Almonte, Ontario

2025-07-28T15:00:47Z

2607:F2C0:EBA9:E5D0:30CF:3A61:E374:C41: Updated tense.

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Almonte
| settlement_type = Community 
| other_name =
| native_name = 
| nickname =
| motto =
| image_skyline = Almonte ON 3.JPG
| image_caption =
| image_flag =
| flag_size =
| image_seal =
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| image_shield =
| shield_size =
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| pushpin_map = CAN ON Lanark#Canada Southern Ontario
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ontario
| pushpin_mapsize =
| coordinates = {{coord|45.22629|-76.19452|region:CA-ON_type:city(4649)|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
| subdivision_name = {{flag|Canada}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of Canada|Province]]
| subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Ontario}}
| subdivision_type2 = [[County]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Lanark County, Ontario|Lanark]]
| subdivision_type3 = Municipality
| subdivision_name3 = [[Mississippi Mills, Ontario|Mississippi Mills]]
| government_type =
| leader_title =
| leader_name =
| leader_title1 = Fed. riding
| leader_name1 = [[Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston (federal electoral district)|Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston]]
| leader_title2 = Prov. riding
| leader_name2 = [[Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston (provincial electoral district)|Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston]]
| leader_title3 =
| leader_name3 =
| leader_title4 =
| leader_name4 =
| established_title = Established 
| established_date = 1818
| established_title2 = Incorporated
| established_date2 = 1871
| established_title3 = Dissolved (amalgamated)
| established_date3 = 1998
| named_for = [[Juan Almonte]]
| area_magnitude =
| area_footnotes = <ref name="sc2021"/>
| area_total_km2 =
| area_land_km2 = 4.16
| area_water_km2 =
| area_water_percent =
| population_as_of = 2021
| population_footnotes = <ref name="sc2021">{{cite web |title=Almonte, Ontario [Population centre] Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=almonte&DGUIDlist=2021S05100010&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&HEADERlist=0 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |publisher=Government of Canada - Statistics Canada |access-date=2025-03-28}}</ref>
| population_note =
| population_total = 6098
| population_density_km2 = 1466.6
| timezone = [[Eastern Time Zone|EST]]
| utc_offset = -5
| timezone_DST = [[Eastern Time Zone|EDT]]
| utc_offset_DST = -4
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m =
| postal_code_type = Postal Code
| postal_code = K0A 1A0 & K0A 4A0
| area_code = [[Area code 613|613]]
| blank_name = [[Telephone exchange|256]]
| website = [https://almonte.com/ almonte.com]
| footnotes =
}} 
'''Almonte''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|l|m|ɒ|n|t}} {{respell|AL|mont}}; {{IPA|es|alˈmonte|lang}}) is a former mill town in [[Lanark County]], in the eastern portion of Ontario, Canada. Formerly a separate municipality, Almonte is a ward of the town of [[Mississippi Mills, Ontario|Mississippi Mills]], which was created on January 1, 1998, by the merging of Almonte with Ramsay and Pakenham townships.<ref>County of Lanark website [http://www.county.lanark.on.ca/Page283.aspx ''Lanark County: Local Municipalities''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828095815/http://www.county.lanark.on.ca/Page283.aspx |date=2010-08-28 }}, last retrieved February 14, 2010</ref> Almonte is {{convert|46|km|mi|0}} south-west of downtown [[Ottawa]]. Its population as recorded in the 2021 Canadian Census was 6,098.<ref name="sc2021"/>

The [[Mississippi River (Ontario)|Mississippi River]] runs through Almonte.

==History==

===European settlement===
Almonte's first European-bred settler was David Shepherd, who in 1818 was given {{convert|200|acre|km2}} by the Crown to build and operate a [[Mill (grinding)|mill]] on the Mississippi River. The site became known as Shepherd's Falls. That name was never official, however, and Shepherd sold his [[patent]] after his mill burned down. The patent's buyer, [[Daniel Shipman]], rebuilt the mill and the settlement became known as Shipman's Mills by about 1821.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wheatley |first=Gerry |url=http://almonte.clal.ca/articles/almonte_early_history.htm |title=David Shepherd was Almonte's first settler |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223223039/http://almonte.clal.ca/articles/almonte_early_history.htm |archive-date=2008-12-23 |work=The Almonte Gazette |location=Almonte |date=February 26, 1992}}</ref>

Most of Shipman's Mills' early settlers were [[Scottish people|Scottish]] and later [[Irish people|Irish]]. A textile town almost from the start, by 1850 it was the home of seven busy woollen mills. It was one of the leading centres in Canada West for the manufacture of woollen cloth. The construction of a railway line to [[Brockville]] stimulated the economic growth of Almonte. During this time of rapid expansion, the town changed its name from Shipman's Mills to Ramsayville, and then to Waterford.

