Township of North Stormont

Avonmore

• The History
• Water reports
  • Avonmore Rec - 2003 (PDF: 167KB)
• Avonmore schools
• Recreation Committees

The History

Avonmore is a pleasant, scenic village of around 330 inhabitants nestled in the heart of North Stormont. Long famous for its large and well-kept Victorian homes on maple-canopied streets, it still retains much of its early charm, especially along leafy, tree-lined Main Street, stretching for over a kilometre between Highway 43 on the south and the Montreal-Toronto mainline of the CPR, the village's northern boundary. Located 25 kilometres north-west of Cornwall and the St. Lawrence Seaway and 75 kilometres south-east of Ottawa, a quick 45-minute drive to the nation's capital, "the loveliest village of the plain" is 15 minutes north of Ontario's Main Street, Highway 401, and 15 minutes south of the Trans-Canada Highway (417).

The community was founded by John Hough in the Spring of 1842. The town's founding father built a log homestead near the banks of the Payne River and named the little clearing "Hough's Corners". Within a few years, probably just prior to 1850, John Hough built the first sawmill on the banks of the Payne and soon came up with the more imposing "Hough's Mills" as a more fitting name for his settlement. The community's founder was a versatile jack-of-all-trades, serving as doctor, undertaker, justice of the peace, lay preacher, storekeeper, and housebuilder. By 1854, regular stagecoach service to Moulinette and Moose Creek had been established and a decade later, on April 1, 1864, the settlement received its first Post Office, and with it its first officially-recognized name, Avonmore (Gaelic for "Great River"). The first Postmaster was Elias Shaver, the community's other renaissance man, who was also a farmer, blacksmith, tanner, carriage manufacturer, and rival Justice of the Peace.

Avonmore grew slowly during the early years following Confederation, but the arrival of the O&Q (Ontario and Quebec) Montreal-Toronto branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1886 turned the sleepy settlement into a boomtown overnight and the growth continued unabated until the First World War. By 1913 Avonmore's first Community (IOOF) Hall had been completed, and in that same year the renowned Avonmore High School opened its doors. The School's Cadet Corps was legendary: in 1948 alone it was the best in Ontario, Canada, and the British Commonwealth in marksmanship. In 1966, the Avonmore Fire Department was officially organized and in 1991, following a community struggle that gained national attention, Avonmore residents not only saved their Post Office, but soon after in 1995 received Canada's first self-service fully-automated Post Office.

Today Avonmore boasts (in addition to its cherished Post Office!) a full service Scotiabank; in the tradition of excellence stretching back to Avonmore High School, Roxmore Public School and Tagwi Secondary School; the North Stormont Medical Centre, ably served by Doctors Dean Ducas and Mary Smar; the Avonmore Veterinary Clinic, presided over by Doctors Jim Wood and Brian Harrison; Morningside Place senior citizens' apartments; the Avonmore Community Centre, which houses the Avonmore Branch of the SD&G Library System; the Senior Citizens' (Avonmore Diamond Club) headquarters; and a fully equipped kitchen, bar, and banquet and meeting hall able to accommodate groups and receptions of up to 300; the fully-heated Avonmore Community Pool; and the Avonmore Fairgrounds, site of the Roxborough Agricultural Society's annual exhibition, Avonmore Fair, held yearly in July; and Oktoberfest held yearly in mid-September. The Fairgrounds boasts a covered grandstand; huge fair tent; race course; lighted baseball diamond; soccer field; and indoor skating rink in winter. Avonmore takes pride as well in its two Churches, St. James United and St. Andrews Presbyterian; the ancestral home of k.d. lang on Fairview Drive; its two community newspapers, Rural Route and the County Times; its two restaurants, Patsy's Diner and Rockin' Ronda's, Garnet Robertson Construction and Dale Coleman Construction, Amsing Cartage, Delaney Bus Lines, the one and only Robinson Motors, Bush Insurance Brokers, and last but by no means least, Barkley's Store, a community tradition of old-fashioned friendly service in a heritage setting since 1908, now featuring as well a fully-equipped LCBO Agency Store. To paraphrase "The Man from Avonmore" from 1923, all of the above is "surely a sign of prosperity!"

By Murray Barkley
March 2001

Pictures courtesy of Haven Farm