The old days, the old homes, the old customs have gone. A new era has been ushered in. Our present benefits are the fruits of the labours of those early pioneer workers and their successors. May we be worthy of our heritage and zealously profit by its blessing. J.S. Carter 1904.

This picturesque village along the shores of the St. Lawrence river started in it's early history as West Williamsburg, Canada West. It received it's first post office in 1832 with Mr. Stearns serving as the first post master. In 1844, the construction of the Williamsburg canals along the front of Dundas County set into place all the necessary elements to encourage the development of a town. As a result, a town did begin to literally grow out of farmers fields which stretched back from the newly completed canal. Benjamin Chaffey was the first to see the advantages of the canal construction and erected a gris mill along what was to become Morrisburg's waterfront. The little village grew over the boom years of the 1850's adding a carding mill erected by Austin Doran, a fanning mill factory established by McKenzie and two wharfs owned by Captain Farlinger and I.N. Rose respectively. In 1851 the town had adopted the name of "Morrisburgh". This name was chosen to honour Sir James Morris, who was instrumental in promoting and financing the construction of the Williamsburg Canals on the St. Lawrence River. Sir James was also the first Post Master General of Canada. The expansion was helped along by the arrival of the Grand Trunk Rail Road in 1855. Morrisburg was incorporated as a village in 1860. The growth was steady and persistent and many far thinking people of the day openly boasted that at the rate the town was growing it would be the capital of Dundas County! The 1870's brought exceptional growth and many of the large fine homes that can be seen today throughout the village were built during this time. It was at this time that Morrisburg was designated the "Village of Pretty and Stately Homes". The main street saw the addition of the Farlinger Block, the Meikle Block, the Music Hall and many other fine buildings. The town developed an excellent merchant and market atmosphere which attracted two banks, The Molson's Bank (1872) and the Bank of Ottawa. So renowned were the markets of Morrisburg that farmers from as far away as Finch brought their wagons of grain and butter to be auctioned to the highest bidder. The arrival of the 20th century saw the installation of the hydro electric plant in 1901 at a cost of $35,000. The depression years were cushioned by the Dr. Locke phenomenon in Williamsburg. During this period, Morrisburg played host to thousands of visitors and patients of Dr. Locke. This led to the establishment of several tourist homes such as "The Falcon", "The Ship's Mate", "The George Frederick", "The Cardinal" and the "Rosedale" just to name a few. These tourist homes continued to operated up until the time of the Seaway Project, with the exception of the Rosedale all of these building are still standing today.