A Brief History of London Ontario

As a village created in 1827, as a result of the decision to relocate the administrative and legal centre to the London area had taken advantage of political decisions and geographic location to become a growing town, and, finally, a city of 10,600 residents by 1855.

Following incorporation, the new city soon began to build on its pioneer foundations. Taking advantage of opportunities provided by railway development, London started to become a regional power centre supplying the agricultural hinterland of Southwestern Ontario. In the 1860s, the American Civil War solidified the city’s industrial and commercial base.

London itself expanded physically with a series of annexations of lands in the east and south-east parts of the city through the 1950s. In 1961, though, the largest annexation to that time occurred when the city annexed a broad sweep of the area around the city extending the city’s boundaries from the airport on the north-east to the south-west. At the time of its centennial celebrations in 1955 London’s population was 101,855; by 1965, with annexation’s impact, the population stood at 185,562.