Harriston is located at the headwaters of the Maitland River, and has several shops, restaurants, a library, an art gallery and cultural centre.

The town was named after Archibald Harrison, a Toronto farmer who was granted land along the Maitland River in Minto Township, at the Elora and Saugeen Road in 1854.

The southern road leading to Harriston was gravelled in 1861, opening easier access to the larger markets of Guelph, Hamilton, and Toronto.

[2] The community became a prosperous commercial and farm-implement manufacturing centre following the construction of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway, completed to Harriston in 1871.

Speakers included the provincial Premier, Oliver Mowat, and R.H. Taylor, secretary of the English National Agricultural Labourers Union.

In September 1981, the Toronto Star featured a front page article entitled, "The Slow Death of a Town named Harriston."

[8] The Harriston Minto Agricultural Society was founded in 1859 and continues to operate an annual fall fair on the third weekend in September.