Almonte (Ontario)

Almonte (pronounced "AL-mont") is a historic town of about 5000 people (2013) outside of Ottawa. It is part of Mississippi Mills in eastern Ontario's Lanark County.

History
Almonte's first European- settler was David Shepherd, who in 1818 was given 200 acres (0.81 km2) by the Crown to build and operate a mill. The site became known as Shepherd's Falls. Shepherd sold his patent after his mill burned down. The buyer of the patent, Daniel Shipman, rebuilt the mill and the settlement became known as Shipman's Mills by about 1821. The majority of the early settlers were Scottish and later Irish. A textile town almost from the start, by 1850 it was the home of seven busy woolen mills of Messrs B & W Rosamond. It was one of the leading centres in Ontario for the manufacture of woollen cloth. The construction of a railway line to Brockville stimulated the economic growth of Almonte.

In 1869, Almonte was a village with a population of 2000. It was a station of the Brockville and Ottawa Railway. By the 1870 the town had 30 stores and 40 other businesses. During this time of rapid expansion the town changed its name from Shipman's Mills to Ramsayville, and then to Waterford. When in 1855 the newly created Canadian post office pointed out there was already a Waterford in Ontario, the town needed yet another name change.

Relations between the United States and Great Britain had been antagonistic since the Revolutionary War and later the War of 1812. Border wars between Mexico and the United States in the 1830s increased this antagonism. Mexican general Juan Almonte had fought honourably in these latter wars, and by 1853 had become Mexico's ambassador to the United States. It appears likely that Waterford saw the General as a "principled David fighting a Goliath interested in swallowing up all North America."

After the last textile mill closed in the early 1980s, Almonte no longer had a dominant industry. It has since turned its attention towards tourism. It offers museums and several historical spots, such as the home of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, and the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.

Almonte retains much of its 19th-century architecture. The former Almonte post office, designed in 1889 by Thomas Fuller (the architect of the Parliament Buildings), and the Rosamond Woollen Mill, the largest 19th-century textile mill in Canada, are designated as National Historic Sites of Canada.

Get in

 * From Ottawa: Almonte is 52 km (by road) from Centretown. Go west on the Trans-Canada Highway 417 and turn southwest onto March Road.
 * From Carleton Place: Almonte is on old Highway 29, which leads from Carleton Place through Almonte and Pakenham to Arnprior.

By bus

 * OC Transpo Route 61 (54 min, every 30 min, $4) from Albert/Bank in Ottawa to Hazeldean Rd/Carp Rd in Stittsville, then by taxi (27 km, $50-65) to Almonte.

Get around
There is no public transit in Almonte.

Go next

 * Arnprior
 * Carleton Place
 * Ottawa-Gatineau
 * Ottawa Valley