Ridgetown, Ontario

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Ridgetown is a community in Ontario located in south-east Chatham-Kent. It is home to the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus. It has a population of roughly 3,300 and is one of many small farming communities in Chatham-Kent.

Ridgetown is known for its tree-lined streets, quaint Victorian atmosphere and interesting shops. There are many examples of gingerbread-decorated homes and heritage buildings. The Ridge House Museum offers an authentic glimpse of life as it was in 1875. Two landmarks stand out as you approach Ridgetown from any direction - the green water tower and the green steeple of the United Church on Erie Street. On a clear day (if you can climb to a point high enough) they are visible from the city of Chatham 32 Kilometres away. If there is a 'logo' for Ridgetown, it is either a spreading maple tree or an image of trees with the water tower standing proud above them.

Ridgetown is known as the Friendliest Town in Ontario. This motto came about as the result of the "Tourist of the Week" program. In 1968, Doug Smith, head of the local Recreation Committee garnered the support of the Chamber of Commerce for his idea of "arresting" a tourist each week during the summer and presenting them with gift certificates. At that time it was the honour of the O.P.P. detachment(now Chatham-Kent Police) to make the arrest. The tourist(s) were photographed by the Ridgetown Dominion staff (now The Ridgetown Independent News)and signed the guest book. Their story appeared in the local paper the next week. One of the happy U.S. tourists who were arrested went home and reported their unusual experience to the Reader's Digest. In their letter they deemed Ridgetown as "The Friendliest Town in Ontario" and the program has run ever since. In 2006, Joan Cofell, president of the Ridgetown Chamber saved this program from extinction and had eight more arrests made - one was a repeat offender, while another was the offspring of a previous offender. Many tourists are anxious when the officer first approaches them - did they speed? forget their seatbelts? too early for drinking? When the officer assures them that this is a good thing, they happily follow to the designated photo location. The Ridgetown merchants generously contribute to the goodie bag with everything from windshield washer fluid to a gift certificate for two New York Strip steaks. The arrested tourists are so grateful that before the summer is over the thank-you notes are published.

1 History
2 Climate
3 Education
4 Industry and Small Business
5 Culture
6 Politics
7 Getting There
8 External links

[edit] History

Ridgetown was incorporated as a village in 1875 with just over 2000 citizens. In 1975, Ridgetown celebrated its centennial. Residents celebrated by dressing in 1875 costumes, conducting beard-growing contests, barbeques, and other activities. This was only a few years after Canada's centennial celebration in 1967, so the same fancy costumes got to be paraded twice in a decade.

The Rotary Club of Ridgetown decided they wanted to have a museum to remind the local children what life was like when Ridgetown first became a town. They bought the Galbraith house and the Ridgetown Historical Society was formed. The Ridge House Museum is now a living history museum that gets many visitors.

The name of Ridgetown came from it being situated on a gravel ridge, a remnant of the glacier age. The families Marsh, Mitton, Watson and Colby were the first settlers. William "Daddy" Marsh, who was known for making up far-fetched stories, once said that at York (now Toronto) where they were from, he climbed up a tall tree, saw the ridge and the plentiful land and said that was the place to be.

Major crops in the area are soybeans, corn, wheat, grains, apples, and peaches. The water supply is drawn from a number of deep wells around the town and not connected to a piped system from a lake or river.

The railway tracks of the CNR and CPR railways used to run through Ridgetown, though these are both gone now - the last steam train paid Ridgetown a visit in 2005. The railways form an important part of Ridgetown's heritage, because there had been competition between Ridgetown and Morpeth (now a small hamlet on Highway 3 - Talbot Trail) to get them. Ridgetown 'won' and expanded, to the everlasting cost of Morpeth which had to that point been advantageously situated on the major east-west highway in the area. (To the surprise of many, another local hamlet 'Highgate' apparently was left out as well, as Ridgetown got a passenger train station and Highgate did not. A pair of local sculptors, the Dam De Nogales family, are creating a work consisting of a bronze horse head and twisted rails.)

[edit] Climate

The climate is mild, being moderated by Lake Erie which is only a few miles to the south. Summer days can be hot and humid. In winter, Ridgetown is fortunate not to be in the snow belt which begins near London so snow accumulation is generally not a big problem.

The snow belt is caused by prevailing westerly winds picking up moisture over Lake Huron, and dumping it to the southeast in the area between West Lorne and Kitchener-Waterloo. Heavy snow accumulations and ice buildup can make driving conditions in the snow belt areas quite hazardous. Fortunately, Ridgetown lies too far south of Lake Huron to be much affected by its climate.

There are plans to install a line of electricity-generating wind turbines several miles to the south of town, along Highway 3 between Morpeth and Blenheim. This is one of four wind turbine projects approved for Chatham-Kent in 2007.

