CASSEL, ONTARIO - THE VILLAGE!

Cassel was settled by German immigrants who named the village after the city of Kassel in the Hesse region of Germany. Although it once boasted a cheese factory, hotel, school, sawmill, post office and grocery store, those are all long gone. Today, Cassel Mennonite Church is the only remaining institution.

The great distinction Cassel village holds is that it is the "cradle" of Canada's dairy industry. Most of Canada's Holstein population have their roots in a bull and cow owned by a Cassel farmer named Herman Bollert in 1883. He was one of Canada's first farmers to acquire Holstein cattle that makes up 95% of this country's dairy cattle. Bollert acquired Holsteins from Michael Cook of Aultsville, Ontario who first imported the breed to Canada from the U.S. Most of Canada's Holsteins are descended from Bollert's animals.

This cluster of about a dozen homes is located at the crossroads of the 16th Line and the Cassel Sideroad of East Zorra Township southeast of Tavistock.