The Town of Renfrew was originally part of Horton Township.

The township comprises the communities of Castleford, Castleford Station, Cotieville, Fergusons Beach, Goshen, Lochwinnoch (partially), Mayhew and Thompson Hill.

In the 1820s, Lt. Christopher James Bell settled his land grant and named the area Castleford after his birthplace in West Yorkshire, England.

Goshen is a former railway stop on a now abandoned line, probably named for the Land of Goshen, the Hebrew name of an area in the Nile delta in Ancient Egypt.

[2] It was named after Robert Wilmot-Horton, a British member of Parliament who advocated immigration to Canada,[3] and incorporated as a township municipality in 1850.