Front of Yonge is a township found in the

United Counties of Leeds and Grenville The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, commonly known as Leeds and Grenville, is a county in Ontario, Canada, in the Eastern Ontario subregion of Southern Ontario. It fronts on the Saint Lawrence River and the international boundary between ...

in Ontario, Canada. It is the location of the

Thousand Islands National Park Thousand Islands National Park (established 1904), formerly known as the St. Lawrence Islands National Park, is a Canadian National Park located on the 1000 Islands Parkway in the Thousand Islands Region of the Saint Lawrence River. The islands a ...

and Brown's Bay Provincial Park, as well as a number of private campgrounds, the Jones Creek walking trail system, and the 1000 Islands

Waterfront Trail Stretching over 3600 km (2236 miles) from Prince Township, west of Sault Ste. Marie, to the Quebec border, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of interconnecting roads and off-road trails joining over 150 communities and First Na ...

’s walking/bike path which runs from just beyond the township’s eastern boundary to neighbouring towns. The predominance of the Canadian Shield produces scenic and diverse landscapes which include exposed rock formations and heavy tree cover, as well as wide fields and beaches.

Location

Front of Yonge is located along the St. Lawrence River in the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (french: Mille-Îles) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for abo ...

region. Part of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, Front of Yonge can be found between the larger towns of Brockville to the east, and Gananoque to the west. Approximately away from Ottawa and from Toronto, Front of Yonge is within driving distance to many of the larger cities of Ontario.

Communities

The township comprises the communities of Ballycanoe, Caintown, Mallorytown, Mallorytown Landing, McIntosh Mills, Trevelyan and Yonge Mills. The township administrative offices are located in Mallorytown.

Mallorytown

The largest settlement area of the township is the Village of Mallorytown, founded by United Empire Loyalist Nathaniel Mallory. He came ashore at Mallorytown Landing in 1784, and later moved inland in search of better farmland. This village is the site of Canada's first glassworks factory, which began in 1839, and closed in 1940. Only a few pieces of Mallorytown glass still exist, the most famous being the ‘Mallorytown Pitcher' which is on display at the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

. A reproduction of this piece is currently on display at the Mallory Coach House, an 1850s stone home which has been renovated and is open to visitors on weekends during the spring and summer months.

Mallorytown Landing

Mallorytown Landing is situated on the St. Lawrence River and is the location of the Visitor Centre for the Thousand Islands National Park, which comprises several ecologically important mainland properties and more than twenty islands between Kingston and Brockville. Established in 1904 as the first Canadian national park east of the Rockies, it is also the smallest of the national parks.

History

Front of Yonge is named for the Right Honourable Sir

George Yonge Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet, KCB, PC (17 July 1731 – 25 September 1812), of Escot House in the parish of Talaton in Devon, England, was a British Secretary at War (1782–1783 and 1783–1794). He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in ...

, a British Secretary during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. Officially designated as Front of Yonge in 1859 this township, the nearby Front of Escott and Front of Lansdowne were the only three municipalities with "Front" in their names because they all border the St. Lawrence river. Years later, both Escott and Lansdowne were assimilated into another municipality. That left Front of Yonge the only township in Ontario with "Front" in its name. Also named after Sir George are Yonge Mills Road and Townline Road Escott Yonge in this township, as well as Yonge Street, the main arterial road in Toronto. The area was settled by a strong core of

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

s after the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

who participated in the War of 1812. Mallorytown Landing was a port for ships moving supplies and a blockhouse was constructed on Chimney Island to protect the vessels. The chimney remains standing today as a National Historical site.

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 ...

, Front of Yonge had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Population trend:Statistics Canada:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

census * Population in 1991: 2,357 * Population in 1996: 2,530 * Population in 2001: 2,639 * Population in 2006: 2,803 * Population in 2011: 2,752 * Population in 2016: 2,680 Mother tongue:Statistics Canada 2006 Census
Front of Yonge community profile
/ref> * English as first language: 94.8% * French as first language: 1.4% * English and French as first language: 0.4% * Other as first language: 3.4%

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 44, 32, N, 75, 52, W, display=title, region:CA-ON Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in Leeds and Grenville United Counties Township municipalities in Ontario Ontario populated places on the Saint Lawrence River