[edit] Education

Ridgetown has 8 churches and 4 schools. The high school in Ridgetown, Ridgetown District High School, has just over 300 students in grades 9-12. In recent years, declining enrollment made it difficult for the Lambton-Kent District School Board (LKDSB) to ensure a future for RDHS. As a result, vocal community groups have banded together to fight for and ensure the viability of the high school. If the high school were to close, students would have to be bussed to Chatham city schools. In 2006, RDHS became involved with a trial of video schooling - tying three area high schools together with one teacher.

RDHS made history in 2005 when the Drama Club entered the Sears Drama Festival with the play "The Empty Chair" written by Tim Kelly. The Drama Club worked from the summer of 2004 until performance night in February 2005 at the Chatham Cultural Centre. Out of 12 high schools from across the district, Ridgetown moved on to the Regional level for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The primary schools (Ridgetown Public School, St Michaels Catholic School, and Ridgeview Moravian School) serve a wide area of eastern Chatham-Kent, with many students being bussed in from the countryside. Ridgetown Public and Ridgeview Moravian are also operated by the LKDSB.

Ridgetown is the home of the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus (Originally called OAC- Ontario Agricultural College and then Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology - RCAT). About 500 students presently attend 2 and 3-year courses on agriculture, veterinary technology, graphical information systems, horticulture and environmental management. For certain courses it is possible to complete 2 years of study in Ridgetown and then to study a further 2 years at the main campus in Guelph to obtain a university degree.

There are many seminars and conventions held at the college. Ridgetown is well-known in the agribusiness industry because of the college.

[edit] Industry and Small Business

Ridgetown has a thriving manufacturing industry, mainly serving the automotive market, which employ many local and area people. Thyssen-Krupp, KSR International, Waltron Trailers, Trak Tool Machines, Challenger Pallet are the larger plants.

Hundreds of smaller service businesses thrive in the area, including many long-established and unique stores in the downtown area. There are two supermarkets downtown, and a large Home Hardware store on Erie Street south.

[edit] Culture

The population is a mixture of farming, blue-collar, and white-collar workers and their families. Many people live in town and commute to jobs in Windsor, Chatham, London, Sarnia, or St Thomas. In recent years, people from elsewhere in Canada have chosen to retire to Ridgetown. Due to the College there are a number of highly-educated professors and researchers living in town.

The downtown area runs for about 3 blocks, with stores and businesses that serve the local and surrounding community, drive-in tourists, and cottagers from Rondeau Park. For a bit of colour, the streets are lined with planters courtesy of the local horticultural society and Ridgetown College horticulture departments. In October just before Hallowe'en there are cornstalk and scarecrow decorations on the lampposts. You will find fresh honey-dip donuts every morning, a place where they make and refurbish large stained glass windows, excellent grocery and drug stores, jewellery and gifts, cameras, a Sears outlet, post office, skateboard shop, automotive supplies, dentist, doctors, optometrist, two gyms, real estate, financial and legal advice, and more. The many restaurants in town (including at the east and south entrances of town) offer Chinese food, subs, pizza, burgers, ice cream, and nice sit-down meals in addition to very reasonable breakfast specials.

The Ridgetown Independent News is the weekly newspaper.

Service clubs in the town include Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimists, IODE, seniors centre, Masonic Temple, Knights of Columbus, The Royal Canadian Legion and its Ladies' Auxiliary - and eight churches. Not to mention the arena, swimming pool, skateboard park, parks, public library, and the golf and curling club just outside of town. In July are Buffalo Days and the Antique Car Show.

Residents like to exercise by walking, cycling, skateboarding and rollerblading around the town. They also enjoy the nature trails linking the Memorial Forest to the Ducks Unlimited pond at the south west corner of town.

A visitor will also notice that people love to garden and participate in the Communities In Bloom competition. There's also a Community Garden for people to plant vegetables.

Ridgetown residents enjoy a little friendly rivalry with the somewhat larger community to the west - Blenheim.

[edit] Politics

In a still-contentious decision that reverberates to this day, the individual municipalities of what is now Chatham-Kent were 'amalgamated' into one entity on January first, 1999, and many, Ridgetonians in particular, seek to undo the amalgamation. The last mayor of Ridgetown was Mayor Faas.

[edit] Getting There

Ridgetown lies six kilometers or a few minutes south of Highway 401 or the McDonald-Cartier Freeway mid-way between Windsor and London. It is thirty minutes east of the city Chatham and ten minutes east of the town of Blenheim. From the 401, take the Kent Road 15 exit(#90) and drive south to the Ridge Line and turn left, or take the Victoria Road exit (#109) and head south. If you take the Victoria Road way, and if you are travelling to Ridgetown during the summer months, stop at the old train by the truck stop which was converted into a tourist booth. Or, travel along Highway 3 that runs along the north shore of Lake Erie, and go north on Victoria Road at Morpeth.