Before being settled by Loyalists, there were French settlers living in the area around 1750 which they called Point au Baril. They were forced to leave during the Seven Years War.
The town is named after Sir Peregrine Maitland, a lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. Loyalist settlement began in the late 18th century. By 1850, there were 200 residents. The Grand Trunk Railway arrived in town in the late 1850s.
