page_title: Bayfield, Ontario
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bayfield, Ontario / History
caption_attribution_description: Harbor, Bayfield, Ontario, Canada Creator: G.H. Hewson Date: 1910 Identifier: PC-ON 124 Format: Postcard Rights: Public domain Courtesy: Toronto Public Library You can order order a print or high-resolution copy.
context_page_description: Bayfield is a community in the municipality of Bluewater, Huron County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a 2016 population of 1,112. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Huron at the mouth of Bayfield River. Bayfield is a popular tourist destination. Visitors enjoy the historic Main Street with its many well-preserved old buildings, including the Little Inn which has served travelers since the 1800s, initially as a stagecoach stop. Main Street is lined with boutique shops, art galleries and fine dining restaurants. The nearby marina and public beaches draw crowds in the summer months.
context_section_description: Bayfield was founded in 1832 by Carel Lodewijk, Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1784-1835), a Dutch nobleman who had purchased 388 acres (157 ha) in the area, part of a much larger holding in the Huron Tract that he purchased from the Canada Company Over the next 10 years, a plan was laid out for the community and two mills (grist and lumber) were built.  It was named for noted Great Lakes surveyor and British naval officer Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, who had personally selected the site for the community.
  The mouth of the Bayfield River is a natural sheltered harbour and by 1869, the settlement was a port of entry and vessels touched here on their route from Detroit to Goderich. Stages travelled daily to Seaforth. In 1869, when the population was only 125, the settlement had a wagon and plough making shop, two blacksmiths, a distiller, a brickyard and two tanneries. A large, permanent harbour was built during the 1870s. By 1876, Bayfield was incorporated as a village, with a population of 846.
  The Town Hall was built in 1882 and was not moved to its present location on Clan Gregor Square until 1920. By then, Bayfield had been in decline for at least 20 years, because the railway was built far from this area. By 1984, it was closed as a fire hazard; fund raising allowed for repairs, and the hall was re-opened in 1993. After the Village became part of Bluewater in 2001, the Bayfield Town Hall was used for community events. Additional upgrades to the building were made in 2013 and 2016.
caption: Bayfield Harbour, 1910
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