Wilno, Ontario

The community of Wilno, Ontario is situated on the border of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards and Madawaska Valley townships in Renfrew County, Ontario.

Wilno is nestled in the rolling, picturesque terrain of the Madawaska valley which was largely shaped during the demise of the Laurentide ice sheet at the end of the last North American Ice Age.

Wilno is the first and oldest Polish settlement in Canada. The original settlers in this area circa 1858 were mainly of Kashubian origin from Kaszebe - the then Prussian area of Poland. One of the reasons they chose this area to settle was because of the landscape which reminded them of their original homes.

At one time, John Rudolphus Booth's Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway ran through the town mainly serving the lumber industry. The former train route has now been redeveloped into a recreational path. Where former train station used to sit, an early settler building and museum that presents the early history of the town has been built. The museum and open air wodden skansen contain the history of the first Kashubian people as well as their immigration to Canada, freedom and eventually, after many hardships, their settlement journey to the Wilno area.

Wilno's namesake was the city of Vilnius (Wilno in Polish), then in a Russian-occupied area of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, now capital of Lithuania, the birthplace of Reverend Ludwik Dembski, who was a prominent community spiritual leader and town founder, who would not have wanted the town named after himself. Therefore, the townsfolk, grateful for his contributions to their town, may have suggested the name of Wilno.

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Wikipedia