Arthur, Ontario

The village was named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Settlers began arriving in 1840. The area was first surveyed in 1841 by John McDonald and then officially in 1846 by D.B. Papineau. During the first survey in 1841, the population of Arthur was 22 people. Over the next 15 years, this number rose to 400, and by 1900, the population had risen to just over 1500. The saw and grist mills on the Conestogo River encouraged people to settle here. In 1851, a post office, church and school were organized. Development increased in 1872 when the train line of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway reached the village, which was incorporated in that year.^[1] The Arthur Enterprise News, established in 1863, was one of the few non-syndicated weekly newspapers in Canada. By 1890, a high school had been opened.^[1] In 1897, Arthur was one of the first villages in Ontario to be connected to an electricity line; power was only available in the evenings.^[1]

 

On November 2, 1942, the Toronto Star ran a front-page headline that read "Arthur Village Gives Sons and Money to Aid the War", as one out of every seven Arthur residents fought in the Second World War. At that time, 100 residents had enlisted from the population of 890. The Toronto Star article only calls the village 'patriotic' and does not use the phrase "Canada's Most Patriotic Village" ^[2]

It was the highest ratio in comparison to villages of comparable sizes in Canada. By the end of the war, 338 Arthur residents had enlisted, and 25 were killed in action.

During the first war bond campaign of World War II, the village of Arthur was the first community in Ontario to reach its quota, which it did within a few minutes. Arthur also led the communities in Wellington for every other war and victory bond campaign and surpassed all objectives that had been set. By the end of the fourth campaign, Arthur had raised a total of $250,000, which was equal to 64% of the assessed value of the village's taxable property.

In 2002, David Tilson, MPP for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey stated in the Ontario legislature that because of the village of Arthur's extraordinary World War II record, the community was now being recognized as "Canada's Most Patriotic Village".

The sacrifice of these soldiers is honoured by the Cenotaph of Arthur, located in the heart of the village. The monument was unveiled on August 6, 1923, by Mrs. David Brocklebank, whose son was killed at the end of World War I, before the largest crowd ever assembled in Arthur village. After the unveiling, the Toronto Star described the cenotaph as "a war memorial whose design and beauty cannot be equalled as yet in the Province." On the cenotaph are engraved the names of the 193 men who enlisted in World War I (including the 40 who were KIA), as well as the 363 men and women who enlisted in World War II, among whom 25 made the ultimate sacrifice. One unique feature of the cenotaph was that when it was being designed, a decision was made to build the monument with stones gathered from local farms. It was later discovered that the memorial was the first fieldstone Cenotaph Memorial built in the province.

Some of the men who enlisted from the Arthur area were British Home Children sent here from orphanages in the UK. Between 1869 and 1948, over 118,000 orphaned and abandoned children up to the age of 16 were sent to Canada to work as farm hands and domestic servants.

As of the 2021 Canadian Census, Arthur's population was 2,628. This represents an increase of 72 people, or 2.8%, compared to the 2016 Canadian Census.

Arthur did not appear in the first Canadian census in 1871.

Arthur's population was 1,257 in 1881, and the total population grew to 1,296 in 1891 before a slight drop to 1,285 in 1901.

From 1901 to 1941, Arthur's population dropped significantly, to a low of 937 in 1941.

Following World War II, Arthur saw a lot of growth. Between 1951 and 1991, the village's population more than doubled, going from 1,088 in 1951 to 2,123 in 1991.

The village has continued to have steady growth since the turn of the century, as Arthur's population has grown from 2,284 in 2001 to 2,628 in 2021.

As of the latest census in 2021, the median age in Arthur is 37.6 years old. There are 1,043 private dwellings in Arthur, with 1,007 of them occupied by usual residents.

The median total income for a household in Arthur was $88,000 in 2020.

Arthur is served by the Upper Grand District School Board as Arthur Public School is a K-8 school located on Conestoga Street. Local high school students in the UGDSB are bussed to Wellington Heights Secondary School in Mount Forest.

Arthur is served by the Wellington Catholic District School Board as St. John Catholic School is a K-8 school located on Tucker Street. Local high school students in the WCDSB are bussed to Saint James Catholic High School in Guelph.

The Arthur Vipers offer ice hockey to people of all ages, from pre-school to juvenile rep hockey.

The Vipers teams are a part of the Western Ontario Amateur Association League.

Arthur has one arena, the Arthur & Area Community Centre, where local teams play their home games.^[15]

Previously, Arthur was home to a WOAA Senior League team, the Arthur Tigers, which operated from 1985 to 1999. The Tigers won the 1991 WOAA Grand Championship.

Dave Smith, the current head coach of the RPI Engineers men's ice hockey team in the ECAC, was born in Arthur. Smith was a part of the Fort Wayne Komets during the 1992-93 season, as they won the Turner Cup.

The Arthur Twisters is a program that is developed to teach children of all ages the fundamental skills of softball or baseball.

All Twisters home games are played at the Arthur & Area Community Centre, which is home to two full-sized diamonds.^[16]

The Arthur Aces is a lacrosse program for people of all ages to learn the fundamental skills to play the sport.

All Aces home games are played at the Arthur & Area Community Centre.^[17]

Chad Culp is a lacrosse player from Arthur. He played in the National Lacrosse League as a forward from 2003-2017.^[18] Culp was named the head coach of the Israel box lacrosse team in 2022.^[19]

Jamie Rooney is from Arthur and played as a forward in the National Lacrosse League from 2008-2014.^[20]

Matt Disher, who grew up in Arthur, was a goaltender in the National Lacrosse League from 1999-2010.^[21]

• Chad Culp (1982 – ), professional lacrosse player with the Buffalo Bandits, Minnesota Swarm, New England Black Wolves, Colorado Mammoth, Arizona Sting and New York Saints of the National Lacrosse League
• Matt Disher (1976 – ), professional lacrosse goaltender with the Buffalo Bandits, Ottawa Rebel, Anaheim Storm, Minnesota Swarm, Portland LumberJax and Edmonton Rush of the National Lacrosse League
• Jamie Rooney (1984 – ), professional lacrosse player with the Philadelphia Wings, New York Titans, Rochester Knighthawks, Boston Blazers, Toronto Rock and Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League
• Dave Smith (1968 – ), professional ice hockey player with the Binghamton Rangers of the American Hockey League and head coach of RPI Engineers

• Ted Arnott (1963 – ), member of Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1990 and the 42nd and 43rd Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• William Aurelius Clarke (1868 – 1940), member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1911 – 1921
• James J. Craig (1855 – 1929), member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 – 1911
• Joseph Driscoll (1876 – 1942), elected to Edmonton City Council from 1912 – 1914, also President of the Edmonton Eskimos
• Frank Gainer (1888 – 1975), member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1955 – 1967
• Rae Luckock (1893 – 1972), member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1943 – 1945, also one of the first two women, with Agnes MacPhail, elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• Dorothy McCabe (1969 – ), Mayor of Waterloo since 2022
• John Patrick Molloy (1873 – 1948), member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1908 – 1921 and served in the Senate of Canada from 1925 – 1948

• List of unincorporated communities in Ontario