ABOUT GUELPH
Guelph was founded on St. George's Day, April 23rd, 1827 with the ceremonial felling of a large maple tree. Guelph is considered to be one of the first planned towns in Canada and was chosen as the headquarters of a British development firm known as the "Canada Company". The location was picked by the Company's Superintendent in Canada, a popular Scottish novelist named John Galt who designed the town to attract settlers to it and to the surrounding countryside.
Galt's plan was quite imaginative, based on a series of streets radiating from a focal point at the Speed River, and resembles a European city centre, complete with squares, broad main streets and narrow side streets, resulting in a variety of block sizes and shapes. Galt chose the name "Guelph" for the new town because it was one of the family names of the British royal family, and it had apparently never been used as a place name before. Hence the current use of the term "The Royal City" for Guelph.
Despite John Galt's grandiose plans, Guelph did not grow beyond village size until the Grand Trunk Railroad reached it from Toronto in 1856. After this time, many of Guelph's prominent buildings were erected, a number of which were designed by high profile Toronto-based architects, but most of which were the product of a talented group of local architects, builders and stone carvers who effectively used Guelph's locally quarried, warm-hued limestone which today gives a visual unity to the older parts of the City.
Guelph is the fifth fastest growing mid-sized city in Canada with a population growth rate of about 2 per cent per year, and it is projected to have a population around 153,000 by the year 2027. The local transit system runs seven days a week from St. George's Square. Equipped with all the necessary features, buses are readily accessible for those with disabilities. There is a GO train station in Guelph as well as a Greyhound bus terminal. Guelph is also served by two local airports, the Waterloo Regional Airport and the Guelph Airpark.
The University of Guelph has over 90 majors in 13 degree programs and 63 Open Learning/Distance Education Opportunities. The University is home to 17,332 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, 2,076 full-time and part-time graduate students and almost 3000 faculty and staff. Over 99.8% of students entering the University of Guelph for the first time have academic averages of 75% and above. Guelph students also have the highest graduation rate among Canadian comprehensive universities (at 89%), 5.8% higher than the national average.
DON'T MISS OUT ON THESE EXCITING COMMUNITY EVENTS
Annual Lawn Bowling Tournament (JUNE)
Guelph Hillside (JULY)
Italian Festival (JULY)