Ingersoll | |
|---|---|
| Town of Ingersoll | |
 Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre | |
| Motto: Prosperity Through Progress[1] | |
  Ingersoll | |
| Coordinates: 43°02′21″N 80°53′01″W / 43.03917°N 80.88361°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| County | Oxford |
| Established[1] | 1852 (village) |
| 1861 (town) | |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Brian Petrie |
| • Federal riding | Oxford |
| • Provincial riding | Oxford |
| Area | |
| • Land | 12.90 km2 (4.98 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 280 m (920 ft) |
| Population (2021)[4] | |
• Total | 13,693 |
| • Density | 1,075.3/km2 (2,785/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Forward sortation area | |
| Area code(s) | 519 and 226 |
| Website | www.ingersoll.ca |
Ingersoll is a town in Oxford County on the Thames River in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The nearest cities are Woodstock to the east and London to the west.
Ingersoll is situated north of and along Highway 401. Oxford County Road 119 (formerly Ontario Highway 19) runs north diagonally through the town. A Canadian National rail line bisects the town east to west through its centre. Passenger service from the Ingersoll train station is provided to other stops in Southwestern Ontario by Via Rail. To the south is a CPR line, with spurs into local industries, which provides freight service to points in the region. The local high school is Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute.
The Ingersoll area was first settled in the 1790s by families from New England, became famous for homemade cheese production before the War of 1812,[5] and its surrounding County of Oxford was home to the first cheese factories in Canada, starting in 1864. In 1866, through collaboration by the town's businessmen, a giant wheel of cheese weighing 7,300 pounds (3,311 kg) was produced at the James Harris Cheese Factory just south of Ingersoll, for promotion of the area's cheese industry. The "Mammoth Cheese" was exhibited at the New York State Fair in Saratoga, NY, and then in England.[6] It was a Eureka! accomplishment applauded by the whole country, and in 1867 the Canadian Dairymen's Association was established in Ingersoll, attended by nearly two hundred dairymen from across Canada, followed by annual conventions long thereafter. A booming cheese export industry in the millions of pounds grew from Ingersoll to many parts of the world, and the town's name became synonymous with quality products.[7]
Ingersoll also developed as an industrial centre. During the late 19th century, the town's largest industries were Noxon Bros., a manufacturer of farm implements (1856-1916) and the Ingersoll Packing Co., a cheese-exporting and pork-packing firm (1880-1920s). The Noxons' firm was shuttered in 1916, but other large industries took root during the early 20th century, including the St. Charles Condensing Co. (later Borden's Condensed Milk), the Morrow Screw & Nut Co., the Ingersoll Machine and Tool Co., and the Ingersoll Cream Cheese Company.[8]
In the 21st century, heavy manufacturing is Ingersoll's largest industry, including CAMI Assembly, a General Motors car manufacturing plant. Originally a joint venture established in 1986 with Suzuki Motors of Canada, it has produced millions of vehicles.
Ingersoll is twinned with Great Barrington, Massachusetts.[9]
- ^ a b "Ingersoll History". Corporation of the Town of Ingersoll. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
- ^ "Ingersoll census profile". 2011 Census of Population. Statistics Canada. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
- ^ Natural Resources Canada – Toporama Archived 2010-02-10 at the Wayback Machine – varies within town from 268m to 300m.
- ^ "Ingersoll (Town) community profile". 2021 Census data. Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022.
- ^ Describing Oxford (Oxford-on-the-Thames) township in a book written in 1812, author Michael Smith, a Methodist missionary, summed it up: "This township lies west of Blenheim and Burford, is rich, well watered, thickly timbered, settled and well improved by industrious people, from the states of New York and Vermont. The people in this town are famous for making butter and cheese." Geographical View of the Province of Upper Canada (New York, 1813)
- ^ Heather Menzies, By the Labour of their Hands, the Story of Ontario Cheddar Cheese (Kingston, 1994), 26–38.
- ^ A 25-year retrospective of all these developments is contained in the Dept. of Agriculture's Annual Reports of the Dairymen's Associations (Toronto, 1892), available online. The Canadian Museum of History provides a comprehensive 'virtual museum' online titled Ingersoll's Mammoth Cheese and the History of Cheese Making in Oxford County (link deleted by Wiki editor)
- ^ a photo and text compendium of Ingersoll's industrial history can be found on the website Ingersoll Historical Photo Gallery created by the Ingersoll Public Library; for summary see Emery, George (2017). Ingersoll's Millponds: 1820-1976, Fire & Ice, Pestilence & Pleasure. Ingersoll Historical Society. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-9688876-7-7.
- ^ "Great Barrington finds sister city in Ontario". The Berkshire Eagle. August 9, 2012.
Mayor Comiskey said he sees similarities between Great Barrington and Ingersoll, and he hopes the twinning relationship will blossom into an international friendship that promotes understanding between the United States and Canada