Jacob Hespeler

The name of Hespeler honours a hard-working, imaginative builder, Jacob Hespeler.

Born in Germany and educated in France, for some time he was a fur trader in Illinois. He came to Preston in 1835, and erected a store, grist mill and a distillery, but finding power and space inadequate for his ideas and means he bought in excess of 145 acres in the nearby village of New Hope. In twelve years he built and operated many mills, industries, stores and residences.

When in 1858 the Great Western Railway was built as an extension from Galt to Guelph, Hespeler took advantage of the presence of the increased population caused by the influx of railway construction workers to secure a sufficiently large census to warrant incorporation as a village. The new village was named Hespeler and he became its first reeve, holding office until 1862.