In 1869, Almonte was a village with a population of 2,000 on the Mississippi River in the Township of Ramsay, County of Lanark. It was a station of the [[Brockville and Ottawa Railway]].<ref>The province of Ontario gazetteer and directory. H. McEvoy Editor and Compiler, Toronto : Robertson & Cook, Publishers, 1869</ref> By the 1870 the town had thirty stores and forty other businesses.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_5686_1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403154215/http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_5686_1.html |archive-date=2012-04-03 |publisher=Ontario Heritage Trust |title=Founding of Almonte}}</ref> Almonte was incorporated as a village in 1871, and was incorporated as a town in 1880.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Founding of Almonte Historical Plaque|url=https://ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_Lanark01.html|access-date=2020-06-22|website=ontarioplaques.com}}</ref>

On 10 September 1909 the town suffered a major fire, which destroyed several buildings on the main street and caused $75,000 worth of damage.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2022-11-07 |title="Murdoch Mysteries" episode is set in Almonte |url=https://millstonenews.com/murdoch-mysteries-episode-is-set-in-almonte/ |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=The Millstone |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Origin of the name Almonte===
When, in 1855, the newly created Canadian post office pointed out there was already a Waterford in Canada West, the town needed another name change.<ref name=Frank>{{cite book |last=Cosentino |first=Frank |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAOrZoCzYG8C&q=almonte+ramsayville+waterford&pg=PA4 |title=Almonte: the life of Juan Nepomuceno Almonte |pages=4–5 |publisher=General Store Publishing|isbn=9780968774601 }}</ref>

Relations between the [[United States]] and [[Great Britain]] had been antagonistic since the [[American Revolutionary War|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 he had become [[Mexico]]'s ambassador to the United States.

In the ensuing climate of Canadian mistrust of US territorial ambitions, General Almonte's name would have been well known to Waterford's citizens. Though there is no decisive evidence as to the final motive for the name change, it appears likely that Waterford saw Almonte as a "principled David fighting a Goliath interested in swallowing up all North America."<ref name=Frank/>

The proposed name change was accepted by the Combined Counties of Lanark and Renfrew in June 1855, although the post office did not record the new name until 1859.<ref name=Frank/> Whenever the name may have been formally accepted, it led to Almonte being the only community in Ontario, and likely Canada, to be named for a Mexican general.<ref name="Frank" />

=== Almonte train wreck, 1942 ===
[[File:Train_wreck_-_Almonte,_Ontario,_Canada_(12-27-1942).jpg|alt=Almonte train wreck|thumb|Almonte train wreck, 1942]]
Almonte was the site of one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://workershistorymuseum.ca/almonte-train-wreck/ |title=Almonte Train Wreck |publisher=Workers’ History Museum |access-date=8 December 2021}}</ref> On December 27, 1942, a troop train rear-ended a passenger train standing in the local railway station. Thirty-nine people were killed and more than 150 were injured.<ref>"Troop special plows into local at Almonte", ''Globe and Mail'', December 28, 1942, pg.1</ref> A local genealogy page<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sites.rootsweb.com/~onlanark/NewspaperClippings/Book2/NewspaperClippings13.htm|title=The Ottawa Journal|website=sites.rootsweb.com}}</ref> provides photos and a contemporary newspaper report of the wreck.

===Present day===
[[File:Almonte Old Town Hall.jpg|thumb|right|The Old Town Hall in Almonte]]
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mvtm.ca/museum/|title=Mississippi Valley Textile Museum – museum}}</ref>

Almonte retains much of its 19th-century architecture. The former Almonte post office, designed in 1889 by [[Thomas Fuller (architect)|Thomas Fuller]] (the architect of the [[Parliament Buildings (Canada)|Parliament Buildings]]), and the Rosamond Woollen Mill, the largest 19th-century [[textile mill]] in Canada, are both designated as [[National Historic Sites of Canada]].<ref>{{CRHP|15041|Former Almonte Post Office}}</ref><ref>{{CRHP|7864|Rosamond Woollen Mill}}</ref>

Almonte has a skate park and a splash pad which are open to the public, beside the arena.

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
|title = {{Nowrap|Historical census populations –}} Almonte, Ontario
|type = Canada
|align = none
|cols = 3
|shading =
|percentages =
|footnote = Population figures after 1998 are for Almonte population centre. Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes.
|source = Statistics Canada<ref name="sc2021"/><ref name=census1941>{{cite report |title=Eighth Census of Canada 1941 - Volume II - Population by Local Subdivisions |id=CS98-1941-2 |date=1944 |publisher=Dominion Bureau of Statistics}}</ref><ref name=census1971>{{cite journal |title=1971 Census of Canada - Population Census Subdivisions (Historical) |journal=Catalogue 92-702 Vol I, part 1 (Bulletin 1.1-2) |date=July 1973 |pages= |publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref>
| 1871 | 2080
| 1881 | 2684
| 1891 | 3068
| 1901 | 3023
| 1911 | 2452
| 1921 | 2426
| 1931 | 2415
| 1941 | 2543
| 1951 | 2672
| 1956 | 2960
| 1961 | 3267
| 1966 | 3556
| 1971 | 3696
| 1976 | 3711
| 1981 | 3855
| 1986 | 4122
| 1991 | 4382
| 1996 | 4611
| 2001 | 4649
| 2006 | 4528
| 2011 | 4752
| 2016 | 5039
| 2021 | 6098
}}

