The history of North Dumfries is closely tied to that of the old City of
Galt, now part of the City of
Cambridge but which in the early 19th century was part of
Gore District. Galt was founded on the east bank of the
Grand River by
Absalom Shade on behalf of
William Dickson of Niagara. Dickson had bought of land in 1816 for 24,000 pounds, and named it after his hometown of
Dumfries in
Scotland. The
Nith River passes through Dumfries in Canada just as the
River Nith passes through Dumfries in Scotland. That same year, he had the land surveyed and opened it for settlement. By 1817, a number of sawmills were operating in the district and the population, comprising 38 families, had reached 163. In 1819, the first municipal meeting for the Township of Dumfries North was held. In 1820, Dickson encouraged further settlement on his land by inviting other Scotsmen to buy land, resulting in a wave of immigration from 1825 until 1832 when every plot of land was filled. The house has been used as a filming location for TV series and for the 2010 film
Red. The village of Ayr, including Jedburgh, was incorporated in 1884 with John Watson as the Reeve. What is now North Dumfries originally formed the north half of Dumfries Township, hence the current name. With the introduction of the county system in the mid-nineteenth century, Dumfries was split between the new Waterloo and Brant Counties. The remaining southern half of the old Dumfries Township is now
South Dumfries in
Brant County. At about the same time Dumfries Township was divided, the City of
Galt was extracted from it as an autonomous municipality within the new
Waterloo County. Though the two municipalities (
Galt and North Dumfries) were now technically separated from one another, their histories are tightly interwoven as the township nearly envelopes what was then Galt. The township's easternmost section (around the village of Clyde) was originally part of Beverley Township (now the city of
Hamilton); it was transferred to North Dumfries Township in 1973. == Demographics ==