Rural Perth East

Rural Perth East covers almost all of the township: about 70,700 hectares of farmland and woodlots around the north and east of Stratford, the largest countryside in Perth County. Brunner, Gads Hill, Newton, Nithburg, Rostock and Wartburg are small villages among the farms, and Amulree, Carthage, Hesson, Kinkora, Lisbon, Poole and Sebastopol are hamlets. Ellice Swamp, a woodlot of about 856 hectares between Stratford and Milverton, is mostly owned by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. Newton Park has two soccer pitches, a ball diamond and a pavilion, and Quinlan Park in Rostock has a playground beside Rostock Hall.

Perth County's first settler, Sebastian Fryfogel, moved into a shanty on the Huron Road on Christmas Day in 1828 and built an inn there in 1844 and 1845. Ellice Township was named for Edward Ellice and North Easthope for Sir John Easthope, both directors of the Canada Company, and North Easthope was settled from about 1832 by Highland Scots and Germans from Hesse-Darmstadt. The Stratford and Huron Railway crossed the townships in 1877. Perth East was formed on January 1, 1998, from Milverton and the townships of Ellice, Mornington, North Easthope and South Easthope.

The 2021 census counted about 4,270 homes in Perth East. Leaving out Milverton, Shakespeare and Millbank, the countryside, its villages and its hamlets had about 2,680 homes, and more than nine in ten of them are single detached houses. Nearly half were built in 1960 or earlier and about one in six between 1961 and 1980. About one in five were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in eleven in 2001 or later.

Highway 7/8 crosses the south of the township through Shakespeare toward New Hamburg and Kitchener, and Perth Road 119 runs north from Stratford toward Milverton and Millbank. Perth roads and lines link the farms with Stratford, Milverton, Millbank and Listowel. Stratford's VIA Rail station and PC Connect's routes through Milverton serve the township.

Newton Park at 4465 Community Centre Drive has two soccer pitches, a ball diamond, a playground and a pavilion with washrooms and a small kitchen. Quinlan Park at 4817 Line 46 in Rostock has a playground beside Rostock Hall, the former Ellice Township office. The Kinkora Community Centre at 4596 Road 145 has a kitchen and meeting room, and Gravelridge Hall at 4822 Line 59 hosts gatherings and community events. The Perth East Recreation Complex in Milverton has the township's arena and outdoor pool.

• Central Perth Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the west, including Rostock, Kinkora, Gads Hill and Wartburg, on Road 135.
• Milverton Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the countryside around Milverton, including Brunner, on Mill Street East in Milverton.
• Mornington Central Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the north-east, including Newton and Hesson, on Road 131, with Grades 7 and 8 at Milverton Public School as well.
• North Easthope Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the east, including Nithburg, on Road 108.
• Sprucedale Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the south-east, including Sebastopol, on Fraser Street in Shakespeare.
• Stratford District Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for most of the countryside, on Forman Avenue in Stratford.
• Listowel District Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for the north-east, including Newton and Hesson, in Listowel.
• Bedford Public School — Grades 1 to 6 in French immersion. The public French immersion school for the Stratford District Secondary School side of the township, on Bedford Drive in Stratford.
• St. Mary's School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for the north, including Brunner, Newton and Hesson, in Listowel, with French immersion from Senior Kindergarten.
• St. Patrick's School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for Kinkora and Rostock, in Kinkora.
• St. Aloysius School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for Gads Hill, Wartburg and Nithburg, on Avondale Avenue in Stratford.
• St. Ambrose School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for Sebastopol, on Louise Street in Stratford.
• St. Michael Catholic Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school, on Oakdale Avenue in Stratford.
• Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic French immersion school from JK, on Grange Street in Stratford.