The settlement of Melancthon Township began in late 1840 and coincided with the construction of the Toronto-Sydenham Road. By the 1860s, settlers had moved into the Shelburne area and in 1865 William Jelly, one of the community’s earliest inhabitants, established the British Canadian Hotel, commonly known as Jelly’s Tavern. Within a year, the settlement included a post office named Shelburne, reportedly after the Earl of Shelburne. In 1872, Jelly and his brother John ordered the survey of a village plot in anticipation of the arrival of the Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway. Rapid economic growth followed and the population increased from 70 in 1869 to 750 in 1877. Two years later Shelburne was incorporated as a village and in 1977 it became a town.