Fonds - Stratford Agricultural Society scrapbooks

The Stratford Agricultural Society was founded in 1841. On November 22, 1841, Alex McDonald, William Jackson, William Smith and John J.E. Linton met at the Shakespeare Inn in Stratford, Ontario to discuss information about the Oxford Agricultural Society's rules and to review the 1837 Act of the provincial parliament of Upper Canada governing the formation of agricultural societies . They wrote to influential farmers in the district, proclaiming their conviction that 'nothing would contribute more to the advantage of the Settlement than the formation of an Agricultural Society' and inviting them to a meeting at the Shakespeare Inn on November 27, 1841 for the purpose of establishing such a society. Yet another meeting was called for December 15 for all interested local people where it was agreed to form the 'District of Huron Agricultural Society.' Rules and regulations were set down and officers elected, including William Jackson as President, John J.E. Linton as secretary. In March 1842, it was learned that an agricultural society had also been recently established in Goderich, Ontario - also called the District of Huron Agricultural Society. There being only one provincial grant available for the district, the Stratford-based organization became the Stratford Branch Agricultural Society with the Goderich-based society responsible for passing on the branch's share of the provincial money. When Perth County separated from the Huron District in 1853, the Stratford society recreated itself as the County Agricultural Society of the County of Perth. By 1868 government legislation allowed the formation of agricultural societies according to electoral districts. A South Perth Society was formed in St. Marys, Ontario and the County Agricultural Society of the County of Perth, based in Stratford, became the North Riding of Perth Agricultural Society. It evolved into the Stratford Agricultural Society. It is unclear when the name change became official but the Society was routinely using that name when it celebrated its centennial in 1941.