Otterville

Otterville is a village on Otter Creek in the south of Norwich Township. The Otterville Mill, built in 1845 and still powered by water from its dam, stands by the creek, and the restored Grand Trunk Railway station of 1875 is now a museum. Through the stone gates north of the main corner, Otterville Park has 10 acres of pine-shaded parkland with an outdoor pool, a splash pad, tennis and basketball courts, a ball diamond and a historic dance hall pavilion.

Otterville was settled in 1807, when John Earle and Paul Averill Jr. built the first mill on the creek. From 1829, encouraged by local Quakers, free Black settlers and people escaping slavery in the United States made homes in the area, and the African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery of 1856 is one of the few preserved Black pioneer burial grounds in Ontario. Edward Bullock built the present mill in 1845. The economist and historian Harold Innis was born and raised in Otterville.

The census counts Otterville with some of the farms around it, so these figures are estimates for the village. They come to about 370 homes, nearly all of them single detached houses. About four in ten were built in 1960 or earlier and about a quarter between 1961 and 1980. About one in eight were built between 1981 and 2000, about one in eight between 2001 and 2015, and about one in twelve between 2016 and 2021.

Tillsonburg is about 16 km away by road, a drive of about 15 minutes, and Woodstock City Hall about 32 km, a drive of about 31 minutes, by Oxford Road 13 and Oxford Road 59. Norwich is a short drive north.

Otterville Park at 2 North Street East, across the foot bridge over Otter Creek, has an outdoor pool open from the end of June to Labour Day, a splash pad, tennis courts, basketball nets, a ball diamond, a playground, walking trails and a historic dance hall pavilion. The South Norwich Historical Society cares for the Otterville Mill and offers tours on request, and runs the Grand Trunk Railway Station Museum and blacksmith shop, with displays on railway building, early Black settlement and the area's Quaker history. The Otterville Mill Classic Car Show is held each year, and the Otterville branch of the Oxford County Library is at 207 Main Street West.

• Emily Stowe Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for Otterville, in Norwich.
• Glendale High School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for Otterville, on Glendale Drive in Tillsonburg.
• Oliver Stephens Public School — Grades 1 to 8 in French immersion. The public French immersion school for Otterville, on Fyfe Avenue in Woodstock; it also has an English program.
• St. Joseph's Catholic School — JK to Grade 4. The Catholic elementary school for Otterville's younger grades, on Frances Street in Tillsonburg.
• Monsignor J. H. O'Neil Catholic School — Grades 5 to 8. The Catholic elementary school for Otterville's older grades, on Quarter Town Line in Tillsonburg.
• Holy Family French Immersion Catholic School — SK to Grade 8 in French immersion. The Catholic French immersion school for all of Oxford, on Oxford Street in Woodstock.
• St. Mary's Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for Otterville, on Juliana Drive in Woodstock.
• Woodstock Collegiate Institute — Grades 9 to 12. Thames Valley's public French immersion secondary school, on Riddell Street in Woodstock.