Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada with a population of 15,301 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19 the closest route to Highway 401 at Ingersoll, Ontario.

The area was settled in 1825 by George Tillson and other immigrants from Enfield, Massachusetts. A forge and sawmill were erected and roads built which led to the establishment of this small community, originally called Dereham Forge. The settlement was on the Big Otter Creek.

In 1836 the village was renamed Tillsonburg in honour of its founder. It was also in this year that the main street, Broadway, was laid out to its full 100-foot (30 m) width. Because the village was predominantly a logging and wood product centre, the street was built to accommodate the turning of three-team logging wagons. This width is now unique to Ontario and has become a benefit toward handling the pressures of modern-day traffic by providing angled parking. The extension of Broadway north was called Plank Line and is now known as Highway 19.

Tillsonburg serves a regional tri-county area of 225,000 people at the confluence of Oxford, Elgin and Norfolk counties. The industrial base has become quite diverse during the decline of the once prominent tobacco industry. The area is home to several branch plants of major US-based automotive suppliers including Rieter Automotive, Guardian Industries, TRW and Johnson Controls. There are many service-related industries including Verspeeten Transport, Marwood Metal Fabrication Ltd., Otter Valley Foods, E & E McLauglin Ltd., J/E Bearing Ltd., Fleetwood Metal Products, and MIL-SIM-FX International Inc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillsonburg