Alliston, Ontario

Alliston, Ontario is a community in Simcoe County in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of the Town of New Tecumseth, the 1991 amalgamation of Alliston and nearby villages Beeton, Tottenham, and the Township of Tecumseth. The primary downtown area is located along Highway 89, or Victoria Street.

The town grew as a commercial centre for the area farmers and was best known as a potato-growing area. It is still a major industry in the town and is celebrated by the annual Alliston Potato Festival. Honda of Canada Manufacturing operates a large auto manufacturing facility southeast of Alliston, currently consisting of two major factories with a third, for engines, scheduled to open in 2008.

Earl Rowe Provincial Park is located three kilometers west of Alliston, in the amalgamated Township of Adjala-Tosorontio. It is one of the largest provincial parks in Southern Ontario.

History

Alliston traces its history to three brothers, William, John and Dickson Fletcher. Dissatisfied with life in England, the three left for Toronto, working farms in Toronto Gore northwest of the city. In 1821 William purchased Lot 15, Consession 3, Tecumseth Township. He married in 1828, and in 1847 went scouting locations for the construction of a mill with his son John. The chose a location at Lot 1, Consession 1, Essa Township, at the corner where four of the original townships of southern Simcoe County (Adjala, Tosorontio, Essa, and Tecumseth) meet. In early November they built a cabin on the property, and the rest of the family joined them in April the next year. A larger house, known as Fletcher House, was built in 1849, and still stands at 18 Fletcher Crescent.

In 1853 the Fletchers built a grist mill on the Boyne River, a tributary of the Nottawasaga River which runs to the east. The first child born in the new town was Margaret Grant, who was later mother to Frederick Banting. An Orange Lodge was built in 1856, and the next year the members decided to name the village as Alliston. The precise origin of the name remains in some doubt, but the most common story is that it was named for James Banting's birthplace in Yorkshire. A post office was set up the next year, with another Fletcher son, George, the first postmaster. Starting in 1862, George published "The Alliston Star" newspaper, which changed its name to "Alliston Herald" in 1871 and continues to be published today. The village was formally incorporated in 1874, with George Fletcher as the reeve.

In 1875 the town was approached by the North Simcoe Railway to run a line from Penetanguishene through Alliston to join the Toronto, Gray and Bruce Railway. This venture came to nothing, but the organization set up to investigate it later turned to the Hamilton and North-Western Railway to build a new arm from Clarkstown (now Beeton) through Alliston to Collingwood. The town raised $8000 for its portion of the railway from Clarkstown to Glencairn, about half way to Collingwood.

Alliston was upgraded from "village" to "town" in 1891. On May 8th the same year a fire started in the stables of the Queen's Hotel, and was quickly spread by high winds. Collingwood was telegraphed for assistance and sent their fire engine by train, but the downtown area was gutted long before it could arrive. When it did arrive at about 3 in the afternoon, it was sent to the southern side of town where the fire was still burning. In all, 30 acres of the town were destroyed by the fire, which received the attention of John A. Macdonald. This led to the creation of a waterworks the next year, which included twenty fire hydrants, and the addition of a hook and ladder truck in 1894.

A census in August 1902 stated that 1,475 people were living in the town. A new line of the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the town in 1905 or early 1906, with trains arriving later in 1906. The local electric power company, Alliston Electric, was merged into Ontario Hydro on May 24, 1918.

ir Frederick Banting

The most famous citizen of Alliston was Sir Frederick Banting the co-discoverer of insulin. The town's only high school is named in his honour, Banting Memorial High School. Another famous resident was Theodore Loblaw of the grocery store chain.

Geography

*Population: 9,679 (2001)
*Area: -
*Density: -
*Location: -
*Postal code: L9R xxx
*Area code: +1-705
*Elevation: about 200 m
*Name of inhabitants: Allistonian "sing.", -s "pl."

