St Thomas, Ontario, Canada

🇨🇦 St. Thomas is a city in south-western Ontario, Canada. It gained its city charter on March 4, 1881. The city is also the seat for Elgin County, although it is independent of the county.

The city, located at the intersection of two historical roads, was first settled in 1810. It was named the seat of the new Elgin County in 1844 and was incorporated as a village in 1852, then as a town in 1861. In 1881 St. Thomas became a city. It was named after Thomas Talbot who helped promote the development of this region during the early 19th century.

The founder of the settlement that became St. Thomas was Capt. Daniel Rapelje, descendant of a Walloon family settled in New Amsterdam, now New York City, at its inception in the seventeenth century. In 1820, Rapelje, the town's first settler, divided his land into town lots suitable for a village. Owner of the New England Mill, Rapelje subsequently donated two acres of land for the building of Old St. Thomas Church.

In 1871, the developing village of Millersburg, which included these lands east of the London and Port Stanley Railway, amalgamated with St. Thomas.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century several railways were constructed through the city, and St. Thomas became an important railway junction. A total of 26 railways have passed through the city since the first railway was completed in 1856. In the 1950s and 1960s, with the decline of the railway as a mode of transportation, other industry began to locate in the city, principally primary and secondary automotive manufacturing.

In 1824, Charles Duncombe and John Rolph established the first medical school in Upper Canada, in St. Thomas, under the patronage of Colonel Thomas Talbot. Duncombe's house now forms part of The Elgin Military Museum complex. Between 1881 and 1988 the city had a private woman's school operating called Alma College which was destroyed by fire in 2008.

St. Thomas' late 19th- early 20th century architecture includes the Elgin County Court House, Wellington Street public school, Myrtle St. School (demolished in 2014), Balaclava St. School, Elmdale School and its city hall, most designated heritage properties and all designed by former resident Neil R. Darrach.

Economy The local economy has been dominated by automotive manufacturing, with two plants operated by Magna International, the Ford St. Thomas Assembly in nearby Talbotville, and a Sterling Trucks assembly plant. However, the 2008 global recession that impacted the auto sector ultimately trickled down to the city; the Sterling plant closed in March 2009, and the Ford plant closed in late 2011 for a loss of 1,400 jobs. A number of other, smaller auto parts plants also closed as a result, putting thousands more out of work. This had a domino effect on the other part manufacturers in town, such as Lear Seating. One automotive materials supplier, A. Schulman, had previously closed its local manufacturing plant in 2008, one of the first actions of a new CEO installed in January.

Masco Canada's consolidation of their Canadian operations into the former Sterling Truck assembly plant in 2010 and Toyota supplier Takumi Stamping Canada's expansion in the same year brought over 500 jobs to St. Thomas.

A report in June 2019 indicated that a plant for cross-laminated timber (CLT) would be built in town, providing over 60 jobs. The estimated cost of the automated plant was $32 million.

The town's Economic Development Corporation has attracted film crews, particularly to the former psychiatric hospital (the Regional Mental Health Centre) on Sunset Drive as a location for filming. A January 2020 report indicated that productions filming in the town have included The Boys, Guillermo del Toro's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and most recently, a film featuring Jason Momoa that was planning to film in town, frequently outdoors, from February to June 2020.

Transportation St. Thomas is accessible via Ontario Highway 3 and Ontario Highway 4, the latter of which provides access to London, Highway 401 and Highway 402.

Local Motion - Railway City Transit, which includes both conventional bus service and paratransit, is owned by the city and staffed and operated by Voyageur Transportation.

The city is served by the St. Thomas Municipal Airport (YQS), just east in the Municipality of Central Elgin. There are no scheduled flights; the airport is used for general aviation only. A bi-annual large-scale air show takes place at the St. Thomas Municipal Airport.

From 1978 to 1979 Canada Southern Railway Station served as the only Canadian stop for the short-lived Amtrak Niagara Rainbow route.