The Founding of Madoc
Mills constructed about 1832 by Donald MacKenzie, a Belleville merchant, and the ironworks erected by American entrepreneurs Uriah Seymour and John Pendergast, formed the nucleus of a settlement here on Deer Creek. A post-office, Madoc, was established in 1836, and the hamlet grew gradually, stimulated by lumbering, farming, and the opening of the Hastings Colonization Road (1854), which ran north from Madoc Township. Following the nearby discovery of goldbearing quartz in 1866, it became a bustling centre, which by 1868 contained about 1000 inhabitants and numerous industries, including a rock crushing mill. The boom declined after 1870, but the community continued to prosper from its agricultural and commercial activities. Madoc was incorporated as a Village by a County by-law of 1877.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Ontario Plaques. Full page here.