A neighbouring community with larger population, once the major part of what was called the Elgin Settlement, is North Buxton.

William King had immigrated to the United States and worked as a tutor and teacher for years in Louisiana, where he married into a planter family and eventually inherited 15 slaves.

[2] Despite early resistance from nearby residents, the Elgin Association purchased 9,000 acres of land, which it divided into 50-acre farms.

Before the American Civil War, the bell was also rung every time a self-liberated slave reached South Buxton.

Both communities had much higher populations before the urbanization of Ontario drew off rural people into towns and cities for work.