Ingersoll, Ontario
| Ingersoll | |
|---|---|
| Town (lower-tier) | |
| Town of Ingersoll | |
 |
|
| Motto: Prosperity Through Progress | |
 Ingersoll
|
|
| Coordinates: 43°02′21″N 80°53′01″W / 43.03917°N 80.88361°WCoordinates: 43°02′21″N 80°53′01″W / 43.03917°N 80.88361°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Province |
 Ontario
|
| County | Oxford |
| Established | 1852 (village) |
| 1861 (town) | |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ted Comiskey |
| • Federal riding | Oxford |
| • Provincial riding | Oxford |
| Area | |
| • Land | 12.90 km2 (4.98 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 280 m (920 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 12,757 |
| • Density | 1,000.7/km2 (2,592/sq mi) |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Postal code FSA | N5C |
| Area code(s) | 519 and 226 |
| Website | www.ingersoll.ca |
Ingersoll is a town in Oxford County on the Thames River in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The nearest cities are to the east and London to the west.
Ingersoll is situated north of and near Highway 401. Oxford County Road 119 (formerly Ontario Highway 19) serves the town. The local high school is Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute.
The Ingersoll area became known for home-made cheese production, beginning in the 1830s, and its County of Oxford was home to the first cheese factory in Canada in 1864. In 1866, a giant block of cheese weighing 7,300 pounds (3,311 kg) was produced at the James Harris Cheese Factory, just south of Ingersoll, for promotion of the town's cheese industry. The "Big Cheese" was exhibited at the New York State Fair in Saratoga, NY, and then in England.
Heavy manufacturing is currently Ingersoll's largest industry, including manufacturers such as CAMI Automotive, a General Motors car manufacturing plant that was originally a joint venture with Suzuki Motors of Canada.
Ingersoll’s founder, Thomas Ingersoll (1751-1812), was a native of England who removed to Great Barrington, Mass., and then to the Niagara District, Upper Canada in1795. In 1793 he received grant of Oxford township (revoked in 1797, and grant reduced to 1200 acres) which became the site of the community of Ingersoll, and where he established a farm for his family and settled other families nearby. Discouraged by the slow pace of settlement, Thomas withdrew his family from Oxford in 1806, but two of his sons, Charles (1791-1832) and James (1801–86), returned to the family homestead, James in 1818 and Charles in 1821. James, born in Oxford, then was 17, his brother ten years older. Together the sons laid the foundations for the hamlet of Ingersoll.
The hamlet of Ingersoll was proclaimed a village in 1852 and a town in 1865. Whereas Woodstock, the County seat, was Oxford County’s administrative centre, Ingersoll became the county’s principal industrial centre, in 1871 home to all four of the County’s industries that had 50 or more hands. Noxon Brothers and the Eastwood foundry, both manufacturers of agricultural implements, employed 103 and 70 hands respectively. With 4,022 in population in 1871, Ingersoll’s population surpassed that of Woodstock (3,982), although its advantage was not to last. By the 1860s, dairying was an emerging industry, sparked farm-wife production of cheese and butter, and then by the introduction of the factory system of cheese production in 1864. In 1866, to promote Ingersoll cheese as a high-quality, standardized brand, a cheese producer, James Harris, and local businessmen produced a 7,300 pound mammoth cheese, exhibited it at the New York State Fair in Saratoga, N.Y., and then exported it to England.
...
Wikipedia