Originally the land around Fergus and Elora was part of the grant made by the Crown to the Six Nations. Before 1800, Joseph Brant, on behalf of the Six Nations, sold Block 4, with 28,500 acres, to Colonel Thomas Clark of Stamford. The sale was confirmed in 1807. The land became Nichol Township, named after Colonel Robert Nichol, a distinguished soldier of the War of 1812. In 1832, Captain William Gilkison, cousin of the famous novelist and founder of Guelph and Goderich, John Galt, bought half of the township and the following year Adam Fergusson and James Webster bought half of the remaining land in the township.

In 1831, the Highland Society of Scotland, including Adam Fergusson of Woodhill in Perth, was concerned about the lack of information being provided to Scots who were emigrating to Canada. They persuaded Fergusson to make a trip to Canada and report back to them. That he did, taking volumes of notes in the process. When he returned, the book he published about the trip became a big seller.

He became so enamored by what he had done, that he decided to emigrate. He partnered with James Webster, a man half his age (Fergusson was 52, Webster 25) and returned to Canada in 1833. They were looking for the perfect spot and so rejected an area south of Lake Michigan because it was not within the Empire and anyway it was too swampy. Otherwise they might have settled on the site of Chicago. They eventually arrived at Little Falls, later Elora, and were very impressed. They worked their way upstream until they found a spring, and decided this was the place for them. They had already decided that the place was going to be named Fergus after Fergusson. But Adam Fergusson never settled in Fergus. The first winter, he returned to Britain; it was Webster with two associates, William Buist and "Scott the contractor", who built the first house in the town. This house was south of St Patrick's Street and west of St David's Street, and forms part of the municipal parking lot.

In 1850, a disagreement between Webster and Fergusson ended with Webster leaving Fergus and moving to Guelph for good. To run his investments in Fergus, Adam Fergusson persuaded his son George to move here and George eventually built the house that is now the Breadalbane Inn.

Many of Fergus' streets are named after Fergusson's relatives: Johnston Street is named after Fergusson's first wife, Jemima Johnston, who had died before he came to Canada the first time; Tower Street after his second wife, Jessie Tower; Blair Street also after his first wife, who was heiress to the Blair Estate. James Street was named after James Webster.

Places to see in Fergus:

• Fergus and Monkland Mills on St Andrew Street

  Fergus and Monkland Mills

  Built about 1858, these mills have had many names and have recently been converted to condominiums.

• Houses on St Andrew Street, such as:

  • Matilda Harvey Cottage, 365 St Andrew

    Matilda Harvey Cottage and neighbour

    This cottage and its neighbour are worker's cottages built about 1866.

  • John Gow House, 360 St Andrew

    John Gow House

    Builder John Gow built this house next door to the house of his brother Alexander about 1883.

  • Richard Moore House, 259 St Andrew

    Richard Moore House

    This house dates from about 1868 and was the home of a shoemaker named Richard Moore.

• Olde Livery, St David Street

  Olde Livery

  This former warehouse and livery stable was built by James Argo in 1878.

• Dr. Groves House and Surgery, St David Street

  Dr. Groves House and Surgery

  This is the house (left) and surgery (right) of the famous Dr. Abraham Groves. Dr. Groves was a pioneer in the use of antiseptics and sterilization, stomach surgery, and X-ray treatment for cancer. He was the first surgeon in Canada to perform an appendectomy; before that, people with appendicitis died. He opened a hospital, the Royal Alexandra, in Fergus in 1902 and included a nursing school. He gave the hospital to Fergus in 1935 and it was rebuilt as the Groves Memorial Hospital.

• Groves Grist Mill and Electric Light Plant, St David Street

  Groves Grist Mill and Electric Light Plant

  Thomas Watson erected this building about 1850 as a residence. It was also used as a warehouse and salesroom for his tannery business. The tannery is still there, right behind the building. Dr. Abraham Groves bought the building in 1883 after Watson went bankrupt. Dr. Groves converted the building into a steam-powered grist mill. He also used the mill to produce the first electric power for the village.

• Beatty Bros. Foundry, St David Street

  Beatty Bros. Foundry

  Now part of the Fergus market, this building was built as a foundry in 1878.

• Breadalbane Inn, St Andrew Street

  Beadalbane Inn

  The Breadalbane Inn (pronounced bred-ALL-bane) is named after a place in Scotland (where it is pronounced bree-ADDLE-bane). This was the house built by George Fergusson when he came to Fergus at his father's request in 1851. He originally settled in a small stone cottage on this site but, as his family grew, expanded into this house, which he called Mapleshade.