Historical Background of the Community

The Community of Warren Grove is located in the southern portion of Lot 32, just to the northeast of the Town of Cornwall. The North River area was originally settled by the French in the mid 1700’s. The first English-speaking settlers arrived in 1790. By 1798 there were eleven families in Lot 32. By the early 1800’s a significant ship building industry had been established which continued for over 100 years.

The Community of Warren Grove is named for the Warren family who came to the area in 1808 and obtained 584 acres from the Cunard Estate. The Warrens were well known as farmers in the area and also operated a carding and grist mill on the pond near Warren Grove Creek. The Meacham’s 1880 Atlas depicts the grist mill as well as a school and a church in the general location of the current Warren Grove Community Hall. The James Warren Field Cemetery gets its name from James Warren who farmed the land adjacent to the cemetery. The cemetery was abandoned around 1890 but there remain approximately 30 graves on the site in a wooded area directly adjacent to the Community Hall.

Goods and people from the Warren Grove area had to travel some distance to the Capital by way of Milton until the York Point Ferry service was established in the early 1800’s. The first wooden bridge at North River was constructed in 1824. It was replaced by a steel bridge in 1913. A causeway was constructed in the 1950’s, and remained until 1995. At that time the current bridge solved the problem of an unpleasant odor resulting from the tide being unable to flush the area above the causeway. These transportation improvements certainly tended to encourage more residential development in the area.

As noted earlier, the three school districts of York Point, East Wiltshire and Warren Grove came together in 1975 to form a new C.I.C. This C.I.C was renamed the North River C.I.C in 1981. The new Community of Warren Grove was established in 1985.