GeorgetownOn brings to light the history, nature, culture and people of Halton Hills.

Alfred J. Casson in Glen Williams

  • Before the arrival of the Europeans, the area was occupied by the Attawandarons, who were an Iroquoian-speaking people. Other groups that occupied the land included the Anishinaabe and the Haudenosaunee. In the 1800s, people from Mississauga moved into the area.
    In 1819, the British government would negotiate the purchase of the Mississauga land under Treaty 19. The name Esquesing probably means That Which Lies at the End.

    FIRST NATIONS

  • The town GEORGETOWN is named for George Kennedy, who came to the Esquesing Township area as one of the first settlers, as his brother Charlesy surveyed land there after the so-called Indian Purchase.
    In 1819, all five brothers claimed land in the vicinity of present-day Georgetown and began their businesses.
    It was about 1837 when the area became to be known as Georgetown.

    HISTORY OF GEORGETOWN

  • Acton
    In 1825 the first settlers arrived in the area. Rev. Ezra, Rev. Zena and Rufus Adams left the Methodists to pursue the farming life It is not until 1836, however, that the settlement is named Adamsville.
    When the first post office was established here in 1844, Robert Swan, the first postmaster, changed the name Adamsville to Acton, after his birthplace in England.

    HISTORY OF ACTON

  • Norval
    The history begins in 1820 when James McNab bought land in 1812 to build a mill and raise sheep. A post office was established in 1836 and within 10 years 200 people lived in the village and a mill, a pub, two churches and two shops were built.

    HISTORY OF NORVAL

  • Glen William
    The community of Williamsburg became the main industrial center of the area due to its mills that ran along the Credit River. In 1825, Benajah Williams established the Williams' Mill here with his son Charles and Joel and history began to be made.
    In 1852, the name Williamsburg was changed to Glen Williams.

    HISTORY OF GLEN WILLIAMS

  • In 1781 the British Government started purchasing land from the Mississauga Nation.
    In 1818, they bought what are now the townships of Esquesing and Nassagaweya.
    Halton Hills was known as Esquesing Township.
    The name of Esquesing, which translates as likely as That Which Lies At End.
    The Town of Halton Hills was formed in 1974 by the consolidation of the Towns of Acton, Georgetown, Esquesing Township and the Villages of Ballinafad, Glen Williams, Stewarttown, Limehouse, Glen Lawson, Speyside, Ashgrove, Crewson's Corners, Bannockburn, Henderson's Corners, Whaley's Corners, Mansewood, Hornby, Silver Creek, Terra Cotta a Norval.

    HISTORY OF HALTON HILLS

History In Images 1877

  • William Barber Mill