Ayr, Ontario
Encyclopedia
The village of Ayr, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 is a settlement located within the Township of North Dumfries
North Dumfries, Ontario
The Township of North Dumfries is a rural township in Ontario, Canada, part of the Region of Waterloo. Its 2006 Census population was 9,063.The township includes the communities of Ayr, Branchton, Clyde, Reidsville and Roseville.-History:...

 in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo
Regional Municipality of Waterloo
The Regional Municipality of Waterloo is a regional municipality located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It consists of the cities of Kitchener, Cambridge, and Waterloo, and the townships of Wellesley, Woolwich, Wilmot, and North Dumfries. It is often referred to as the Region of Waterloo or just...

 in Southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, centred on the city of London. It extends north to south from the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron to the Lake Erie shoreline, and east to south-west roughly from Guelph to Windsor. The region had a population...

. Ayr is located south of Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

 and west of Cambridge
Cambridge, Ontario
Cambridge is a city located in Southern Ontario at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is an amalgamation of the City of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, and the hamlet of Blair.Galt covers the largest portion of...

.

History

In 1824, Abel Mudge (son of Elijah Mudge Sr) constructed a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 and flour mill at the junction of Cedar Creek and the Nith River
Nith River
The Nith River is a river in Brant, Oxford and Perth Counties and the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The Nith River empties into the Grand River at the town of Paris, and is named after the River Nith in Scotland....

 (building at 14 Northumberland St., Ayr, Ontario). This was the first of three distinct settlements, Jedburgh in the east (Main St.), Nithvale in the west (Piper St.) and Mudge's Mill in the centre (Stanley/Northumberland Streets) in what is today the Village of Ayr.

Jedburgh began in 1832 when John Hall, a young immigrant from Jedburgh, Scotland, purchased a 75 acres (303,514.5 m²) parcel of land that included the area now flooded by Jedburgh Dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

. By 1850 Hall had developed several industries, including a flour mill, sawmill and distillery with water power provided by the damming of Cedar Creek. At the same time a smaller settlement, Nithvale, was founded to the west of Mudge's Mill where a small sawmill opened along the Nith River, its claim on history being that in 1837 it was a meeting and drilling place for MacKenzie's followers just prior to the Upper Canada Rebellion.

In 1840, following keen rivalry among the three settlements, the name "Ayr" appeared for the first time when Robert Wyllie established a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

. The name was likely due to the large number of former Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 immigrants who were drawn to Canada by promises of inexpensive, fertile land, made by the major landholder of the district, William Dickson.

In 1846–47 Daniel Manley's mill was built, William Baker's store was established and John Watson's foundry constructed with Watson's Dam its power reservoir. These three key businesses played large roles in Ayr's early success as did the coming of the Credit Valley Railway
Credit Valley Railway
The Credit Valley Railway was a shortline railway that operated in Southern Ontario, Canada from 1871 to 1883. Engineered by James Ross, its mainline went from Toronto to Orangeville with branchlines from Cataract to Elora and Streetsville to St. Thomas. It was acquired by the Ontario and Quebec...

 in 1879. In 1850 Ayr's first library was established and James Somerville began the first Ayr newspaper in 1854.

The John Watson Manufacturing Company, started in 1848 as the Ayr Machinery Works, quickly gained a reputation as an aggressive and innovative agricultural implements manufacturer. In the early 1880s, the company built an impressive four-storey building that was, at that time, the largest agricultural works in Canada. When the factory was built, Watson's was at the pinnacle of its success, winning awards for its products all around the world. In 1920, a fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

 destroyed the factory and never truly recovered from this disaster. The present two-storey factory was rebuilt from the remains of the original facility and although they carried on a successful business, it never compared to its former self.

In 1898, an Act of Parliament changed the Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Institute into the Ayr Public Library. There has been a library in Ayr since the 1840s, starting with a small subscription library housed in Joseph Kilgour’s store. In 1856 a Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Institute was established. The Institute library moved to first Mr. Rathbun’s hardware store, then to James Souter’s tailoring shop in 1857, then to the ground floor of the Masonic Lodge in 1881. A tenancy dispute with the Masonic Lodge, plus a need for more space, prompted the Ayr Public Library to ask Andrew Carnegie for a grant to build its own building. After being turned down a couple of times, in 1909 Ayr became the smallest community in Ontario to receive a Carnegie grant. Carnegie offered $5,200 on condition that the library site and annual maintenance grant of $500 would be provided by the village. In 1911, the library moved into the building at 92 Stanley Street where it would remain for the next 94 years.

