Click On Map For Larger View	Cottam Ontario Canada
	A Village Rich with History
	What's Happening around The Town

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Some of the History So Far.
Colonel Talbot in 1821 had Mahlon Burwell survey the roads, from Mersea Township to Sandwich. It was not long after that settlers took up land along the Talbot Trail.
They say that an Indian was chasing a deer one day caught him at the Four Corners. As he grabbed the deer, he hollered, "Cot 'em", and so a legend and a town was born. Early settlers in the 1848 Cottam area built log cabins, that can still be seen at the Heritage Village (near Cottam).
The first Church was built in 1867, at the corner of Talbot Road and Clark Street. This structure was later used for the Town Hall. It was used for services until 1884, from then on it was used as a town hall until 1966, when it was torn down.
The first school opened in 1887 and remained the same through out it's life time, the only additions made were cement steps and a bell tower. In 1955 a new four room brick school was opened and was used for primary and junior pupils. In 1979, it was sold for new municipal offices, that also houses the Cottam Public Library.
The electric railroad came through Cottam in 1899, a stockyard was built so farmers were able to ship their stock to market. Horses, sheep, hogs, poultry were part of the income of the farm. Until 1950 almost every farmer had a dairy herd and shipped milk to local dairies.
In 1920 the Village of Cottam bought a man powered chemical fire engine, that was later Mounted on a truck. They had a volunteer fire department in 1945, and purchased a fire truck in 1947, that turned into the Cottam and Gosfield North Fire Department in 1962.

Business then and Now
Besides farming Cottam has had a number of businesses. The first was a soap factory in 1870 that turned ashes into lye soap until about 1888.
Two cheese factories one started in 1870 till 1880's. the other one 1895 to 1903.
There was a brick and tile yard in 1898. That property in 1911 became the Conklin Lumber Yard until it was closed in 1973.
Other businesses at various times blacksmith, carriage makers, livery feed stable, stagecoach stop, grist mill and canners.
Today Cottam's rich history still includes canneries, hybrid seeds, honey and plastic factories.