A Little History of Perth Road Village

One of the ongoing projects the BLA hopes to pursue is to collect and maintain aspects of local history about the lake and the surrounding community. Here are a few tidbits taken from an article by Reg Whitty published in the Kingston Whig Standard in 1974:

• Settled in the mid-1800’s – Early land deeds where the current Perth Road Village stands included names such as Trimmer, Sears, McFadden, Peabody and Clough.
• The nearest stage route came as far as Inverary so people had to drive (by horse powered vehicle) or walk to Inverary to connect with Kingston.
• A sawmill was built on the creek that runs through the village and operated by a man named Freeman.
• About 1870, a grant of $600 from some level of government helped to upgrade the road between Inverary and the Village which permitted much easier connections to surrounding communities.
• About this same period, Christopher Roushorn discovered lead deposits in the area which created a bit of a mining boom.
• Men and their families seeking work in the mines began to move to the area creating a building boom as well. Among the wave of settlers were familiar names such as Roberts, Harris and Peters and the Stoness brothers, James and Jabez.
• Jabez kept the first post office and general store. He built and operated a large hotel as well which was later sold to John Roberts who turned the building into a second general store, which is still standing today.
• Jabez Stoness operated the first mail route between Perth Road Village and Kingston making the round trip three times weekly and eventually daily. He operated the route for 26 years and was succeeded by George Alton.
• Early blacksmiths were William Sears and Ira Darling.
• The current United Church was moved to the present location from Lake Opinicon in 1953 and the current church hall once served as a Methodist/United Church and was moved to the present location from near the present intersection of the Perth and Wilmer Roads when the roads were upgraded in the 1960’s.