This Is My Town: Winchester

Winchester, Ontario.

Dairy farmers in the surrounding areas may have heard it referred to as the Wisconsin of Ontario, known for its Dairy!

If you head down the main strip, you will see the telephone poles have a portion of them painted in cow print.

Population? 11,278 (2016).

Winchester was originally settled by Ben Bates in 1835 and was first called “Bates Corners.”

Not going to lie, when I first read that all I thought of was Ben “Gates” from National Treasure… But no, nobody there stole the Declaration of Independence.

via GIPHY

During the early years, people travelled to Winchester for supplies, and business started to evolve… by 1855 Winchester had a general store, blacksmith shop, a carriage maker and a farm produce business. The first post office was opened that same year, with the name changing from “Bate’s Corners” to “West Winchester,” after the Winchester Township.

They dropped the “West” portion in 1884 with the establishment of the Canadian Pacific Railway. With the ideal dairy farming land, the railway allowed farmers to take the their produce to the market, which provided growth for the village.

Capitalizing on that, the Winchester Cheese Board was founded in 1894. Mmm.. Cheese.

via GIPHY

Ault Foods moved there in 1932, and became Ontario’s largest milk processing plant… Winchester was the “Cheese Capital of Canada.” See what we meant by “Wisconsin of Ontario”? They ran until 1968 when it was purchased by Labatt Breweries, who then turned and sold the business to Parmalat.

Doesn’t mean they don’t like their dairy. They have a Winchester Dairyfest which has been going on for 31 years! Live entertainment, mechanical bull, tractor parade, and more.

Winchester also has a notable hospital that opened on December 8, 1984. Which the first baby born there was a little girl name Carol, born to Glendon and Doris Fetterly of Mountain. The hospital has gone under construction and expansion with a reopening on March 27, 2009. Its the most technologically-advanced facility in rural Ontario. The Winchester District Memorial Hospital is a hub site for cancer care, dialysis, and cataract surgery. It actually leads the Centre of Excellence for Rural Health and Education.

Some notable people have come from Winchester, ON:

• Larry Robinson, Stanley Cup winner and Hockey Hall of Famer was born in Winchester in 1951
• Right on the Welcome to Winchester sign… “Birth place of George Beverly “Bev” Shea. Grammy Award-Winning gospel singer and hymn comporser. Apparently in the Guinness Book of Records, Shea holds the world record for singing in person to the most people ever… estimated live audience of 220 million people.
• Slater Koekkoek, born in Winchester, selected 10th overall by Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2012 NHL Draft. Currently plays for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Not just a dairy farming town, we’d say.