Renamed in his honour after his 1851 death

Scugog and Port Perry

Peter Perry bought 40 acres and opened a waterfront trading post in 1840, naming the settlement Scugog Village. When he died the following decade, the community renamed itself after him.

The former Port Perry Town Hall in Scugog, Ontario
Former Port Perry Town Hall — Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons licensed

Advertisement

European settlement in the area began in 1821 with Reuben Crandell, but the community's namesake arrived later: in 1840, Peter Perry bought 40 acres at the waterfront and opened a trading post, naming the settlement Scugog Village. When Perry died in 1851, the village was renamed Port Perry in his honour.

From village to amalgamated township

Lake Scugog itself was created by a dam built at Lindsay in 1834, flooding land that created Scugog Island; the island was separated from the surrounding townships of Reach and Cartwright to form Scugog Township in 1856. Port Perry was incorporated as a village in 1873 and rebuilt in a more robust Victorian style after a major fire destroyed much of downtown in 1884. The creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1974 merged Scugog, Reach and Cartwright townships with the town of Port Perry into the modern Township of Scugog.

Advertisement

Sources

Continue reading

Browse all Toronto Guide topics → Browse the slang dictionary → Read the history of Toronto slang →