Almonte City Map Poster

About Almonte

History [ edit ] Almonte was founded in 1816 by Archibald McNab and named after Almonte, Spain.[2] It became a major railway centre with the arrival of the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway in 1875. The town was incorporated as a village on January 1, 1850; its population at that time was about 800. In 1870 it had become an important railway junction for lines to Perth (later part of Belleville), Carleton Place (later part of Renfrew) and Smiths Falls. Its industries included sawmills and planing mills as well as tanneries which used leather from local tanners' shops to make harnesses for horses pulling streetcars or wagons.[3] By 1900 Almonte's population reached 2200 people;[4] however this figure declined over the next decade due to economic depression following World War I,[5][6][7] but increased again during World War II when many military personnel were stationed there.