Celebrations kicked off to honour the Township of Blandford-Blenheim’s 50th anniversary at the Princeton and District Museum on Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Hosted by the Princeton and District Museum Library Association, the event featured an exhibit highlighting the Township’s history over the past 50 years through photographs and local articles, as well as free self-guided tours of the museum.
“The Township asked us, and two other historical societies, if we would host an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the collaboration between the two townships,” said Peggy Crosby, President of the Board of Directors for the Princeton and District Museum Library Association. “Of course we said yes, because we have a lot of information about what has been going on in the last 50 years, and so what we’ve done is we’ve highlighted the most important information that we have, and we have an artifact on display of a map from when both townships were separate. We’re also offering free refreshments, as well as a free perennial plant for the first 50 families to take home with them as a memento of the anniversary.”
The Township of Blandford-Blenheim was formed back in 1975 following the amalgamation of the two historic Townships of Blandford and Blenheim. The Township is located in Oxford County, northwest of Paris, and has a population of around 8,000 people. Communities within the Township include Bright, Drumbo, Plattsville, Princeton, and Washington among others.
During the event, attendees had the opportunity to chat with long-time friends and acquaintances, flip through various photos throughout the years and tour the local museum. Township Councillor, Bruce Banbury, also gave the Brant Beacon some background information about the amalgamation and how it came to be.
“Originally, Blanford and Blenheim were, of course, separate municipalities within the County of Oxford. Back in the early 1970s, maybe even the late 1960s, the province of Ontario was amalgamating municipalities and creating regions; at the time, the government of Oxford County decided that maybe we should be proactive and amalgamate on our own accord so that way we could set things up in a way that it would benefit us,” he said. “So, under the direction of the Warden at the time, Perry Sibbick, they got their heads together and came up with what resulted in what we have today, which is a two-tier government. Oxford remained a county, and it now has several amalgamated municipalities within its bounds including, Blandford-Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock, Norwich, South-West Oxford, Tilsonburg, Woodstock and Zorra. That’s what kind of drove the amalgamation because it would have probably been imposed upon us by the government anyway, so they were very wise to be proactive about it and do it in a way that worked for them.”
To celebrate the collaboration between the townships of Blandford and Blenheim, the Drumbo and District Heritage Society will be putting on a free barbecue on Canada Day, and the Plattsville and District Heritage Society will have its special 50th anniversary display on every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. from June 21 until September 13, 2025.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
