Hillsburgh

Hillsburgh is a village of heritage homes and shopfronts along Trafalgar Road, where the West Credit River runs past old mill ponds. The Hillsburgh Heritage Trail is a self-guided walk of less than an hour past buildings such as Hyndman House of 1879, the Exchange Hotel of about 1883 and the Century Church Theatre in a building of 1906. Hillsburgh's Historical Park in the centre of the village has gardens, benches and an outdoor stage under a barn-beam structure. The Elora Cataract Trailway starts at the old train station and leads out past fields and woodlots, and in winter the Hillsburgh Lions open the outdoor rink in Victoria Park.

William How arrived in 1821 and opened the first store, and the settlement was first known as Howville. It was renamed Hillsburg after Nazareth Hill, who arrived in 1823 and built the village's first hotel, and it became a police village in 1899. The final "h" in Hillsburgh was added later. Gooderham & Worts built a grist mill and pond on the river in 1851. The Credit Valley Railway reached the village in 1879, and its line, abandoned in 1988, is now the Elora Cataract Trailway.

The 2021 census counted about 440 homes in Hillsburgh. About six in seven are single detached houses, and about one in eleven are in apartment buildings under five storeys. About four in ten homes were built in 1960 or earlier and almost four in ten between 1961 and 1980. About one in six were built between 1981 and 2000, and only a few since 2001.

Trafalgar Road runs through the village, north toward Orangeville, about 20 km away by road, and south toward Ballinafad and Halton Hills. Guelph is about 34 km by road, a drive of about 30 minutes, by Wellington Roads 22, 26 and 124. Erin Village is a short drive south-east. The Elora Cataract Trailway passes through the village on the former railway line.

The Hillsburgh Community Centre at 95 Main Street, beside the West Credit River, has a full-size ice surface and a banquet hall. Victoria Park on Mill Street has a lit ball diamond and an outdoor winter rink, and Barbour Field on Eighth Line, east of the village, has lit ball and soccer fields. Hillsburgh's Historical Park has gardens and an outdoor stage. The Hillsburgh branch of the Wellington County Library is at 9 Station Street, in a house of 1892 beside the upper mill pond. The Town of Erin's offices are at 5684 Trafalgar Road.

• Ross R. MacKay Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for the village, on Trafalgar Road.
• Erin Public School — Grades 7 and 8. The middle school for Hillsburgh, in Erin Village, with French immersion.
• Brisbane Public School — JK to Grade 6. The French immersion school for the Town of Erin from JK to Grade 6, in Brisbane.
• Erin District High School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for the Town of Erin, in Erin Village, with French immersion.
• St. John Brebeuf Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for the Town of Erin, in Erin Village.
• St. James Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for the Town of Erin, in Guelph.