Springville

By Guy Scott

Springville is west of Peterborough and was built on the old Port Hope-Peterborough Pioneer Road, similar to modern Highway 28. It stands on a concession road that runs west through Ida into Manvers Township. Its name is taken from a number of water springs that bubbled up around the hamlet. In the 1800s, Springville was a much larger community than today; boasting a doctor, militia drill shed as well as the obligatory stores, blacksmith, hotels, etc. A number of large fires destroyed much of the hamlet in the late 1800s, and it was not rebuilt to the same scale. At the next concession north (Scott’s Corners), the Port Hope-Peterborough pioneer road turned east and went into Peterborough City, making Springville the last crossroads hamlet on the old route. Today the road continues north to Fowler’s Corners, where it joins Highway #7.