page_title: Woodstock, Ontario
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Woodstock, Ontario / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Rear-Admiral Henry Vansittart
context_page_description: Woodstock is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The city has a population of 40,902 according to the 2016 Canadian census. Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County, at the head of the non-navigable Thames River, approximately 128 km from Toronto, and 43 km from London, Ontario. The city is known as the Dairy Capital of Canada and promotes itself as "The Friendly City".
  Woodstock was first settled by European-colonists and United Empire Loyalists in 1800, starting with Zacharias Burtch and Levi Luddington, and was incorporated as a town in 1851. Since then, Woodstock has maintained steady growth, and is now a small city in Southwestern Ontario. As a small historic city, Woodstock is one of the few cities in Ontario to still have all of its original administration buildings. The city has developed a strong economic focus towards manufacturing and tourism. It is also a market city for the surrounding agricultural industry.
  Woodstock is home to a campus of Fanshawe College. The city plays host to a number of cultural and artistic exhibits, including the Woodstock Museum, a national historic site.
context_section_description: The community was first settled in 1800 after it was determined by Sir John Graves Simcoe, governor of what was then known as Upper Canada, that the area would make a good townsite. The early settlers were generally American immigrants from New York state, such as Levi Burtch and Dr. Levi Hoyt Perry.
  Increased immigration from Great Britain followed in the 1820s and 1830s, including the half pay officers Henry Vansittart and Andrew Drew. Admiral Vansittart commissioned Col. Andrew Drew to build a church (Old St. Paul's) in a new area of Oxford that was known as the "Town Plot". The men would later quarrel, which would lead to the construction of a second church known as "New St. Paul's".
  In 1836 there were 200 people living in Woodstock, and by 1846 the population had grown to almost 1100 inhabitants. There were six churches or chapels, a jail, a court house, one bank agency, a school and two weekly newspapers. Several court and government offices were located here. Industry included two grist mills, a saw mill, a fulling mill, a brewery and a distillery and four wagon makers.
  Woodstock was incorporated as a town in 1851 and had its first town meeting in the Royal Pavilion Hotel. This year also saw the start of the Town Hall and local government.
  In 1901, Woodstock, with a population of nearly 9,000, petitioned the provincial legislature for city status and the "Town of Woodstock" was incorporated into the "City of Woodstock".
  From 1900 to 1920, an electric train ran down the streets of Woodstock; as well, after 1920, bricks were used to pave the main street of Woodstock. The bricks were later removed in the 1940s.
caption: Rear-Admiral Henry Vansittart
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