Western Elgin County includes the Municipality of Dutton-Dunwich and the Municipality of West Elgin.
Dutton-Dunwich was settled on the shores of Lake Erie by Colonel Thomas Talbot in 1803 followed by families of Irish descent from the United States. These first settlers were placed near the Talbot Creek and the former fishing village of Tyrconnell. In the following decades many Scottish immigrants arrived and were given land grants further north within Dunwich and also into Aldborough Township which is now the Municipality of West Elgin. Many of their descendents still farm in the area today. Their wheat and corn crops were eventually joined by tobacco in the 1920s.
Colonel Thomas Talbot is buried at St. Peter’s Anglican Church Cemetery near Tyrconnell. Several homes dating back to the early Talbot Settlement are still in existence including the 1850s Georgian style residence that is now the Backus-Page House Museum.
The communities of Wallacetown and Eagle were built along the original Talbot Road. Later the village of Dutton and the twin railway towns of West Lorne and Rodney flourished due to the presence of railway stations in their communities.