page_title: London, Ontario
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: London, Ontario / History / Development
caption_attribution_description: Boer War Memorial, Victoria Park (sculptor George Hill) London Ontario Canada.
context_page_description: London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 383,822 according to the 2016 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximately 200 km from both Toronto and Detroit; and about 230 km from Buffalo, New York. The city of London is a separated municipality, politically separate from Middlesex County, though it remains the county seat.
  London and the Thames were named in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe, who proposed the site for the capital city of Upper Canada. The first European settlement was between 1801 and 1804 by Peter Hagerman. The village was founded in 1826 and incorporated in 1855. Since then, London has grown to be the largest southwestern Ontario municipality and Canada's 11th largest metropolitan area, having annexed many of the smaller communities that surrounded it.
  London is a regional centre of healthcare and education, being home to the University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College, and several hospitals.
context_section_description: Sir John Carling, Tory MP for London, gave three events to explain the development of London in a 1901 speech: the location of the court and administration in London in 1826, the arrival of the military garrison in 1838, and the arrival of the railway in 1853.
  The population in 1846 was 3,500. Brick buildings included a jail and court house, and large barracks. London had a fire company, a theatre, a large Gothic church, nine other churches or chapels, and two market buildings. In 1845, a fire destroyed 150 buildings but most had been rebuilt by 1846. Connection with other communities was by road using mainly stages that ran daily. Also, a weekly newspaper was published and mail was received daily by the post office.
  On 1 January 1855, London was incorporated as a city (10,000 or more residents). In the 1860s, a sulphur spring was discovered at the forks of the Thames River while industrialists were drilling for oil. The springs became a popular destination for wealthy Ontarians, until the turn of the 20th century when a textile factory was built at the site, replacing the spa.
  Records from 1869 indicate a population of about 18,000 served by three newspapers, churches of all major denominations and offices of all the major banks. Industry included several tanneries, oil refineries and foundries, four flour mills, the Labatt Brewing Company and the Carling brewery in addition to other manufacturing. Both the Great Western and Grand Trunk railways had stops here. Several insurance companies also had offices in the city.
  The Crystal Palace Barracks, built in 1861, an octagonal brick building with eight doors and forty-eight windows, was used for events such the Provincial Agricultural Fair of Canada West held in London that year. It was visited by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor-General John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar and Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.
  Long before the Royal Military College of Canada was established in 1876, there were proposals for military colleges in Canada. Staffed by British Regulars, adult male students underwent three-month-long military courses from 1865 at the School of Military Instruction in London. Established by Militia General Order in 1865, the school enabled Officers of Militia or Candidates for Commission or promotion in the Militia to learn Military duties, drill and discipline, to command a Company at Battalion Drill, to Drill a Company at Company Drill, the internal economy of a Company and the duties of a Company's Officer. The school was not retained at Confederation, in 1867.
  In 1875, London's first iron bridge, the Blackfriars Street Bridge, was constructed. It replaced a succession of flood-failed wooden structures that had provided the city's only northern road crossing of the river. A rare example of a wrought iron bowstring arch through truss bridge, the Blackfriars remains open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, though it was temporarily closed indefinitely to vehicular traffic due to various structural problems and was once again reopened to vehicular traffic December 1, 2018, see Blackfriars Bridge Grand Opening.  The Blackfriars, amidst the river-distance between the Carling Brewery and the historic Tecumseh Park (including a major mill), linked London with its western suburb of Petersville, named for Squire Peters of Grosvenor Lodge. That community joined with the southern subdivision of Kensington in 1874, formally incorporating as the municipality of Petersville. Although it changed its name in 1880 to the more inclusive "London West", it remained a separate municipality until ratepayers voted for amalgamation with London in 1897, largely due to repeated flooding. The most serious flood was in July 1883, which resulted in serious loss of life and property devaluation. This area retains much original and attractively maintained 19th-century tradespeople's and workers' housing, including Georgian cottages as well as larger houses, and a distinct sense of place.
  London's eastern suburb, London East, was (and remains) an industrial centre, which 
caption: London's Boer War statue, Victoria Park
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