Actons Corners, Ontario

Actons Corners is a small rural community in eastern Ontario in the municipality of North Grenville in the County of Leeds and Grenville. It is located on County Road 43 (formerly provincial Highway 43) between Kemptville and Merrickville at the intersection of Actons Corners Road (north to the Rideau River) and County Road 25 (south to Oxford Mills).

Except for a disused church, the North Grenville Archives, and a brickyard, the area is composed of mainly of farms and homes set in a mixture of farmland and cedar forest.

Addresses in the community are either listed as RR #1, Oxford Mills or RR #5, Kemptville.

History

North Grenville Archives (Actons Corners School)

The intersection was created between Lots 15 and 16 of Concessions 2 and 3 of Oxford Township in the early 1800s and was originally named Bobtown, with only a Blacksmith's shop in the area. In the late 1820s Robert Acton and his family arrived from West Connaught, Ireland and settled on Lot 16, Concession 3. Robert's son, John Acton, was a capable shoemaker, but worked on the Rideau Canal as a stone mason and later built several buildings in the township including the grist mill at Oxford Mills and the stone house at Actons Corners that replaced the family's original log dwelling. Actons Corners takes its name from John Acton.

At its height, Actons Corners boasted a post office, a school, two churches, a cheese factory, and an Orange Hall.

The post office operated between the 1890s and 1912, when it was replaced by rural mail delivery from Kemptville. A stone school was first opened in 1858 to replace two log schools to the east and west of the village. In 1905 the school was demolished and replaced with a new stone building that is now used as the North Grenville Archives. A white framed Methodist Church was constructed in 1875 and a stone Anglican church, St. Augustine, was built in 1879. The Methodist church was sold and removed in 1963, while the Anglican church has been disused for many years. Scott's Cheese Factory was built in 1886 and operated until 1948. The Orange Hall served as a community centre until it was closed and the building sold and moved in the late 1930s.

References

*Newans, Jean (Ed)(1984) "All Around the Township"
*Newans, Jean (Ed)(1994) "Acton's Corners"