The first permanent settler of Listowel, Ontario, John Binning arrived in 1852. Within four years David Davidson Hay, one of the most enterprising early settlers, had erected a sawmill and a settlement called Mapleton developed.
When a post office was opened on June 1, 1856, it was named Listowel after the town in Ireland. The community, with a population of 200, contained taverns and a general store operated by William H. Hacking. Ten years later the population had increased to 800 and the settlement became an incorporated Village. The arrival of a branch line of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway hastened the Village's development and it became a Town with a population of 2,054 in 1875. 
In 1998, it was the largest community amalgamated into the new Municipality of North Perth (2006 pop. 12,254).
The town has a frozen, foodservice and specialty food plant owned by the Campbell Soup Company. It has just been announced after 48 years, the planr will close within a year, laying off 500.