The town has two parks- Riverdale Park to the north along the Boyne River and PPG Park to the south, by the local fire department. Major residential areas are located to the north (as Previn Court Homes) and to the south, with additional residential and commercial developments made since then in the northwest (as "Alliston West"), north and southwest since the mid-1990s, with future developments expected in the future that could raise the population from 17,000 to 20,000. The urban area stretches from west to east, is nearly 3 km, and from north to south ranges from 300 m, 600 m to 1 km. Another residential area, adjacent to the Nottawasaga Inn are located 5 km east of Alliston- the first phase built is known as Green Briar; the second phase, to the west of the Inn is known as Briar Hill. The Nottawasaga River is situated east of the town; the Boyne River, which runs through Alliston, joins the Nottawasaga, just downstream from Nicolston Dam. The CPR (Toronto - Parry Sound - Sudbury) runs right up through the middle of town with a siding for Honda vehicles. Many other business thrive today in Alliston. Honda of Canada Manufacturing has two facilities. The CNR tracks through town were lifted about the mid 1990s. The right-of-way is gone - not preserved, unfortunately.

Government

The current mayor of New Tecumseth is Mike McEachern. The Member of Provincial Parliament is Jim Wilson, & the MP of Simcoe-Grey is Helena Guergis, of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Nearest communities

*Angus, north
*CFB Borden, north
*Egbert, northeast
*Cookstown, east
*Beeton, southeast
*Tottenham, south
*Hockley, southwest
*Everett, west
*Baxter, east

Other

Alliston has two public Elementary Schools (Ernest Cumberland and Alliston Union ) and two Catholic elementary schools (Holy Family and St. Paul's), one public high school (Banting Memorial), a post office, five banks (TD-Canada Trust, CIBC, Scotia Bank, BMO and National Bank of Canada), a small movie theater, the Circle Theatre, a Library, and several parks. Riverdale Park is the largest, and is adjacent to the Rotary Pool, an outdoor facility. The pool is a large, round concrete wading pool that replaced the original pool many years ago.

The Alliston Fire Station, now known as New Tecumseth Fire Station #1, was officially founded as the Alliston Fire Brigade in 1906 after many years of having a non-incorporated Fire Brigade. Station #1 currently has 29 serving Officers and Firefighters, with the District Chief Hank Williams, Assistant District Chief Ken Beattie as well as 6 other Officers.The New Tecumseth Fire Department is a Composite Department with a full time Fire Chief Dan Heydon and a Fire Prevention Officer Simon Worley, all other members are "Volunteers" or part time Firefighters on 24 hour call seven days a week.

A Wal-Mart Supercentre is set to be built on King's Highway 89 with an entrance to it from the bypass. The Wal-Mart, which will lease space in the SmartCentres development, will open its doors January 2, 2009. The parties have also agreed to reduce the total space of the Wal-Mart building to convert|172000|sqft|m2, approximately convert|135000|sqft|m2 of which will be dedicated to non-food items (those that would compete directly with Zellers). Originally the store was planned to be convert|180000|sqft|m2 like the one in Stouffville. The opening date for other, smaller retail stores in the development has also been pushed back, said Dennis Wood, from Wood Bull L.L.P., the firm representing SmartCentres. About convert|50000|sqft|m2, or two-thirds, of other proposed retail space cannot open until Jan. 1, 2010. This does not include a home improvement big box store. It can open at any date. [http://www.simcoe.com/article/40342] Jungle gyms at the parks were donated by the Kinsmen, a local charity group.

ee also

* Theodore Loblaw

References

* [http://www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=9100 A brief history of Alliston] , W. G. E. Cumberland, historical pamphlet published on the town's centennial in 1947.
* [http://calendar.county.simcoe.on.ca/partners/newteclib/history/database/0157_1.html Local History] , Louise Gallaugher, 1977.

External links

* [http://www.town.newtecumseth.on.ca/ Official Town of New Tecumseth website]
* [http://www.madhunt.com/ New Tecumseth Free Press Online - Daily local hard news]