Village of Zurich

The Village of Zurich is a community of the Municipality of Bluewater and is centrally located at the heart of Huron County in Southwestern, Ontario. Zurich is situated approximately 5 kilometres inland from the shores of Lake Huron with a view of the lake from the west end of town.

Zurich is:

• 10 km from St. Joseph, Highway 21
• 20 km from Bayfield, Grand Bend and Exeter
• 40 km from Goderich
• 70 km from London
• 100 km from Kitchener-Waterloo
• 200 km from Toronto
• 650 km from Ottawa

Founded in 1858

Frederick K. Knell was the first arrival on site of what would eventually become the village known as Zurich. He laid it out as a townsite in 1854 and originally settled on lot 21 of concession 11 in the Township of Hay. Mr. Knell was Swiss with a German descent, along with many of the early settlers coming into the area at the time that were from Germany. Most of the original population of Zurich came directly from Germany rather than from Waterloo County or Pennsylvania. Although a scattered influx of Pennsylvania Dutch settlers travelled to the country, from the earliest days, there was no real German settlement developed in Huron County except for Zurich. 

Knell Mill

One of the secrets of the early success in the development of the village of Zurich was that Mr. Knell quickly created both a sawmill and gristmill in the area. These were much needed after Moses Johnston—who had established the first mill—moved to the United States, leaving a large area without these services. The Knell Mill was very much in demand and a settlement developed around it. Further strength was given to the development of the village in December 1856 when a post office was established with Mr. Knell as the first postmaster. From here, the village developed quickly and within a period of seven years it had a population of approximately 300 people.

First Public House

The first public house is said to have been established by the shoemaker Henry Solden who was not the landlord for the community for very long. Later, two more substantial public houses were soon established.

The first of these was the Zurich Hotel which was operated by Bernard Hofele, operator of the general store. The second was one of several enterprises of early settler, Louis Vautier, who was the proprietor of the Victoria Hotel. In addition, Mr. Vautier was the first Justice of the Peace for Zurich and operated a successful glue factory—the first of its kind in Huron County.

Early Merchants

Two of the earliest settlers were blacksmiths named Peter Deichardt and Frederick Axt. The rapidly growing village attracted carpenters Henry Wohlnich and Henry Greb at an early stage in its development. An unusual feature in a newly established village was the presence of a bookshop. This was operated by Andrew Schmidt. It is reasonable conjecture that in a predominately German-speaking community, there was a higher demand at an early date for literature in this language than what was usually found in the first settlements of the County. Other early merchants in Zurich were Robert Brown who operated a general store; Casper Hill, operating a shoe shop; Henry Zimmerman, operating a tailor shop; and Henry Kohler, operating a harness shop. The first wagon maker in the village was Charles Bauer and the first doctor was Charles Toller.

The village inhabitants were remarkably thrifty and progressive in their thinking. Twenty-five years after it had first been laid out as a townsite, the village had added several industries including a tannery, a woolen mill, a flour mill, and a flax mill.

Churches

The Reformed Lutheran church built in 1859 with Rev. G. N. Munsinger as minister was the first church in Zurich. For a village of this size, the church was exceptionally well built. The cost to build the church was $800. It boasted a public clock in the tower which was, and still is, a feature in the district. Three other churches were established in Zurich—Methodist, Baptist and Roman Catholic.

Hay Township Hall

In 1860, a substantial town hall was built of yellow brick at a cost of $600. A school was established by 1860. It had an average attendance of 90 students with Samuel Foster as principal. Three teachers were employed in the public school. In the fifteen years between 1860 and 1875, Zurich doubled its population from 300 to 600.