Before it became known as Peterborough, the area was called Nogojiwanong, Ojibwa for “place at the end of rapids.” Peterborough is the native territory of the Anishinaabeg. In 1821, European settler Adam Scott founded a sawmill and gristmill at the site, which became known as Scott’s Plains. By 1825 almost 2,000 Irish immigrants had settled there, and the area was renamed after the group’s director, Peter Robinson. The Peterborough region emerged as both a timber producer and a national hub for canoe-building. The canalization of the Otonabee River as part of the Trent Canal system provided a direct link with Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay utilizing the world’s highest hydraulic lift lock (1904). Peterborough earned the name “The Electric City” when it became the first town in Canada to use electric streetlights. It is also the home of Sir Sandford Fleming College and Trent University.