The Founding of Stratford
In 1832, some three years after company surveyors had erected shanties near this site, the Canada Company, a large private land settlement agency, initiated the development of " Little Thames" as the market centre for the eastern Huron Tract. By 1834 a tavern, sawmill and grist mill existed here and a year later a post office called Stratford was opened. Settlement was slow until the early 1850s when the advent of the railway and the designation of Stratford as county town transformed the village into a thriving administrative and commercial centre. Expansion of the community was accelerated after 1871 when railway repair yards were located here and in 1885 with a population of 9,000 Stratford was incorporated as a city.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Ontario Plaques. Full page here.