The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

BIRTHS, DEATHS ‘ ‘ r ,K EDITORIALS - 1 ounononoouooooooo ONTARIO News ‘I neurone-oncoo-o-o t ) , JAMES REANEY (EVENINGS) 679-0230 ANNEXATION Goodbye Westminster, hello London . The town is no more as of tonight, but it has a humdinger of a history. By Chip Manin The London Free Press Today marks the end of Westmin- ster’s 175 years of municipal history. The township-tumed-town ceases to exist at the stroke of midnight as revel- lers celebrate the arrival of 1993. London‘s near tripling in size means nearly all the town is absorbed into the City, with smaller sections hived off to Westminster’s- neighbors to the east and west. The community of about 6,500 will be taken into a city of 300,000, so a certain loss of identity is to be expected. Town council and the Westminster PUC are abolished. Westminster is expected to play a large role in the future development of London and city residents are about to learn how important their new munici- ' pal partner will be. It straddles High- ways 401 and 402 and the city’s focus is expected to shift toward those major arteries of industry and commerce. While its political structure and boundary may vanish, the community of Westminster will, of course, remain. The strength of any COmmunity is its people. And they take pride in West- minster’s history and its contributions. Westminster has already made a signiâ€" ficant mark on London which has been gradually nibbling away at it for years. Herewith we present some snapshots selected from Westminster’s thick scrapbook. You may find some tidbits you either forgot or never knew. BIRTH Westminster was created as a town- ship in 1798 at the second session of the Second Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada. It was a constituent part of the county of Middlesex which at that time also consisted of the townships of Lon- don, Dorchester, Yarmouth. Southwold, Dunwich, Aldborough and Delaware. SE'I'I'LING IN In 1809, Abraham Patrick of Niagara Falls became the first official settler. building a log house along Dingman Creek near Lambeth. Before him, many squatters had al- ready established homes in Westmin~ ster, the earliest recorded being a na- tive . ew York state, Peter Hage , who built a place in 1801 along what was later to become Com- missioners Road. ' ‘ SeeéVESl'MINS‘I'ER page as p ;_ ,