-situated on Elgin Road #45 in Malahide Township

-originally called "Newton" after David Newton and his family who settled near the corner. He died in 1837 at 32 yr old.

-renamed "Centreville" because of it's location exactly in the centre of the township but since several villages had this same name in Ontario the name was then changed to Luton (L.R.Tyrell, postmaster in town). Locals nicknamed it "Slabtown" because of the piles of lumber piled near the sawmill south of the corners on the east side of the road.

-the grist mill was built by Squire Henry Disher on Silver Creek (which he named the mill-pond).

-The first general store was opened by Orran Tyrrell in 1855.

-The first school was built in 1825 on same site as the present school. It had a fireplace at the end of the room and it was a spark from this fireplace that caused it to burn. A new log school was built to replace it but it was only used for 4 yr until it was replaced by a frame structure in 1848. It was used for 27 yrs and was then replaced by the present brick building.

-The first teacher was Miss Wilmott VanPatter (rumor has it she could barely read or write herself)

-Church services were held in the old log Centreville school house. A deed for a proper church (frame) building and a burial ground was drawn up in 1853. It was bricked over in 1894. The church was closed in 1965 due to lack of attendance and was used as a community hall.

I have gathered the above information from several different sources, over the years esp.
"Sims' History of Elgin County, by Hugh Joffrey Sims; 1984; pr. by Aylmer Express Ltd"
and believe it all to be true.     However I very much welcome any corrections anyone may be able
to give me and with proper documentation (via email), changes will be made promptly.
Thanx .. chaos ...

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Last revised on August 6, 1997