Hike Metal Products, a shipbuilding/refitting/fabricating company based at the harbour, is the builder of the Maid of the Mist, the vessel used at Niagara Falls for the tours under the great Canadian waterfall.

Prior to the arrival of white settlers, the area was home to a population of Indigenous people known as Neutrals, an Iroquoian tribe of the south.

Col. Burwell, the chief surveyor, was hired by Col. Thomas Talbot (a British officer and land developer) to supervise the construction of the road which eventually stretched over 300 miles along the shoreline of Lake Erie.

The name "Pegtown" was eventually discarded as Richard Wheatley's son in law, William Buchanan opened a post office (1865) and renamed the town in honor of its first permanent resident.

[11] In 1999 the Conservative government mandated amalgamation of all Kent County Municipalities with Chatham as a province-wide plan to reduce costs.

In June, 2021, and again a month later, toxic hydrogen sulfide began leaking from the ground within Wheatley; this led to the installation of gas detectors.

On August 26, the detectors sounded in the centre of town; as evacuation was in progress, a gas explosion occurred which destroyed buildings and seriously injured seven people.

Wheatley is located on the flight path for migratory birds and monarch butterflies and attracts birders from around the world annually.

Wheatley's downtown offers restaurants, the (temporarily closed) Royal Canadian Legion Branch 324, with its collection of militaria, post office, library and bank.