is Mel Veale.

Strathroy has a weekly newspaper, the Strathroy Age-Dispatch.

[edit] History

Strathroy was first settled in 1832 by John Stewart Buchanan at a location on the Sydenham River with flow and fall sufficient enough to power a grist mill. A general store opened in Strathroy in 1840. It was incorporated in 1860 as a village and became a town in 1872 with the motto "We Advance". Buchanan named Strathroy after his hometown of Strathroy, Ireland.

In 1866, The Age newspaper was established. Prior to this The Western Dispatch newspaper was produced for the area, . It was sold to The Age in 1921, which later became The Age Dispatch. The Age Dispatch is still published weekly.

In the fall of 1876, Bixel Brewery opened in Strathroy producing lager beer and supplied the town for the next two centuries(??). There were also other breweries in Strathroy including the "Western Steam Brewery", "Strathroy Brewing and Malting" and "West End Brewery"

George Orton, Canada's first Olympic champion, was born in Strathroy in 1873.

General Sir Arthur William Currie attended Strathroy District Collegiate Institute in the early 1890s.

In 1896, the Strathroy furniture company opened it's doors, and for nearly 100 years, was well known for making residential furniture. On July 15, 1992, the company declared bankruptcy. A liquidation sale was held in October, 1992.

On February 14th, 1914 the first patients were admitted to what eventually became Stathroy Middlesex General Hospital. At the time, the hospital was municipally owned. The current building opened on June 23, 1962 as a two-story structure with 82 beds. In recent years, the hospital was the location at which Native Canadian 'Dudley' George succumbed to the gunshot wound he suffered at the Ipperwash Standoff at nearby Ipperwash Provincial Park on September 7, 1995^{[citation needed]}

In 1950, Mac Cuddy purchased a 100 acre farm near Strathroy with a bankroll of $3,000. This farm would eventually turn into the largest producer of fertile turkey eggs and day old turkey poults in the world.

On January 13, 1954, West Middlesex Memorial Arena opened in Strathroy. On that day the NHL's Montreal Canadiens played an exhibition game defeating the Strathroy Rockets 14-3 in front of 3100 spectators.

On March 22, 2004, the town's 117-year-old train station[1] was demolished by a fire that took more than 35 firefighters to get under control. Several young boys were charged with starting the fire.

Today, Strathroy is the second largest community in Middlesex County in Ontario, Canada.

Home of Buffalo Sabres NHL defenseman Brian Campbell.