Rockwood in Wellington County, Ontario — Central Canada (North America)

James Jerome Hill

1838 - 1916

Photographed by Tim Boyd, August 5, 2025

1. James Jerome Hill Marker

Inscription. Click to hear the inscription.

Born near Rockwood, Upper Canada, Hill moved to Minnesota in 1856 settling at St. Paul. Having organized the Red River Transportation Company which provided effective transportation between St. Paul and Winnipeg, he had begun, by 1878, to build his vast railway empire. A member of the Board of the CPR (1880-3) he subsequently became its greatest competitor and by 1889 had organized the Great Northern System. As President of that System (1893-9) and Chairman of the Board (1907-12) he built numerous feeder lines reaching to the Canadian border.

Jerome Hill, né près de Rockwood (Haut-Canada) s'établit à St. Paul au Minnesota en 1856. Il fonda la Red River Transportation Company, qui assurait le transport entre St. Paul et Winnipeg. Des 1878, il avait commence d'établir son vaste empire ferroviaire. Membre du conseil d’administration du Canadien Pacifique de 1880 à 1883, il en devint le principal concurrent et créa le Great Northern System en 1889. A titre de président (1893-1899), puis de directeur général (1907-1912) de ce réseau, il fit construire aux Etats-Unis plusieurs embranchements menant vers la frontière

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canadienne.

Erected by Government of Canada.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Railroads & Streetcars. In addition, it is included in the Canada, Historic Sites and Monuments Board series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1856.

Location. 43° 36.97′ N, 80° 8.728′ W. Marker is in Rockwood, Ontario, in Wellington County. It is at the intersection of Guelph Street and Inkerman Street, on the right when traveling west on Guelph Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 178 Guelph Street, Rockwood ON N0B N0B, Canada. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Huron-Perth-Waterloo-Wellington Area

and in Southwestern Ontario.

It is also in Central Canada.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony,

the Viceroyalty of New France,

the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

and Rupert’s Land.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 10 kilometers of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Rockwood Cenotaph

Photographed by Tim Boyd, August 5, 2024

2. James Jerome Hill Marker

(approx. 0.3 kilometers away); The Founding of Rockwood (approx. 0.3 kilometers away); Rockwood Academy 1850 (approx. 1.2 kilometers away); Toronto’s Radial Railways (approx. 4.8 kilometers away); Mid-to-Late 1900s Acton Quarry & Its Commercial Operations (approx. 8.4 kilometers away); Late 1800s - 1900s Lime Kiln Technology (approx. 8.4 kilometers away); Acton (approx. 8.4 kilometers away); 1800s The Origins of Dolly Varden (approx. 8.4 kilometers away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Rockwood.

Also see . . . Hill, James Jerome (Dictionary of Canadian Biography).

With his family pressed for money, Hill became a clerk in a grocery store in Rockwood and then in Guelph. Without a position from the fall of 1854, he left for New York in February 1856 and that summer accepted a clerkship with a commission and shipping firm in the booming city of St Paul, on the Mississippi. In 1865 he embarked on his own freight and forwarding business. The following year, in partnership, he built a warehouse, which was served by a siding of the St Paul and Pacific Railroad. An agreement in January 1867 gave him control of the line’s
circa 1916

3. James Jerome Hill portrait, 1916
Public domain
riverside facilities and in September he took Egbert S. Litchfield, who had connections to the railway, into the business, freeing himself to pursue new interests, including the trade in coal.

(Submitted on August 7, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario.)

Map of the Great Northern Railroad in 1889 image. Click for full size.

4. Map of the Great Northern Railroad in 1889

Boston Public Library (public domain)

Credits. This page was last revised on September 10, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 7, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario. This page has been viewed 83 times since then and 14 times this year. Last updated on September 10, 2025, by Kevin Westell of St. Catharines, Ontario. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on August 7, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.