Queen's Bush
The Queen's Bush was the vast unsettled area between Waterloo County, Ontario and Lake Huron during the early 19th century.
On January 1, 1850 the Queen's Bush was divided into counties, and the counties were divided into townships.
Plaque Inscription
An Ontario Historical Plaque located on Road 45 near where the Conestogo River crosses the road reads to following description; "In the early 19th century the vast unsettled area between Waterloo County and Lake Huron was known as the "Queen's Bush". More than 1,500 free and formerly enslaved Blacks pioneered scattered farms along the Peel and Wellesley Township border, with Glen Allan, Hawkesville and Wallenstein as important centres. Working together, these industrious and self-reliant settlers built churches, schools, and a strong and vibrant community life. American missionaries taught local Black children at the Mount Hope and Mount Pleasant schools. In the 1840s the government ordered the district surveyed and many of the settlers could not afford to purchase the land they had laboured so hard to clear. By 1850 migration out of the Queen's Bush had begun. Today African Canadians whose ancestors pioneered the Queen's Bush are represented in communities across Ontario.