In this vicinity, the site of a shipyard used during both the late French and early British periods, a village plot was laid out in 1824 for Jehiel and Ziba Phillips. Adjacent to it George Longley, a recent English emigrant, acquired an estate on which St. James Anglican Church was built in 1826. Longley constructed the nearby stone windmill, opened a store and in 1828 became Maitland's first postmaster. The community, named after Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada 1818-28, was a point of access to the Rideau area and flourished during the building of the Rideau Canal 1826-32. Other local industries were soon established and by 1850 Maitland had 200 residents.
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