Alma, Ontario

Alma is an unincorporated rural community in Mapleton Township, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada.^[1][2]

Alma
Unincorporated rural community
Entering Alma along County Road 17
Alma Location of Alma in Canada Show map of Canada Alma Alma (Ontario) Show map of Ontario
Coordinates: 43°43′49″N 80°30′08″W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Wellington
Township	Mapleton
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
GNBC Code	FACPP[1]

History

Pioneers began settling along the Elora Saugeen Road, which forms the main street of Alma, during the 1840s.^[3]

Alexander MacCrea and his wife settled here in 1848, and built a store. The "MacCrae's Corners" post office was established in 1854, and MacCrae was postmaster.^[4][5]

In 1854, the settlement's name was changed from MacCrae's Corners to "Alma", after the Battle of Alma.^[3]

James Ledingham and his family moved to Alma in 1864, and built a saw and chopping mill.^[6]

In 1865, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church was established in Alma. The church moved to a new stone church in Alma in 1892.^[3]

The Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway built a line through Alma in 1870.^[4] The line was eventually taken over by Canadian National Railway, and was abandoned in 1983.^[7] The Alma railroad station has since been destroyed.^[8]

After the railway was constructed, Alma became "a bustling service centre for the local settlers and travellers".^[5] Alma was noted for having a post office, wagon maker, weaver, telegraph office, shoemaker, grist mill, several saw mills, several stores, three churches, and four hotels. In 1879, the population was 250.^[5][9]

Wallace Cummings Park in Alma was constructed in 2003 on 25 ha (62 acres) of donated land. The park features a playground, walking trail, toboggan hill, picnic shelter, community hall, wetland boardwalk, and garden labyrinth.^[10]

Education

Alma Public School, part of the Upper Grand District School Board, is located in Alma.^[11]

Notable people

• James Scarth Gale (1863 – 1937), Presbyterian missionary, educator and Bible translator in Korea.^[12]
• George Alexander McQuibban (1886 – 1937), physician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. McQuibban lived in Alma and had a practice there.^[13]

Gallery

• 
  Alma, 1910
• 
  Houses on Peel Street, 1910
• 
  Alma, 2017
• 
  Historic locomotive near the former railroad station