Wilno is a settlement in the Township Municipality of Madawaska Valley, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Geography Wilno is nestled in the rolling, picturesque terrain of the Madawaska valley which was largely shaped during the demise of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at the end of the last North American Ice Age. History Wilno is the first and oldest Polish-Kashubian settlement in Canada. Most of the original settlers in the area came around 1858 from the Polish cultural region of Kashubia. (Prussia had annexed the region from Poland in 1795, but it is now part of Poland again.) They are an integral part of the Kashubian diaspora. One of the reasons that they chose the area was that the landscape reminded them of their original homes. Wilno's namesake was the city of Vilnius, known in Polish as Wilno, which was then in Russian Empire in area that used to belong to Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and is now capital of Lithuania. The city was a birthplace of Reverend Ludwik Dembski, who was a prominent community spiritual leader and town founder, who would not have wanted the town named after himself. Therefore, the townsfolk, grateful for his contributions to their town, may have suggested the name of Wilno. The first church, known as St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, was built in 1875, destroyed by fire in 1936 and rebuilt as Saint Mary - Our Lady of Czestochowa. It is now known as St. Mary's Catholic Church. The first general store and post office was initially operated by Adam Prince (1855-1933) who became the community's first postmaster in 1885. The settlement was initially named Princetown before being renamed Wilno. Flora's Store was started by Flora Bank in 1937; it was destroyed by fire in 1940 but rebuilt. The business went through several owners and changes but was closed down in 2015. In 1894, the Canadian Atlantic Railroad arrived in the Madawaska Valley. Previously, John Rudolphus Booth's Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway ran through the town mainly serving the lumber industry. The first hotel near the Wilno rail station was the "Stopping Place." Anew owner added more rooms and a dining room, and renamed it the "Exchange Hotel." Subsequent owners modified the property, which became the "Wilno Tavern" in 1979 and the "Wilno Tavern Restaurant" more recently. The restaurant remained in operation as of 2020, and Corinne Higgins has owned it since 1981. The former train route