Merlin is a small farming community inhabited by 750 residents located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It lies five kilometres due north off the shores of Lake Erie in the municipality of Chatham-Kent. Merlin's name was bestowed upon it by Post Office Department in 1868 after a village near Edinburgh, Scotland. The town has three main streets branching out from the main intersection. Erie Street runs north and south through the centre of town. William Street begins at the main intersection and travels west toward the town of Tilbury while Aberdeen Street travels east from the main intersection toward the hamlet of South Buxton. Merlin is the hometown of country music singer Michelle Wright.
Facilities
The town was once home to both a high school and elementary school. However, after enrolment fell below 100 students, Merlin District High School, located on William Street and home to the Merlin Mustangs, closed around 1980 and was subsequently torn down. Merlin Area Public School, home of the Merlin Colts, still operates at the northern edge of town, on Erie Street. The school opened in 1968 and has a present enrolment of approximately 250 students. The Merlin Library is located on Aberdeen Street, and has books, internet access, and resource sharing agreements with other public libraries throughout Chatham-Kent. Merlin was the site of one of the last segregated schools in Canada. The laws in Ontario and Nova Scotia governing black separate schools were not repealed until the mid-1960s, and the last segregated schools to close were in Merlin in 1965 and in Nova Scotia in 1983. Merlin had an Ontario Provincial Police detachment located at Blake and Erie Street South but the police station was closed in the 1990s. The building is now occupied by the Chatham-Kent Fire Department. The Kinsmen, who have a charter in Merlin, maintain the Merlin Kinsmen Park, which has a playground, splash pad, shelters and two baseball diamonds. A community centre and another baseball diamond are located on the east side of the town and are maintained by the municipality of Chatham-Kent. Adjacent to the park, there is a cenotaph commemorating Canadian participants in World War II. Merlin is also home to the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 465. For local amenities, Merlin has three eateries—Erie Café & Variety, The Garage, and Flame & Frostbite—two general stores, and a branch of Canada Post. Merlin is also Home to the Summer's Gold Honey Company, Chatham-Kent's only CFIA registered Honey packing facility. Summer's Gold Honey Company offers both wholesale and retail honey and hive products including but not limited to Honey, beeswax, candles, soap and lip balm. Tours of the facility are available upon advance request. There is a reputedly haunted house in Merlin. The residence is featured in a yearly local "Ghost Walks of Chatham".
Industries
The town of Merlin, and the adjacent townships of Tilbury East on its west side, and Raleigh to its east maintain farming as the primary industry. A significant alteration to the local landscape started in 2007 with the construction of 44 wind turbines by Kruger Energy. The wind turbines were constructed in Denmark and are each capable of generating 2.3 megawatts of electricity. Natural gas wells were once part of the area to the west, in the former Tilbury East township, with the raw gas going to a Union Gaspumping station at Port Alma. With the capping of the wells and the closing of the pumping station in the 1980s, Union Gas sold the facilities and the main pumping building is no longer in Port Alma, but some maintenance sheds and an office building still remain.
