The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge, located in Fergus, Ontario, is the oldest surviving state-supported poorhouse in Canada. Constructed in 1877, the site operated as a poorhouse and farm until 1947, and as an old age home until 1971. In the 1980s, the building was repurposed to house the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
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Fergus is the largest community in Centre Wellington, a township within Wellington County in Ontario, Canada. It lies on the Grand River about 18 km NNW of Guelph. The population of this community at the time of the 2016 Census was 20,767, but the community is growing as new homes are being built for sale.
Fergus was an independent town until 1999 when the Township was formed by amalgamating the Town of Fergus, the Village of Elora, and the Townships of Nichol, Pilkington, West Garafraxa, and part of Eramosa.
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CICW-FM is a commercial radio station in Fergus, Ontario, serving Centre Wellington. It airs a hot adult contemporary format branded as The Grand @ 101. The station also broadcasts local news and weather reports. It is owned by Centre Wellington Community Radio, Inc. The studios and offices are on Garafraxa Street East.
CICW-FM is a Class A FM station with an effective radiated power of 675 watts. The transmitter is on Gartshore Street near Gordon Street in Fergus.
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The Historic Village of Elora is a community in the township of Centre Wellington in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It is well known for its 19th-century limestone architecture and its geographically, historically, and culturally significant limestone gorge.
Elora is no longer an incorporated municipality in its own right, although it is the seat of the municipal government that succeeded it. The Township of Centre Wellington was formed in 1999 when, on the advice of the Province, the County amalgamated the Town of Fergus; the Village of Elora; and the surrounding townships of Nichol, Pilkington, and West Garafraxa The decision — along with the Ontario government’s role therein — remains highly controversial among Elora’s inhabitants.
In 2011, the village was estimated to have had a population of approximately 7,756.
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Centre Wellington is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, located in Wellington County. The primary communities are Elora and Fergus.
The area is agricultural but also includes industries such as manufacturing. In the Canada 2016 Census, the population was stated as 28,191.
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The Irvine River is a creek in the municipality of Centre Wellington, Wellington County in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and is a right tributary of the Grand River.
The creek begins at the confluence of two unnamed tributary streams in geographic West Garafraxa Township near the settlement of Dracon and flows southeast towards Lake Belwood. Before reaching the lake, it then turns southwest, then northwest and reaches the settlement of Living Springs. It turns southwest, passes under Ontario Highway 6, enters geographic Nichol Township, and reaches the community of Salem. The creek then flows southwest and reaches its mouth at the Grand River at the community of Elora. The Grand River flows to Lake Erie.
The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995 based on its illustration of 19th century attitudes towards poverty and the origins of Canada's social safety net.
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