The Huron Road
In 1827 Dr. William "Tiger" Dunlop of the Canada Company opened the line of the Huron Road some 153 km from Goderich to Guelph whose townsites were established that year. Improved in 1828 to promote the sale of Company lands in the 405,000 ha Huron Tract, comprising parts of modern Huron, Perth, Middlesex and Lambton Counties, the route is now followed by provincial Highway 8 from Goderich to Waterloo County. Passing through Wilmot and Waterloo Townships to the Hespler area, via Haysville and Strasburg, it then approximated the present course of provincial Highway 24 to Guelph. Townships were surveyed and 5,905 persons, mostly immigrants, had by 1840 settled in the Huron Tract.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Ontario Plaques. Full page here.