page_title: Guelph
section_title: Historic sites
hierarchical_section_title: Guelph / Culture / Historic sites
caption_attribution_description: English: Heffernan Street Footbridge built in 1913, and designated a Guelph heritage site
context_page_description: Guelph is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly 28 km east of Kitchener and 100 km west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wellington County Road 124. It is the seat of Wellington County, but is politically independent of it. The city is built on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
  Guelph began as a settlement in the 1820s, established by Scotsman John Galt, who was in Upper Canada as the first Superintendent of the Canada Company. He based the headquarters, and his home, in the community. The area – much of which became Wellington County – had been part of the Halton Block, a Crown Reserve for the Six Nations Iroquois. Galt would later be considered as the founder of Guelph.
  For many years, Guelph ranked at or near the bottom of Canada's crime severity list. However, the 2017 Crime Severity Index showed a 15% increase from 2016. Guelph has been noted as having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country throughout the Great Recession.
context_section_description: Downtown Guelph: Several downtown streets are lined with Victorian era buildings, which are now well over a century old. Many of Guelph's historically designated properties are in or near the downtown area. The old City Hall on Carden St., built between 1856 and 1857, is a National Historic Site of Canada; this structure is an example of mid-19th century Renaissance Revival architecture. This building, as well as its Annex built circa 1865, are also historically designated by the province. Other historically designated buildings in the area include the Winter Fair Building, the County Jail and Governor's Residence and the Guelph Armoury. The Old Quebec Street Mall was a street built in the 1800s that was enclosed and covered; that work was completed in 1984 and the street has become an indoor shopping mall.
  The Guelph Civic Museum has been located on "Catholic Hill" (Norfolk St. and Cork St.) adjacent to the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate since 2012, moving to this location from a nationally designated historic site at 6 Dublin St. South. The museum has a collection of pictures, films and other antique materials related to the historical development of the City of Guelph.
  Among the oldest of the city's neighbourhoods, settled by affluent citizens, the St. George's Park area features heritage homes and mansions in the highest part of Guelph. Much of the city's elite lived on the hill running up Grange Street and many of the homes have been renovated.
  The Exhibition Park neighbourhood, containing the oldest park in Guelph, is an area that was settled in the 1870s and still contains many Victorian style heritage homes.
  The Brooklyn and College Hill area south of the Speed River is the city's only district that was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
  St. Patrick's Ward (The Ward) with many old buildings, originally contained both manufacturing facilities and modest homes.  Many newcomers from Europe, particularly Italy, settled here after 1850.
  Allan's Mill
  Heffernan Street Footbridge: Spanning the Speed River behind St. George's Anglican Church, this structure was built in 1913, and replaced an earlier steel bridge. The footbridge was designated a heritage site and was restored/reconstructed in 1991 to more closely resemble the original design
  Goldie Mill ruins: Once owned by the Goldie family, an important name in the early Waterloo Region, the mill was operated from 1866 until 1953 when a fire destroyed it. For some years, it served as a venue for outdoor public and private events but the area around the buildings was closed to the public in June 2017 due to soil contamination and sinkholes. Restoration of the ruins was underway in 2019, authorized by the owner, the Grand River Conservation Authority; the site was expected to re-open to the public in 2020.
  Guelph Public Library was the first public library established in Ontario under the Public Library Act of 1882.
caption: Heffernan Street Footbridge
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