To Begin

To begin let us start with a short description of London to set the scene for further posts. London is located in Southwestern Ontario roughly half way between Toronto and Detroit.

The current location at the forks of the Thames river was selected in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as the future site of the capital of Upper Canada: but was rejected by the then Governor-General.

London was founded in 1826 The British located a garrison in the village in 1838. On January 1, 1855 London was incorporated as a city (10,000 or more residents). London was a city within a forest, and thus came by its nickname “The Forest City”.

The arrival of the railroad in 1853 stimulated a rapid growth in the city’s population, and cemented London’s role as the prominent city in Southwestern Ontario. London’s population as of 2009 was 362,000.