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Straddling the Goulbourn and Beckwith township lines, the village of Ashton shares the counties of Carleton (now part of the City of Ottawa) and Lanark. The name Ashton commonly refers to the entire area of the northwest corner of Goulbourn and the northeast corner of Beckwith that was served by the Ashton Post Office. |
Both townships were originally surveyed in 1817 and 1818. The first 100-acre lots in the village were allocated to Perthshire Scots immigrants (on the Beckwith side) and to discharged soldiers (mainly Irish) of the 100th Regiment of Foot on the Goulbourn side. Both groups worked together to develop Mount Pleasant, as Ashton was first called. When Englishman John Sumner arrived to open a sawmill, potashery and general store in 1840-41, the area became known as Sumner’s Corners. Ten years later, the Ashton General Store would open one of the earliest post offices established under the Empire Post Office Act. The emerging village was then officially renamed Ashton. |
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| Through the decades to the 1880's, the village grew as an artisan and service center to include hotels, churches, a school, and cottage-style industries. Today, many of the original log buildings in the village survive and are the homes of retirees and others who commute to Ottawa. |
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