Background My Goderich

About our Heritage

Goderich is a community with a rich heritage, and our residents are rightly proud of their history. Municipal and Marine Heritage is an appointed committee of Council and therefore of the community as a whole. It acts in an advisory capacity to Council in order to identify, protect and promote the mechanisms that preserve the town's historic assets for the benefit of all. A list of current committee members can be found on the town website under Committees of Council. Meeting times can be found on the town website Meeting Calendar.

MMHC Terms of Reference
Mission:This committee will advise and assist Council in the identification, protection and promotion of resources of cultural heritage value or interest. These resources include, but are not restricted to, buildings, streetscapes, cultural landscapes, districts and natural and archeological heritage features. Being a port, Goderich has both municipal and marine heritage resources.

Organization:The committee will consist of not fewer than five members appointed by council for a term of no more than the term of the council making the appointments. One member will be a councillor appointed as liaison to the committee. One member will be appointed as liaison with the Business Improvement Association. Members may apply for re-appointment. A Chair and Vice-chair will be elected from the sitting members. Meetings will be held monthly, or as called for by the Chair and will be open to the public. Municipal policies pertaining to procedures and conflict of interest will apply to this committee.

Role of the MMHC:Whereas Council has the ultimate authority to make decisions and provide a budget, the committee will:

  1. Advise Council on all matters pertaining to heritage including architectural, archeological, natural, marine and cultural heritage components.
  2. Advise Council on all applications pertaining to an individual property (Part IV) or a Heritage Conservation District (Part V) for the purpose of:
    • Designation or de-designation
    • Alteration, addition or demolition
    • Signage
    • Loans or grants (Goderich Heritage Enhancement Fund)
    • Easement Agreements
  3. Conduct research appropriate to accomplishing the other listed roles.
  4. Advise and develop working relationships with owners of heritage designated properties in order to foster appropriate conservation and maintenance practices.
  5. Advise and assist with the development and maintenance of an inventory of the town's heritage resources (The Municipal Register).
  6. Advise and assist with the development of heritage conservation guidelines and with heritage policies, plans and programs including the heritage portion of the Official Plan.
  7. Conduct public education, public recognition and promotional activities highlighting heritage resources.
  8. Develop working relationships with municipal staff and other town committees, where appropriate, to accomplish mandate roles.
  9. Advise and inform Council of new heritage legislation and funding initiatives.
  10. Prepare an annual report for Council.

 

Role of Municipal Staff:

  1. To assist the chair in the creation of agendas.
  2. To take minutes at committee meetings.
  3. To maintain an up-to-date record of meetings, attachments and reports.
  4. To distribute minutes of previous meetings and the agenda for the upcoming meeting at least one week prior to the next scheduled meeting.
  5. To act as a resource for the committee during meetings, which may include presenting background reports, distributing government information and similar activities.
  6. To facilitate the recommendations of the committee to Council through the creation of reports.
  7. To ensure that other departments of the municipality, whose responsibilities and actions may impact on heritage matters, are aware of the roles and responsibilities of the MMHC and of potential impacts
  8. To submit an annual budget proposal on behalf of the committee
  9. To administer the budget of the committee.
Heritage Publications

  • Council Archives
  • In the Days of the Canada Company, Robina and Kathleen MacFarlane Lizars. William Briggs, Toronto, 1896.
  • ACentury of Goderich, Victor Lauriston. Reprinted from Canadian Geographic, August 1932, vol.2.
  • The Old Log School, Gavin Hamilton Green. 1939.
  • The Old Log House and Bygone Days in our Villages, Gavin Hamilton Green. Signal-Star Press, Goderich, 1948.
  • The Tiger of Canada West, W.H. Graham. Clarke, Irwin & Co., Toronto, 1962.
  • Early Huron Houses, Books One, Two, Three, W.E. Elliott, 1965
  • The Settlement of Huron County, James Scott. The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1966.
  • The Heritage Buildings of Goderich, Volumes One, Two and Three,Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (now MMHC).1977 and later.
  • "The Square" Goderich: A Heritage Conservation District Plan,Nicholas Hill, c.1977.
  • Memories of Goderich, Dorothy Wallace. 1977.
  • Historic Streetscapes of Huron County, Nicholas Hill, 1981.
  • West StreetGoderich: Heritage Conservation District Plan,Christopher Borgal Architects, 1992.
  • Reflections of Our Past: A Narrative Tour of Goderich, narrated by Dorothy Wallace. Ink drawings and layout Lucinda Jerry, 1993.
  • Postcard Views of Goderich, Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (now MMHC). Stan Brown Printers, Owen Sound, 1995.
  • Going to Town, Architectural Walking Tours in Southern Ontario, Katherine Ashenburg. Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, Toronto, 1996.
  • Understanding Commercial Blocks in Goderich,John Rutledge, 1999.
  • Goderich: Tiger's Legacy, Gordon Strathdee. Stonetown Books, St. Mary's, 2000
  • Goderich: Link to the Past, William Barlow. The Print Shop, Collingwood, 2001.
  • Downtown Ontario, Unusual Main Streets to Explore, Ron Brown. Polar Bear Press, Toronto, 2003.
  • The Hole in the Wall.Peter Sturdy, DanCam Press, Goderich and Forest, 2003.
  • The Canada Company and the Huron Tract, 1826-1853, Robert C. Lee. Natural Heritage Books, Toronto, 2004.
  • Double Trap, The Last Public Hanging in Canada, John Melady. Dundurn Press Toronto, 2005
  • Architectural Styles in the Port of Goderich, Heritage Goderich (now MMHC), 2010.
  • Goderich: On the Edge of Huron,Gordon Strathdee, 2011.
  • Goderich: Winds of Change, Gordon Strathdee, 2013

 

The Founding of Goderich

Courthouse Square Podcast and Transcript

South Street and East Street Podcast and Transcript

Menesetung Bridge and Tiger Dunlop's Tomb Podcast and Transcript

North Street Podcast and Transcript

West Street Podcast and Transcript

A plaque located in Harbour Park on the site of Tiger Dunlop's log 'castle' records Goderich's beginnings. The plaque reads:

"In 1826 the Canada Company, a newly chartered colonization firm, acquired a large block of land known as the Huron Tract. The following year, William "Tiger" Dunlop, appointed Warden of the Forests by the Company's first superintendent, John Galt, established his base here in the western part of the tract. Named Goderich after the Colonial Secretary Viscount Goderich, the site was initially marked only by 'The Castle', Dunlop's residence, but a settlement gradually developed.

By 1829 the Canada Company had surveyed a town plot, opened the Huron Road from Guelph and established an office. In 1841 Goderich became the administrative and judicial centre for the newly created Huron District. Nine years later, with a population of about 1000, the community was incorporated as a town."