Lukerville

Do you ever look at a map of Essex County and wonder what the heck all those little dots with strange names are? All kinds of phantom towns or villages are listed on the maps, new and old. So off we went in the hopes of finding some of lost Essex County.

The first target was Lukerville, or as it shows on some maps, Delisles Corners.

Map from 1959 showing Lukerville

More recent incarnation showing Delisles Corners

The old faded sign refers to Delisles Corners, but then again it shows Anderton Township, which hasn’t existed in about a decade. Google returns hits for Lukerville, showing Ministry of the Environment tests results, etc… One Genealogical website refers to Lukerville as a “Dispersed Rural Community”. Anyone out there know exactly what that means? The 1911 Ontario Census, returns results for Lukerville Village. The archives of Ontario has this helpful page: http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/English/guides/rg_209_municipal_records.htm.

Many places in Ontario were never incorporated as municipalities but included a post office or railway station. These places often are known by locally-recognized names. When trying to locate a hamlet, dispersed rural community or other small centre, consult the Gazetteer of Ontario.

It also sums up villages as the following:

Villages

Like cities and towns, villages are incorporated when a community within a township reaches a certain population density that justifies the creation of a separate administrative structure. Villages are governed by elected councils consisting of a Reeve, Deputy Reeves and a number of councillors based on the population of the village. A village is part of the county administration but not part of the surrounding township.

A view of downtown Lukerville.

Looking west. The large brown building is Western Secondary School.

Most of the houses of what was Lukerville are very old.

This old building sits on the s.w. corner of Lukerville, it is now some kind of Metalworking shop, but the building is from the early part of the last century.

Not sure what the history is of Lukerville, and why it’s basically vanished and ceased to be a village. If anyone out there knows anything, or has any stories, I’d love to hear them.