West Montrose, Ontario
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West Montrose is an unincorporated rural community in Woolwich Township in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.<ref name="GNBC"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of the 2016 census, the population of the community was 257.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The settlement of West Montrose is designated as a Cultural Heritage Landscape by the Township of Woolwich because of its history of pioneer settlement, its traditional bridges and the Old Order Mennonite culture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite web Section 4.4</ref><ref name="gravelwatch.org">Template:Cite web</ref>
Located in West Montrose are single family homes, a church, a small store, a bed-and-breakfast and the West Montrose Covered Bridge, a local tourist attraction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="idyll">Template:Cite news</ref>
History
West Montrose was made up of Lots Seventy, Seventy-one, and Seventy-four of the Germany Company survey in Woolwich Township. Land was purchased from the German Company sometime after 1807 by Daniel Erb, David Eby and Christian Stauffer in 1807. However it was not settled until about 1850. A few Scots arrived at that time, including Andrew L. Anderson from Montrose, Scotland who bought land in the 1850s;<ref name="whs.ca">Template:Cite book</ref> presumably he named the village Montrose after his home town. The word West was added in about 1865 to differentiate the community from Montrose in Welland County.<ref name="waterlooregionmuseum.com">Template:Cite web Section: West Montrose</ref>
By the early 1850s, other Mennonites from Pennsylvania began arriving to this part of Waterloo County, settling in nearby St. Jacobs and also on farms surrounding West Montrose. They were the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch. The word "Dutch" does not refer to the Netherlands but is a misnomer for Deitsch or Deutsch (German). Isaac Swope settled here in 1858 and built a log cabin. Many others owned land here but did not actually settle; they sold it later to other settlers. Jacob Benner, opened a woolen mill in 1858 and a sawmill in 1861.<ref name="waterlooregionmuseum.com"/> By that time, the village had a station of the Canadian Pacific Railway.<ref name="whs.ca"/>
The first church was built in 1862 by the United Brethren congregation which included Methodists, Baptists, and Mennonites. The first school was built in 1865. By 1869, West Montrose had a post office, a population of about 100, a lumber yard, a gunsmith, a carpenter, a hotel and keeper, a stock dealer, a post office, a general merchant, several coopers, and a minister, according to historical records. Today, several 19th Century buildings bear the Heritage designation from the Township.<ref name="Heritage">Template:Cite web</ref>
There was no railway connection until 1907. By then, the population had dropped from a peak of 200 in 1890 to a mere 50.<ref name="waterlooregionmuseum.com"/> Also in 1907, the current United Church and cemetery were built; the property was historically designated by Woolwich Township in May 2014.<ref name="Heritage"/>
The horse and buggy was the primary transportation among the Mennonites for decades.<ref name="regionofwaterloo.ca"/> Today, Old Order Mennonites still use this mode of transportation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="regionofwaterloo.ca">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="waterlooregionmuseum.com"/><ref name="discover-southern-ontario.com">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2011, residents of West Montrose were involved in a project to prevent Capital Paving from starting a gravel pit within 180 metres from the covered bridge at core of the community.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The company had announced in 2008 that it planned to dig up an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of sand and gravel that sits "underneath a cornfield in the Mennonite area".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The volunteers of the Bridge Keepers group succeeded thanks in part to reliance on a study by the University of Waterloo's heritage resources centre about the cultural heritage of the landscape. When Woolwich Township amended its official plan, designating the lands around West Montrose as a Cultural Heritage Landscape,<ref name="gravelwatch.org"/> Capital Paving withdrew its application.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A celebration was held in September 2013; it was attended by the Chair of Waterloo Region, Ken Seiling, whose comments indicated praise for the role played by the community in preventing the gravel pit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="idyll"/>
Geography
In addition to the core of the settlement, the area defined as West Montrose on the Township's Cultural Heritage Landscape map is quite large, including the Winterbourne Mennonite Meetinghouse and Cemetery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On maps and rural addresses, the West Montrose area also extends quite far from the core, into an area that some might consider to be Winterbourne, Ontario. The Grand River flows through West Montrose.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, West Montrose had a population of 245 living in 80 of its 81 total private dwellings, a change of Template:Percentage from its 2016 population of 257. With a land area of Template:Cvt, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.<ref name=2021census>Template:Cite web</ref>
The settlement and the surrounding countryside are noted by The Region of Waterloo Official Plan as home to a large Mennonite community.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Together with nearby St. Jacobs and Elmira West Montrose lies in the centre of an area of Woolwich Township which has a historically large settlement of Old Order Mennonite families.<ref name="gravelwatch.org"/> The Mennonites are noted for their traditional customs, dress and use of horse and buggies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Attractions
The West Montrose Covered Bridge over the Grand River was constructed in 1880-1881 by John and Benjamin Bear.<ref name="OntHeritage">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The only covered bridge remaining in Ontario,<ref name="OntHeritage"/> it was designated a Provincial Historic Site in 1960. In 2007, the Township of Woolwich designated it as being of cultural heritage value or interest under the Ontario Heritage Act.<ref name="regionofwaterloo.ca"/> It was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This is one of under 200 covered bridges still surviving in Canada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable people
- W. T. Tutte (1917-2002), British codebreaker and mathematician.