Walkerton, Ontario, Canada

🇨🇦 Walkerton is a Town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within and governed by the municipality of Brockton. It is the site of Brockton's municipal offices and the county seat of Bruce County. It is located on the Saugeen River, at the junction of King's Highway 9 and formerly King’s Highway 4 and is 75 km south-west of Owen Sound.

In 1999, Walkerton became part of the Municipality of Brockton.

History Walkerton was originally part of Brant County and was first settled in 1849 by William Jasper and Edward Boulton who farmed to the east of the river. Other settlers from the same era included John Lundy, Moses Stewart and Thomas Bilkie who farmed to the west of the river. Joseph Walker arrived from Ireland in 1850 and is considered one of the founders of Walkerton. He built both saw mills and flour mills, surveyed the area into a town plot and encouraged businesses to locate here. Years later, Walker was the reeve of Brant for several terms, and was elected as the first mayor or Walkerton.

Although Walkerton was never incorporated as a village, it became a town in 1871, with a population of just under 1000. That increased to 2,604 by 1881, and to 3,061 by 1891 thanks to the arrival of the railroad which enabled the locals to ship their grain. The population dropped to 2,971 by 1901.

2000 fatal water supply contamination The Walkerton E. coli outbreak was the result of a contamination of the drinking water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, with E. coli and Campylobacter jejuni bacteria. The water supply was contaminated as a result of improper water treatment following heavy rainfall in late April and early May 2000, that had drawn bacteria from the manure of nearby cattle used to fertilize crops into the shallow aquifer of a nearby well. The first reported case was on May 17. The contamination caused gastroenteritis and sickened more than 2,000 people and resulted in seven deaths.

Subsequently, Associate Chief Justice of Ontario, Dennis O'Connor led an inquiry into the outbreak, called the Walkerton Inquiry. Walkerton Public Utilities Commission operators Stan and Frank Koebel, neither of whom had any formal training, were sentenced on December 20, 2004, after pleading guilty to charges of common nuisance stemming from the contamination—Stan to one year in jail, and Frank to nine months house arrest. As a result, stricter water treatment guidelines were put in place by the government.

Sport Walkerton is home to a Junior C hockey team, the Walkerton Hawks, and a Senior A hockey team, the Walkerton Capitals.

Education Walkerton has two high schools: Walkerton District Community School (K–12), and Sacred Heart High School. Walkerton also has an elementary school, St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School.