Dresden, Ontario

Dresden
Community
Main Street, 2024
Motto: 
Discover Dresden: The Charm  The Beauty  The Lifestyle
Dresden
Dresden
Coordinates: 42°35′25″N 82°10′54″W / 42.59028°N 82.18167°W / 42.59028; -82.18167
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
MunicipalityChatham-Kent
Population
  Total
2,800
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST)
  Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Forward sortation area
Area code(s)519 and 226
NTS Map040J09
GNBC CodeFAZSG
Websitedresden.ca

Dresden is an agricultural community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Located on the Sydenham River, it is named after Dresden, Germany. The main field crops in the area are grain corn, soybean, and winter wheat, and the principal horticultural crops are tomatoes, sweet corn, and carrots.

Dresden was the home of Josiah Henson, an African-Canadian former slave, abolitionist, and minister, whose life-story was an inspiration for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Henson homestead is a historic building near Dresden.

From 1948 to 1956, Dresden was the focus of a campaign by the National Unity Association, led by Hugh Burnett, for racial equality and social justice. The resultant passage of Ontario's Fair Employment Practices Act (1951) and Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954) paved the way for the enactment of human rights legislation across Canada. § Human rights: the Dresden story

An H chondrite-type meteorite fell near Dresden in 1939.:64–65