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 CNHS - Buxton Settlement Posted by:  Bon Echo
N 42° 18.369 W 082° 13.261
17T E 399363 N 4684490
Also known as the Elgin Settlement, the CNHS plaque is located at the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum
Waymark Code: WMJB7G
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 10/23/2013
Views: 13
"There are signs of industry and thrift and comfort, everywhere; signs of intemperance, of idleness, of want, nowhere. There is no tavern and no groggery; but there is a chapel and a schoolhouse. Most interesting of all are the inhabitants. Twenty years ago, most of them were slaves who owned nothing, not even their children. Now they own themselves; they own homes and farms, and they have their wives and children about them. They are enfranchised citizens of a government which protects their rights. They have the great essentials of human happiness, "something to love, something to do, and something to hope for" and if they are not happy it is their own fault."
Written about the Elgin Settlement by Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876) who was appointed by Edwin Stanton of Abraham Lincoln's administration to report on the Freedmen's Inquiry Report. His report became part of the Congressional debate on the Fourteenth Amendment.
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(the above text was taken from the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum website, emphasis added)
The CNHS plaque located at this site contains the following text:
From the shores of Lake Erie to the seventh concession, from Dillion Road on the east to Drake Road on the west, Buxton's ordered fields are dotted with churches and homes from the epic experience of the Underground Railroad. In 1849, Reverend William King arrived with fifteen former slaves at a 9,000-acre tract of swampy, forested land. More refugees followed, buying and clearing 50-acre homesteads, establishing industries, churches and schools. The settlers created the rectangular pattern of roads and drainage ditches seen today, transforming the landscape into the prosperous Elgin Settlement, as it was then called, where neat cottages spoke of industry and thrift, and children received a classical education. Buxton lives on today through descendants of these determined immigrants who carved out a free life for themselves and their families on the tranquil plains of southwestern Ontario.
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The historicplaces.ca webpage for this site (see link below) describes the Buxton Settlement as such:
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Buxton Settlement National Historic Site of Canada was designated because:
- this cultural landscape, through the retention of land-use patterns and built resources, speaks to the successful realization of the block or planned refugee settlement in Canada;
- the cultural landscape continues as a living memorial to its founders and to the courage of every Underground Railroad refugee who took their life in their hands and chose Canada as their home.
The heritage value of this site resides in the site's illustration of a successful Underground Railroad refugee block settlement through the survival of land-use patterns and associated built resources.
Established as the Elgin Settlement at Buxton, Ontario, the Buxton Settlement survives today as a distinct cultural landscape, one that continues to function as a community while preserving tangible survivals from its historic past. It was founded in 1849 by Irish Presbyterian Minister, Reverend William King and 15 former American slaves who, with other Underground Railroad (UGRR) refugees and abolitionists, purchased a 4,680 hectare tract of land as a joint stock company. Settlers cleared the land and established farms on 50-acre (202,342 square metre) plots which they purchased over time. By 1859, the settlement reached its peak population of over 1,000 residents served by three integrated schools, two temperance hotels, a general store, a post office, a sawmill, a brickyard, a grist mill and a pearlash factory. In 1873, its objectives achieved, the company was disbanded but the community survived. |
Classification: National Historic Site
Province or Territory: Ontario
Location - City name/Town name: North Buxton, Ontario
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: [Web Link]
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