The physical site of the present Holy Name of Mary Church was established in 1842. Daniel Shipman made this gift of one and a half acres of land to Fr. John Hugh McDunagh to enable the building of St Mary’s Mission church in the community then known as Shipman’s Mills. The 10m x 15m frame church was constructed in 1842.

A quarter of a century earlier, amid an influx of immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, Father John Macdonald regularly visited the settlement of “Sheppard’s Falls,” a hearty walk through the woods from Perth – for his parish was all of Lanark County.

The small community of mills on the Mississippi River started to flourish in the mid-1850’s, and in 1856 the town was officially (and quizzically) named Almonte. The famous Mexican general and diplomat who said “No” to los Yanquis was probably never aware of the honour paid him.