Guelph, Ontario
Guelph (2001 population 106,170, metropolitan population 117,344) is a city located in southwestern Ontario, Canada, roughly 60 kilometres west of Toronto.One of the first planned communities in Canada, Guelph was founded on St. George’s Day, April 23, 1827. It was selected as the headquarters of the Canada Company, a British development firm, by its Canadian Superintendent John Galt. Galt, who was also a novelist, designed the town to resemble a European city centre and chose the name "Guelph" after the German ancestral family of George IV, the reigning monarch, thus the nickname "The Royal City".
It was not until the Grand Trunk Railway connected the town to Toronto in 1856, and several buildings were erected in the late 19th century, that Galt's grandiose plan for Guelph was fully realized. It became a city in 1879.
The city is home to the University of Guelph.