The Village of Ayr was incorporated in 1884, at which time John Watson was appointed reeve. His daughter, Mary Urie Watson, was the first female dean of the MacDonald institute at what is now the University of Guelph
University of Guelph
The University of Guelph, also known as U of G, is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College, the Macdonald Institute, and the Ontario Veterinary College...

. The student residence Watson Hall now bears her name.

On January 1, 1973, Ayr was amalgamated with the North Dumfries Township, Regional Municipality of Waterloo.

In 2004, the library, now a branch of Region of Waterloo Library, moved into a newer 7000 square feet (650.3 m²) building at 137 Stanley Street, leaving the previous neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 building vacant.

Important sites

Major highways in the area include Highway 401
Highway 401 (Ontario)
King's Highway 401, also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway and colloquially as the four-oh-one, is a 400-Series Highway in the Canadian province of Ontario stretching from Windsor to the Quebec border...

. Ayr was originally an agricultural centre and maintains several businesses related to agriculture in the present. The community is rapidly expanding as sub-divisions are added to provide housing for people working in Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

, Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....

 and Cambridge
Cambridge, Ontario
Cambridge is a city located in Southern Ontario at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is an amalgamation of the City of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, and the hamlet of Blair.Galt covers the largest portion of...

.

The town has three elementary schools. Built in 1890, the Ayr Public School was the original site and the town's only school for nearly a century. In the 1990s, St. Brigid Catholic School (whose problems with mold necessitated a partial demolition), and Cedar Creek Public School have been added to service the town's growing population. The town does not have a secondary school, so students attend Southwood Secondary School
Southwood Secondary School
Southwood Secondary School is a high school in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, for students in West Galt and North Dumfries.-History:Southwood was founded in 1962. Although it has one of the lower student enrollments in the region, that does not seem to affect performance...

 or Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School
Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School
Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School is a Catholic High School in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada which opened in 1976 as a junior high school, and is the second smallest Catholic secondary school of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board...

 in Cambridge. Despite its rapid recent growth, there is still no bus service in Ayr to/from the larger cities.

Community events include the Fresh Ayr Festivalhttp://www.freshayrfestival.com/ held on the third Saturday of June.

TV and movies

  • Sketches of Our Town, a half-hour Canadian documentary series from the mid 80s and early 90s, featured Ayr in one of their episodes.
  • The 2003 movie Cold Creek Manor
    Cold Creek Manor
    Cold Creek Manor is a 2003 American psychological thriller film directed by Mike Figgis. The screenplay by Richard Jefferies focuses on a family terrorized by the former owner of the rural estate they bought in foreclosure...

    , starring Dennis Quaid
    Dennis Quaid
    Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

    , Sharon Stone
    Sharon Stone
    Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...

    , Stephen Dorff
    Stephen Dorff
    Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...

     and Juliette Lewis
    Juliette Lewis
    Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...

    , was filmed in Ayr.
  • Blood & Guts, a 1978 Paul Lynch
    Paul Lynch (director)
    Paul Lynch is a director and most recently that of the Sci Fi Pictures original film, Savage Planet. He is also the director of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes The First Duty, 11001001, The Naked Now, Unnatural Selection, and A Matter of Time.-External links:* – Canadians in the Movies*...

     film, had scenes shot in the Queen's Tavern. Lynch also used the town for The Hard Part Begins five years previous.
  • Portions of the film How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days
    How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
    How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is a 2003 romantic comedy film, directed by Donald Petrie, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. It is based on a short cartoon book of the same name by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long.-Plot:...

    were filmed in downtown Ayr.

Sports

  • Ayr's lawn bowling club that is an active member of District 7 of the Ontario Lawn Bowling Association.
  • Ayr is home to the Ayr Centennials
    Ayr Centennials
    The Ayr Centennials are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Ayr, Ontario. They play in the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association.-History:...

    , a junior hockey team that plays in the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League
    Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League
    The Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League is a Junior level ice hockey league sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association based out of Southwestern Ontario....

    as well as the Ayr Ice Cats,a minor ringette organization whose players range for age 4 to age 18. All teams play in the Southern Region Ringette League.
  • Ayr Vics Fastball Club, an intermediate men's fastball club.

External links

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