==Movie locations==
Movies have been filmed partially or entirely in Almonte in recent years, including several Christmas movies.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://almonte.com/movies/ | title=They make movies here | date=19 May 2020 }}</ref> The ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' said of the town that "with its mix of 19th-century historic buildings and a ’50s diner, Almonte in Ontario has been the go-to location for holiday movies set in Vermont, Alaska and even Milwaukee."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Guly|first=Christopher|date=2020-11-19|title=A Canadian Town Is a Festive Anywhere, U.S.A., Onscreen|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/movies/holiday-movie-town-almonte-canada.html|access-date=2021-12-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Almonte featured in a 2022 episode of ''[[Murdoch Mysteries]]'', though the episode was not actually filmed in Almonte.<ref name=":0" />

==Events and attractions==

===Festivals===
Almonte is home to several festivals and events, including the North Lanark Highland Games,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://almontehighlandgames.com/|title=North Lanark Highland Games | Scottish culture and heritage of the Ottawa Valley}}</ref> Naismith 3-on-3 Basketball Festival,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.naismithmuseum.com/naismith_programsevents/main_3on3.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051025085646/http://www.naismithmuseum.com/naismith_programsevents/main_3on3.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 25, 2005|title=Naismith Museum And Hall Of Fame|date=October 25, 2005}}</ref> Almonte Celtfest<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://almonteceltfest.com/|title=Almonte Celtfest – Ottawa Valley and Celtic entertainment}}</ref> and Busfusion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://busfusion.com/|title=BusFusion|website=busfusion.com}}</ref>

====North Lanark Highland Games====
The North Lanark Highland Games<ref name="auto1"/> have been held annually in Almonte since 1982.

The [[Highland games|Games]] feature traditional Highland sports and entertainment, and bring in about 6,000 visitors each summer.

====Almonte Celtfest====

The Almonte Celtfest<ref name="auto"/> has been held annually in Almonte's Gemmill Park since 1997. The festival's goal is to "celebrate and promote the Celtic heritage of the Ottawa Valley through music and dance."

==== Puppets Up! ====
The popular Puppets Up! festival, which shut down in 2017 after a 12-year run, was revived in August 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Millstone|first=The|date=2021-09-30|title=Puppets Up! is Back|url=https://millstonenews.com/puppets-up-is-back/|access-date=2021-12-05|website=The Millstone|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Noreen Young]] was the festival's creative director.

==Schools==
Almonte has three elementary schools:
* R. Tait McKenzie Public School<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/Schools/School+Directory/Elementary/RTM/homepage.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924041718/http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/Schools/School+Directory/Elementary/RTM/homepage.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2009|title=Welcome to UCDSB Portal|date=September 24, 2009}}</ref>
* Naismith Memorial Public School<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/Schools/School+Directory/Elementary/NMS/homepage.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707064617/http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/Schools/School+Directory/Elementary/NMS/homepage.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 7, 2007|title=Welcome to UCDSB Portal|date=July 7, 2007}}</ref>
* Holy Name of Mary Catholic School<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cdsbeo.on.ca/?school=holy-name-of-mary-catholic-school|title=Holy Name of Mary Catholic School – Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario – CDSBEO|date=5 August 2024 }}</ref>

[[Almonte and District High School]] serves the town of Almonte and much of the surrounding rural area. The Almonte campus of the T.R. Leger School<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/Schools/School+Directory/Continuing+Education/TRL/Campuses/Almonte/Almonte+Campus.htm|title=Almonte campus of the T.R. Leger School}}</ref> provides adult education and literacy classes.

==Notable people==
[[File:Naismith statue, Almonte.jpg|alt=Statue of James Naismith|thumb|Statue of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, on Mill Street in Almonte, Ontario]]
*[[Robert Tait McKenzie]], Canadian Physician, soldier (physiotherapy), sculptor
*[[Perianne Jones]], Olympic athlete
*[[James Naismith]], inventor of basketball
* [[Noreen Young]], puppeteer and television producer

==See also==
{{Portal|Ontario}}
* [[List of unincorporated communities in Ontario]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikivoyage-inline}}
* {{official|https://almonte.com/ }}

{{Lanark County}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Communities in Lanark County]]
[[Category:Former towns in Ontario]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 1998]]
[[Category:History of basketball]]

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Almonte, Ontario