Former Town of Mount Forest

The former Town of Mount Forest was originally known as Maitland Hills because it was believed that the Saugeen River was the Maitland River. The name was later changed to Mount Forest in 1853. Francis Kerr surveyed the Village into village lots in 1853.

The first public school was built in 1856 on McDonald Street. The first high school was originally in the Old Drill Hall, but was an unsuitable location because it was beside the Market Square, where livestock sales were held monthly. The new high school was built on Colclough Street in 1878.

By 1864, the population of Mount Forest had reached 1,185 and qualified as a Village, and by 1879 had reached Town status. The first issue of the Mount Forest Confederate was printed in 1867. For the first year, the newspaper was sent to village residents free of charge, but the second year it was 50 cents per year. The Mount Forest Confederate was published weekly until 2019. Today, the North Wellington Community News and Wellington Advertiser serve the community.

The 1871 directory stated that Mount Forest had 10 hotels, 8 churches and 18 stores and later that year, the first train entered Mount Forest, drawn by a wood-burning engine.

Dr. A.R. Perry purchased the home of Alex Martin on the corner of Dublin and Princess Streets and established Strathcona Hospital, a 10-bed private hospital. In 1923, a group of citizens headed by G.L. Allen, changed Strathcona Hospital into a public hospital. Wentworth Marshall, a pharmacist, generously bought the hospital from Perry. Marshall’s mother, Louise, was the supervisor at the hospital until she became ill with cancer. It was closed in 1921, but a year later was reopened under a new name, Mount Forest General Hospital. In 1928, the Deed of the Hospital was turned over to the town and the name was changed yet again to Louise Marshall Hospital in honour of Marshall’s mother.
The Mount Forest Carriage Factory was established in 1903 near the CPR Station by the Steeles, two brothers from Palmerston, and employed about 70 people. They manufactured buggies, carriages and cutters and shipped them throughout western Ontario. The Steeles' fine houses on Dublin and Waterloo Streets held many parties and they had one of the first radios in town. The factory closed when the automobile replaced the horse-drawn carriage. The building later held the Mount Forest Basket Factory.