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MADOC, FOUNDING OF
PLAQUE TEXT
Mills constructed about 1832 by Donald MacKenzie, a Belleville merchant, and the ironworks erected by American entrepreneurs Uriah Seymour and John Pendergast, formed the nucleus of a settlement here on Deer Creek. A post-office, Madoc, was established in 1836, and the hamlet grew gradually, stimulated by lumbering, farming and the opening of the Hastings Colonization Road (1854), which ran north from Madoc Township. Following the nearby discovery of goldbearing quartz in 1866, it became a bustling centre, which by 1868 contained about 1000 inhabitants and numerous industries, including a rock crushing mill. The boom declined after 1870, but the community continued to prosper from its agricultural and commercial activities. Madoc was incorporated as a Village by a County by-law of 1877.
Erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation
GPS co-ordinates: 44º 30' 21.83" N 77º 28' 07.86" W (44.50583333, 77.46861111)
Street address: St. Lawrence Street East, Madoc
The plaque is mounted on a large chunk of quartz in Commemoration Park on St. Lawrence Street East. There are other plaques in the park. See MacKenzie's Mills for more information on the founding of Madoc.
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