Palmerston

A railway town through and through: heritage station, landmark rail footbridge, and a proud main street. Palmerston keeps its history close and its welcome warm. The station of 1871, restored to its Grand Trunk look of 1900, is now the Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum on William Street, the only original station left in Wellington County. The pedestrian bridge the Grand Trunk built over its yard between 1910 and 1912 still crosses Heritage Park, which also has a swimming pool, a splash pad, a playground and the Old 81 engine. On Main Street the Norgan Theatre, opened in 1947, is run by volunteers, and the White's Junction Trail leads out of town along the old rail line toward Harriston.

John McDermott, the reeve of Wallace Township, named the station Palmerston in 1870, after Viscount Palmerston, the British prime minister. The Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway built the first station in 1871, and Palmerston became a key division point of the Grand Trunk Railway and later the Canadian National. Passenger trains stopped in 1971, and the last rail service ended in 1996. Palmerston joined the Town of Minto in 1999.

The 2021 census counted about 1,220 homes in Palmerston. About two in three are single detached houses, and about one in six are in apartment buildings under five storeys. Row houses and semi-detached houses make up most of the rest. About a third of homes were built in 1960 or earlier and about a quarter between 1961 and 1980. About one in five were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in five in 2001 or later.

Highway 23 runs north to Harriston, about 12 km away, and south to Listowel, about 15 km. Guelph is about 61 km by road, a drive of about 50 minutes, and Uptown Waterloo is about 63 km, about 52 minutes, by Wellington Road 8 and Elmira. Drayton is about 18 km south-east. The White's Junction Trail follows the former railway line from Palmerston to just south of Harriston.

Heritage Park, the 28-acre former rail yard downtown, has a swimming pool, a splash pad, a playground, the 1912 footbridge and the railway museum at 164 William Street. The Palmerston branch of the Wellington County Library, one of the county's five Carnegie libraries, is at 265 Bell Street. The Norgan Theatre on Main Street shows films and live performances, and the Palmerston and District Community Centre has the town's arena.

• Palmerston Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the town, on Prospect Street, and the French immersion school for the north of the county from JK to Grade 8.
• Norwell District Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for Minto and Mapleton, on Cumberland Street, with French immersion.
• St. John Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for Palmerston, in Arthur.
• St. James Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for Palmerston, in Guelph.