Text from the Plaque
This stone house, completed by February, 1837, was first occupied by Dr. John Hutchinson, Peterborough's first permanently established physician. A native of Kircaldy, Scotland, Hutchinson had come to Upper Canada by 1818 and practised in the Rice Lake area and at Port Hope before moving to Peterborough in 1830. Already a magistrate, he became one of the settlement's leading citizens. The house is believed to have been built by volunteer labour and public subscription to induce him to stay in Peterborough. During an epidemic in 1847, Dr. Hutchinson contracted typhus while attending sick immigrants and was one of thirty-three victims in Peterborough. In 1969 the house was bequeathed to the Peterborough Historical Society.
|