Brussels is a community within the Municipality of Huron East in Huron County,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It held village status prior to 2001. The most recent population estimate was 993 residents in 2021.

History

Brussels was settled in 1854, when William Ainley purchased 200 acres of land alongside the Maitland River. Originally, Ainley named the settlement after himself, and it was known as Ainleyville until it was incorporated as Brussels in 1872. The Ronald Streamer, a piece of firefight equipment, was made in Brussels. Under the government of former Premier

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

, it was amalgamated into the Municipality of Huron East on January 1, 2001.

Geography

Brussels is located in the Municipality of Huron East; however, the town lies on the municipal border to the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry. Both of these municipalities are located in

Huron County, Ontario Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community. The populat ...

. The town is split by two Huron County roads; 12 and 16. Huron County Road 12, called ''Turnberry Street'' ''(in-town)'' and ''Brussels Line'' ''(out-of-town)'' runs north-south through the town while Huron County Road 16 runs west-east through the town with a distinct name depending on the direction. The road is named ''Morris Road (out-of-town)'' or ''Orchard Line (in-town)'' when traveling west from the town; the road is named ''Newry Road (out-of-town)'' or ''Queen Street (in-town)'' when travelling east from the town. The

Maitland River The Maitland River is a river in Huron County, Perth County and Wellington County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a topographic map. The river is in the Great Lakes Basin and empties into Lake Huro ...

runs through the town in a south to north direction which has resulted in the construction of a dam in the in community. The river and low-land areas of the dam typically floods every spring from increased rainfall and snow melt. Brussels is north of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and west of Kitchener. It is also east of the closest coastal community, Goderich on the shorelines of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. As Brussels is a rural community, farmland surrounds the town on all sides with scattered bushes amongst the fields.

Climate

Brussels consists of

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

with four distinct seasons. The climate generally falls into the ''Dfb'' climate subtype.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Brussels had a population of 993 living in 422 of its 444 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,158. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Media

Newspapers

''The Brussels Post'' was a newspaper organization formed in 1884 in the town of Brussels. The newspaper organization was operation from 1884 through to 1929 before ceasing operations. The operations started back up in 1937 through to 1983 when ''The'' ''Brussels Post'' was discontinued. Four years after ''The Brussels Post'' ceased operations, the

North Huron Citizen The ''North Huron Citizen'' is a weekly newspaper covering the communities of Blyth and Brussels, Ontario, along with the townships of Huron East, North Huron, Morris-Turnberry and Central Huron Central Huron is a township in western Ontario, C ...

formed. In the early days of ''The Brussels Post'', the operations were weekly. While sources claim that ''The Brussels Post'' was formed in 1885, the earliest known digitalized paper from January 2, 1885 states that it's the 26th paper or 26th week, indicating that the first paper would have been issued around July 4, 1884. After the discontinuing of ''The Brussels Post'' in 1981, ''The Citizen'', provided by

was formed. ''The Citizen'' is the newspaper still distributed around the community as of 2022. Similar to ''The Brussels Post'', the newspaper is issued weekly. While the head-office for the North Huron Citizen is located in the nearby community of

Blyth, Ontario Not to be confused with the Town of Blyth, England. Blyth is a village in North Huron, Huron County, Ontario, Canada. Blyth is north of London and west of Waterloo at the intersection of Huron County Road 4 (London Road) and Huron Cou ...

, there is a small office located in the Brussels downtown core.

Notable people

Allan Blair Allan Walker Blair (1900–1948) was a professor at the University of Alabama's medical school who is best known for allowing himself to be bitten by a black widow spider in order to investigate the toxicity of its venom in humans. As a result of t ...

, professor, experimentalist *

Darwin McCutcheon Darwin McCutcheon (born April 19, 1962) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey defenceman. He played one game in the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1981–82 season, on December 31, 1981 against the Detroit ...

, professional ice hockey player *

Elston Cardiff Lewis Elston Cardiff (22 January 1889 – 16 April 1969) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Brussels, Ontario and initially chose farming as his career. From 1932 to 1940, Elston Car ...

, politician *

Frances Beatrice Taylor Frances Beatrice Taylor (May 15, 1891 — June 10, 1979) was a Canadian journalist, poet, and playwright. Early life Frances Beatrice Taylor was born in Brussels, Ontario, the daughter of Robert Leslie Taylor and Mollie Chipman Smith Taylor. He ...

, poet, journalist *

Harry Dean Ainlay Harry Dean Ainlay (January 3, 1887 – March 12, 1970) was a Canadian educator and politician, noted for his many years of service in Edmonton, Alberta, as a teacher and principal with Edmonton Public Schools and as a long time member of Edmonto ...

, former mayor of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Jack McIntyre John Archibald "Jack" McIntyre (September 8, 1930 in Brussels, Ontario – March 15, 1998) was a Canadian ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League between 1950 and 1960. Playing career McIntyre played 499 National Hockey League ...

, professional ice hockey player *

Janet Cardiff Janet Cardiff (born March 15, 1957) is a Canadian artist who works chiefly with sound and sound installations, often in collaboration with her husband and partner George Bures Miller. Cardiff first gained international recognition in the art worl ...

, artist

References

''The Settlement Of Huron County'' by James Scott. {{authority control Communities in Huron County, Ontario Former villages in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 2001