Chesley, Ontario

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Coordinates: 44°18′N 81°06′W / 44.3, -81.1
Town of Chesley

Motto: Nicest Town Around
Location of Bruce County, of which Chesley is centrally located
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Founded	1858
Established	1865
Incorporated	1879
Government
- Mayor of Arran-Elderslie	Ron Oswald
- MP	Larry Miller
- MPP	Bill Murdoch
Elevation	300 m (984 ft)
Population (2006)
- Total	1,900
- Demonym	Chesleyite
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	519
Website: arran-elderslie.com

Chesley is a small town in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada - governed under the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie. Its town slogan is "The Nicest Town Around". Chesley is located north of both Walkerton on Bruce Road 19 and Hanover on County Road 10. The town has its own high school called the Chesley District High School, a community public school called Kinghurst Community School, an Arena/Community Centre, and several small, local stores. Several major franchises also exist in the town, including New Orleans Pizza, Rona and Home Hardware, Rexall Drugs. The town's major source of employment is commercial manufacturing. Currently Crate Designs, a locally owned furniture manufacturing factory, is the only surviving furniture factory, following the recent downsizing of Durham Furniture (2007).

The town originally developed around mills built on the Saugeen River around 1858. It expanded further when it was connected to the Grand Trunk Railway in 1881. A great fire destroyed most of the original downtown core in 1888, the destroyed wood buildings were replaced by brick and stone. The town was named after Solomon Chesley, a former official in the Indian Department in Canada West. It is now an example of a typical rural Ontario community. The town is known for the statue of a giant bull on the North end of town which is affectionately known as "Big Bruce".

Recently the town has begun to create a network of walking trails that encompasses much of the towns existing infrastructure of walking paths. Known as the heritage trail, it spans over a large part of the town, and its waterside parks.

Famous people from Chesley include:

Tommy Burns (boxer), Inductee of Both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame and World Heavyweight Champion 1906-1908
Mickey MacKay, Hockey Hall of Fame, played 1914-1930
Paul MacDermid, NHL player 1981-1995
Ryan MacDonald, Former OHL hockey star and current member of the Newcastle Vipers
Victoria Pratt, Actress
Ryan Fraser, Saxophonist
Rob Porter, Playwright
Angie Hill, Radio Announcer
Kevin Klerks, Poet
Jim McDonald, Medalist in the Special Olympics