Site and Features

The Museum’s 5 acre site is complemented by an 1870 Victorian buff brick home, woodlots and trails – a home with room to grow and endless potential to interpret our rich cultural heritage and to deliver indoor and outdoor programming. The home was built for Thomas Holliday, (1832-1914) who emigrated from Yorkshire England to Canada in 1849 at the age of 17. He moved to Stratford in 1862 and worked with William Worth as a butcher. In 1867, Holliday bought the Corn Exchange Hotel in Market Square, Stratford. In 1880, he replaced the building with the grand Royal Hotel. In 1869, Holliday purchased 100 acres on the Huron Road and the following year he built a large buff brick home, replacing the 1854 log home that burned down that year. Thomas and Mary Holliday raised 10 children in this home. The family sold the property to Wesley Thurston in 1946. This is the present location of the Stratford Perth Museum. The Museum’s collection structure sits on the footprint of the Thurston horse barn.