Fergus

Fergus is a town of about 23,200 people (2021) in Wellington County, about 25 km north of Guelph.

Understand
Fergus sits on the Grand River. It is near many natural settings such as the Elora Gorge and Conservation Area, and Belwood Lake. Fergus is a mostly residential community filled with streets lined with trees, many stone buildings, modern schools, and attractive parklands. It is laid out on a rectangular grid, with the Grand River flowing through the downtown heritage centre, its limestone riverbanks surrounding it.

History
The first non-Indigenous settlers to this area were freed slaves who formed what was known as the Pierpoint Settlement, named after their leader, Richard Pierpoint, a United Empire Loyalist who had been taken from Bondou in what is now Senegal. Along with a half dozen other men who had also fought with the British during the American Revolutionary War, Pierpoint was granted land in Garafraxa Township somewhere around what is now Scotland Street in Fergus.

Another settlement was founded nearby in 1833 and was first called Little Falls because of the scenic (water) falls, now between the Public Library and the Fergus Market. The primary developers were Adam Fergusson and James Webster who had bought 28 km² (7000 acres) of land. After 1938, Scottish settlers purchased the land in what was previously Pierpoint Settlement. Because Fergusson, Webster and some other Scottish emigrants owned the land, only Scots could purchase village lots. However, in order to accommodate Irish settlers, Webster founded the town of Arthur (just north of Fergus) in 1840. By 1846 the settlement had 21 businesses. The population was 184 mostly of Scots. The community had a church and a post office and several tradesmen. James Wilson arrived in 1855 and opened an oatmeal mill, then a flour mill, then a saw mill and then a woolen mill and a factory, Monkland Mills, that supplied oatmeal for export. They and other Scots living in the settlement established a booming economy using the waterfalls on the Grand River to power local industry. They built solid stone houses, factories and other buildings which still characterize Fergus. Many of the buildings from the 1800s are still in use today. In addition to Scots, the other settlers in this area were Irish or freed slaves from the U.S.

In 1858, the settlement, with a population of 1,000, was incorporated as a village called Fergus in honour one of its founders, Adam Fergusson.

Get in

 * By bus: GOST travels to Guelph, or north to Owen Sound.
 * By car: From Guelph, Hwy 6 north to Fergus; from Hwy 6 north, Wellington Rd 7 to Elora; alternatively, Wellington Rd 18 Fergus-Elora.
 * By taxi: $45-55 from Fergus (July 2018).

Go next
The village of Elora is just west of Fergus.