The House of Industry Memorial

The earliest map of the graveyard contains a section of many small graves allocated on the west side. The original statutes required every graveyard company to provide a section where people who were indigent or who had no provisions for burial could be interred without cost. These graves were largely unmarked.

Perth had a large building just on the outskirts of town. Before the construction of this building the only alternative place to house indigent residents was in the county jail. This building was locally known as “The Poor House”. It was described as “the finest House of Refuge in Ontario”. There were farm buildings in the back fields that lead down to the Tay River. In the early days was sustainable as a working farm.

More than 400 people who are believed to have worked, and died, during their time at the old Perth House of Industry, from 1903 to 1965, and were buried in what was essentially a "pauper’s" section of the Elmwood Cemetery, now finally have their own headstone. Wayne Harris went through local records producing the memorial stone that sits beside the bench.

Today the House of Industry building remains largely intact serving as a seniors care centre. It is known as the Perth Community Care Centre on Christie Lake Road.