Mount Forest, Ontario

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Mount Forest, Ontario, Canada, population 5,121 (2007), is a community located in the Township of Wellington North, County of Wellington. The town's motto is "High, Happy, Healthy", which can be seen on the water tower when approaching the town from the south.

Originally known as Maitland Hills, its name was changed to Mount Forest in 1853. The name change came about because it was discovered that the village was actually on the Saugeen River system not on the Maitland River as had previously been supposed. Mount Forest is on a height of land near the headwaters of the Saugeen River.

The Village was surveyed into village lots in 1853 by Francis Kerr, PLS. By 1864, the population had grown to 1185 so that it qualified to be incorporated as a village. By 1879 it had become an incorporated Town. The Corporation of the Township of Wellington North was formed effective January 1, 1999 by the amalgamation of the Township of Arthur, Village of Arthur, the Township of West Luther and the Town of Mount Forest all of which municipalities ceased to have independent corporate status.

The Mount Forest Confederate was first printed in the year of Canadian Confederation, 1867. For the first year, the newspaper was sent to village residents free of charge, but the second year it began charging 50 cents per year.

The 1871 town directory stated that Mount Forest had 10 hotels, 8 churches and 18 stores. Later that year the railway was completed and the first train entered Mount Forest pulled by a wood-burning engine.

The first public school was built in 1856. The first high school was originally in the Old Drill Hall, but was an unsuitable location because it was beside the Market Square where livestock sales were held monthly. The new high school was built in 1878.

Dr. A.R. Perry purchased the home of Alex Martin on the corner of Dublin and Princess Streets and established Strathcona Hospital, a 10-bed private hospital. In 1923, a group of citizens headed by G.L. Allen, changed Strathcona Hospital into a public hospital. Wentworth Marshall, a pharmacist, generously bought the hospital from Perry. Marshall's mother, Louise, was the supervisor at the hospital until she became ill with cancer. It was closed in 1921, but a year later reopened under a new name: Mount Forest General Hospital. In 1928, the deed of the hospital was turned over to the town and the name was changed yet again to Louise Marshall Hospital in honor of Marshall's mother.

Mount Forest's Library was completed in 1918 with a grant of $10,000 from well-known philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

Mount Forest is also the site of the founding of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (also known as the SRPC).

Mount Forest was the first place that Aimee Semple McPherson preached.

Jokingly, people from the town and the town itself are sometimes referred to as MoFo's.

[edit] Census

According to the Canada 2001 Census:

Population:	4396 (1.2% from 1996)
Land area:	7.17 km²
Population density:	639.3 people/km²
Median age:	41.7 (males: 39.6, females: 43.6)
Total private dwellings:	1,972
Mean household income:	$39,558

Though small in size, Mount Forest has a concert theatre that many famous musicians have performed at in the last few years, such as the Tea Party, BIF Naked, Hedley, K-OS, Kim Mitchell,The Doves and Sam Roberts.