Blue Plaque Program

Sir Alec Guinness was a legend of acting both on stage and screen.  He was considered a consummate professional by his peers.  He came to Stratford to help start our Shakespearean Festival, playing the role of Richard III.  While here he lived at 108 Mornington Street.  His leadership and generosity in mentoring young actors had a huge influence on the start of the Festival, and Canadian theatre.

Timothy Findley was a member of the first season of the Stratford Festival.  He later left acting to become one of Canada’s foremost writers: an award-winning novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.  Throughout his life he was active in many causes and always willing to be a mentor to young writers.  Later in his life he returned to Stratford, and lived at 72 Ontario Street.

Dr. Jennie Trout was the first female medical doctor in Canada.

Born in Kelso, Scotland in 1841, her family moved to Canada in 1847 when she was six. Her parents were both farmers, who settled with their five daughters in Ellice Township. They attended Knox Presbyterian Church in Stratford.

In 1865, she married Edward Trout at Knox, and the couple eventually moved to Toronto, where Jennie and her friend Emily Stowe fought to attend the Toronto School of Medicine. Females were not admitted at the time. Two years later, in 1871, both women were accepted for a one-year qualifying course. There was hostility from some male students and professors, and they were often treated crudely, but Trout persevered and passed her qualifying courses in 1872.

Because no medical schools in Canada would accept women at the time, she left for the United States to attend the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

In 1875 Jennie graduated as a doctor and returned to Canada. She passed the examinations of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario, becoming the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.

Charlie Lightfoot was a Black pioneer who broke into integrated professional hockey in 1906.  He is quite possibly the first one to do so.

His family moved to Stratford in 1888, and lived at 94 Cobourg St.

In 1906, Lightfoot broke into integrated professional hockey. He played in the Manitoba Professional Hockey League with the Portage la Prairie Cities team.  After playing in the East coast and around Ontario, he returned to Stratford and worked in the GTR shops where he also coached a hockey team. His family was well respected in Stratford.

One of his hockey sticks was donated by the Stratford Perth Museum to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In 1863 a young man of 16, after training for a time as a telegrapher in Port Huron Michigan, made his way into Canada to try to make a living as a telegraph operator.

The first place he came to was what was then known by the railway people as “Stratford Junction,” to work for the Grand Trunk Railway.

That young man was Thomas Alva Edison.

While here, it is believed that he lived at 46 Ontario St., in the upper rooms.

Dr. Robert Bruce Salter was born in Stratford, Ontario on December 15, 1924 to a family originally from Nova Scotia. They lived at 56 Front Street from 1920 to 1930, then moved to 245 Water St.

Robert and his two brothers attended Romeo School.

Dr. Salter graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1947 and joined the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto in 1955, where he stayed for 55 years.

Dr. Salter developed a surgical technique that treats congenital dislocation of the hip, and that technique has been performed on millions of children worldwide.

He was a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario and inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Dr. James Palmer Rankin - 198 Church Street

The Honourable Dr. James Palmer Rankin was a local man who made immeasurable contributions to Perth County. He reportedly had a big personality, and Dr. Rankin contributed to his community on the school board, and as a doctor.

During the First World War, he was a lieutenant-colonel with the Canadian Army Medical Corps , serving in the Perth Regiment. He also represented Perth County as a Member of Parliament and Senator for the Dominion of Canada.

The Blue Plaque is at 190 Church St. where Dr. Rankin lived from 1920 until his passing in 1934.

Richard Manuel was born in Stratford in 1943, and grew up at 138 Well St.

Richard started playing piano at age 9, and at the age of 15 he helped form the local band, The Revols, with Ken Kalmusky (later of Great Speckled Bird) on bass, John Till (later with Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band) on guitar, and Richard Manuel on piano and lead vocals. The line up later expanded to include Doug Rhodes and Garth Picot.

They opened for Ronnie Hawkins in 1960, and Richard was recruited to be the piano player in the Hawks. In 1964 the Hawks were recruited to be Bob Dylan’s backing band. They officially became The Band in 1967. The Band was highly influential in the 1960’s and 70’s for its resonant fusion of rock, rhythm and blues and county music.

Manuel was a beloved and respected songwriter and vocalist who influenced and collaborated with many prominent artists. He died in 1986 and is buried in Avondale Cemetery.