The Founding of Mitchell
In 1836 the Canada Company, a large private land settlement agency, laid out a town plot (Mitchell) here on the Huron Road. Within a year John Hicks, one of Logan Township's earliest settlers, had erected a hotel near this point where the road crossed the Thames River. Although settlement proceeded slowly at first, a sawmill was in operation by 1842. Following the opening of the Mitchell-Blanshard Road in 1845 stores and other mills were built and in 1851 the population had reached 150. The arrival of the Buffalo and Lake Huron Railroad in 1857 greatly stimulated the development of Mitchell and it was incorporated as a Village in that year. In 1874 with a population of some 2000 it became a Town.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Ontario Plaques. Full page here.