Dresden is a community in southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, centred on the city of London. It extends north to south from the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron to the Lake Erie shoreline, and east to south-west roughly from Guelph to Windsor. The region had a population...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, part of the municipality of Chatham-Kent

Chatham-Kent, Ontario

Chatham–Kent is a unitary authority in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Mostly rural, its centres of population are Blenheim, Chatham, Dresden, Ridgetown, Tilbury and Wallaceburg. Modern Chatham–Kent was created in 1998 by the merger of Kent County and its municipalities.- History :The former city of...

. Dresden is best known as the home of Josiah Henson

Josiah Henson

Josiah Henson was an author, abolitionist, and minister. Born into slavery in Charles County, Maryland, he escaped to Ontario, Canada in 1830, and founded a settlement and laborer's school for other fugitive slaves at Dawn, near Dresden in Kent County...

, the former U.S. slave whose life story was the inspiration for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....

. It has been, therefore, characterized as the "Terminus of the Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...

", although many escaped slaves

Fugitive slave

In the history of slavery in the United States, "fugitive slaves" were slaves who had escaped from their master to travel to a place where slavery was banned or illegal. Many went to northern territories including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts until the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed...

 were known to gather, at least to worship, as far south and east as what is today Chatham, Ontario

Chatham, Ontario

Chatham is the largest community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Formerly serving as the seat of Kent County, the governments of the former city of Chatham, the county of Kent, and its townships were merged into one entity known as the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in 1998.Located on...

. The Henson homestead

Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site

Located near Dresden, Ontario, Canada, Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site is an open air museum and African American history centre that includes the home of Josiah Henson, a former slave, author, abolitionist, and minister, who was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's title character in her...

 is a historic site located near what is today the town of Dresden, and is owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust

Ontario Heritage Trust

The Ontario Heritage Trust is a non-profit agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture, responsible for protecting, preserving and promoting the built, natural and cultural heritage of Canada's most populous province. It was initially known as the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board...

. Dresden is located on the Sydenham River

Sydenham River

The Sydenham River is a river in Kent County, Lambton County and Middlesex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, flowing southwest from its source west of London, Ontario and emptying into Lake Saint Clair. The length of the river is and it drains a watershed of approximately 2,700 square...

. The community is named after Dresden, Germany.

Dresden is currently the location of the Dresden Raceway, the only raceway in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, which features a 1/2-mile track for harness racing

Harness racing

Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...

. Dresden is also home to a casino

Casino

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

 (the Dresden Slots) operated by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation , known for corporate branding purposes simply as OLG since 2006, is a Crown Corporation of the Government of Ontario, Canada. It is responsible for the province's lotteries, charity and Aboriginal casinos, commercial casinos, and slot machines at...

, which is also the only slots facility in the municipality.

Dresden has one secondary school, Lambton-Kent Composite School (LKCS), one elementary school, Dresden Area Central School (DACS), and one Catholic school, St. Michael's, that serve Dresden and the surrounding communities.

In 2007, Dresden celebrated the 125th year since its founding.

External links

• Dresden Website
• Explore Dresden Website
• Dresden at Geographical Names of Canada