The Township of Woolwich is a rural township in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, considered as a municipality. The Township is located in the northeast part of Waterloo Region and is made up of 10 small communities, with Elmira, Ontario the largest and St. Jacobs, Ontario the second largest. The population at the time of the 2021 Census was 26,999, up from the 2016 population of 25,006. Waterloo Region is still home to the largest population of Old Order Mennonites in Canada, particularly in the areas around St Jacobs and Elmira. They are often seen on the local roads using their traditional horse and buggy transportation; many also use horses to pull the implements in their farm fields.
Woolwich is part of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is located directly to the north and east of the City of Waterloo. It is bounded by the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. The township is a municipality as established by the Regional Municipality of Waterloo Act 1972, which created a regional government structure and established limits of the local municipalities effective January 1, 1973. Woolwich Township has its own municipal government consisting of five Councillors and a Mayor; the latter also serves on the Waterloo Region Council.
History
Early history
The land which now makes up Woolwich Township, with the Grand River on the East, and the Conestogo River on the West, originally belonged to the Huron Nation followed by the Mohawk Nation. The first settlers arrived in the late 18th century. In 1798, William Wallace was one of the first settlers after he was deeded 86,078 acres (348 km2) of land on the Grand River for a cost of $16,364. Originally Block three of Indian Lands, this area now comprises a large part of Woolwich Township. The parcel of land called "Woolwich" was probably named (in 1816) after a town in Kent, England. The early settlers were primarily from England or Ireland until about 1830; they settled to the east of the Grand River. Afterwards, German Mennonite families from Pennsylvania and from Waterloo Township settled west of the river.
In 1807, Wallace sold the major portion of his tract to Mennonites from Pennsylvania, trustees for the German Company, many of whom would settle this area. Wallace sold of land to the German Company at $1.00 an acre. Captain Smith, a loyalist from Vermont, settled at the confluence of the Grand and Conestogo Rivers in 1807. Their large log home served as an inn for travelers and he operated a stagecoach for carrying mail from 1835 to 1850. The first church in Woolwich, was built by the Mennonites from Pennsylvania in approximately 1823 at the Three Bridges, now part of Conestogo. Woolwich was incorporated as a Township in 1816, and was part of Halton County until 1842 when it became part of Wellington District. In 1852, it became part of the new Waterloo County.
Starting in 1821, a part of Woolwich, to the east of the Grand River (Block 3), owned by James Crooks, attracted dozens of families from England and Scotland. Previously, this area had few settlers, the most notable a Mr. Cox; the creek which enters the Grand River at what is now Winterbourne was named after him. Immigrants from Scotland began settling the Cox Creek area in 1834, led by John Davidson. He opened the first post office in the township, naming it East Woolwich. Captain Henry Lanphier arrived in 1854 and soon built a sawmill and flour mill after damming Cox Creek. Residents agreed with him that the settlement should be renamed Winterbourne, Ontario. By 1837, the Scots established St. Andrew's Presbyterian in 1837. A Presbyterian church was not built until 1870, made of logs; it was replaced in 1870 by one built of brick, and is currently a private home near the Winterbourne Presbyterian Cemetery. By 1867, Winterbourne had a population of 160, three churches, a school, a post office, a general store, two mills, two hotels, two blacksmiths, a tailor, shoemaker and a physician.
St. Jacobs, like nearby Conestogo (both in Woolwich), was primarily Germanic and was first settled in 1830. In 1834, Edward Bristow from Sussex, England became one of Elmira's first settlers when he purchased of land at this location for 50 cents per acre. He started the first store, tavern and potashery. A community by the name of Bristow's Corners was already in existence in 1839 when a post office was assigned there; it was renamed Elmira in 1853.