Wingham, Ontario

Wingham (2001 census population 2885) is a community located in the municipality of North Huron Ontario, which is located in Huron County. Wingham became part of North Huron in 2001 when the Ontario government imposed amalgamation on the former township of East Wawanosh, the village of Blyth, and the town of Wingham.

Wingham is located at the intersection of the old Highways 4 & 86. Responsibility for these highways was downloaded by the province in 1998, so they are now county roads. Most of Wingham is located between County Road 86 to the south and the Maitland River to the north.

Business and Industry

Wingham has a number of manufacturing businesses as well as a variety of retail and service businesses. Wingham supports two grocery stores as well as a main street with retail stores and restaurants. The town has branches of the Bank of Montreal, CIBC, TD Canada Trust banks, as well as a branch of the Libro Financial credit union. [http://www.wacc.on.ca/main_home.htm Wingham and Area Chamber of Commerce ] ]

The industries with a presence in the town include:

* Wescast Industries, three manufacturing facilities for this auto-part producer.
* BI-AX International produces plastic film for use in food packaging and industry.
* Royal Homes is a manufacturer of pre-fabricated homes.

Radio and Television

Wingham has three radio stations CKNX 920, CKNX-FM 101.7, and CIBU 94.5 THE BULL!, all owned by Blackburn Radio. There is also television station CKNX channel 8, owned by CTVglobemedia, it rebroadcasts the master signal of CFPL-TV from London, with the exception of local advertising. On April 9, 2007, it was announced that Rogers Communications has filed with the CRTC to purchase all of the A-Channel stations, including CFPL, CKNX, CKX-TV, Access Alberta and several cable channels being put up for sale by CHUM Limited in the wake of CTVglobemedia's pending acquisition of the CHUM group.

Education

* F. E. Madill Secondary School is located in Wingham. Approximately 1000 students attend; most bussed in from the surrounding area.

* Wingham Public School is located in the heart of Wingham on John Street.
* Sacred Heart School, a Catholic elementary school located in the town's east end.

Transportation

Wingham is located to the north of County Road 86 which connects to Kitchener-Waterloo to the east. The main thoroughfare is County Road 4, called Josephine Street within Wingham, which connects to London, Ontario to the south.

Wingham/Richard W. LeVan Aerodrome is a general aviation airport to the southeast of Wingham with fuel services and private hangars.

Wingham is served by scheduled bus service to London and Owen Soundcite web|url=http://www.greybruceairbus.com/airbus/os-london.htm|title=Grey-Brue Bus Schedule|publisher=Grey Bruce Air Bus|accessdate=2007-04-18] as well as Stratfordcite web|url=http://www.cherreybuslines.com/scheduled_runs.html|title=Cherry Bus Schedule|publisher=Cherry Bus Lines|accessdate=2007-04-18] .

Attractions

The North Huron Museum provides an overview of the history of the Township of North Huron beginning in the Paleolithic era and continuing into modern times.

Famous people

* Professor William Crowell Bray - Head of Chemistry department at the University of California, Berkeleycite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pLAPAAAAIAAJ&q=wingham+ontario+-munro&dq=wingham+ontario+-munro&pgis=1
title=Google Book Snippet on Bray]
* W. T. "Doc" Cruickshank - Canadian broadcasting pioneer cite web |url=http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/personalities.php?id=220
title=W. T. "Doc" Cruickshank tribute]
* Dave Farrish - NHL hockey player
* Honoré Jackson - A leader of the North-West Rebellion
* Alice Munro - Short story author, born in and wrote about Wingham,
* Charles Alexander Moffat - Artist, born in Wingham and raised near Teeswater, Ontario.
* Lesley Pike - Singer/songwriter born and raised in Wingham, currently experiencing success in Toronto, western Canada and California.
* George Agnew Reid (Canadian artist) - Artist, raised near Wingham.cite web
url=http://www.londonmuseum.on.ca/Historical/First_Ren/reid.html
title=George Agnew Reid
publisher=Museum London]
* Caroline Wellwood - Early missionary nurse to China.cite web
url=http://www.cahn-achn.ca/pdf/VolXVNo1Spring2002.PDF
title=CAHN Newsletter Spring 2002
publisher=Canadian Association for the History of Nursing]

Politicians

* William Aberhart - Premier of Alberta, 1935-1943. Taught public school in Wingham.
* Murray Elston - Ontario MPP, 1981-1994. Born in Wingham.
* George Johnston - Alberta MLA and Speaker, 1921-1936. Born in Wingham.
* Robert Mooney - Manitoba MLA, 1922-1953. Born in Wingham.
* George Spotton - MP, 1927-1935. Wingham businessman.
* Robert Weir - MP, Minister of Agriculture, 1930-. Born in Wingham.

Trivia

* The entire town is served by the single postal code of 'N0G 2W0'; a self-effacing mnemonic for the code reads as No 0ne Goes 2 (to) Wingham, 0ntario.

References

External links

* [http://www.townofnorthhuron.ca/ Town of North Huron website]
* [http://www.wescast.com/ Wescast Industries]
* [http://www.royalhomes.com/ Royal Homes]
* [http://www.townofnorthhuron.ca/webpages/tourism/museums.html North Huron Museum]
* [http://www.wingham.com Wingham Advance-Times]