Roseville is a community in
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 C ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
located at . It is within the
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
of
North Dumfries
The Township of North Dumfries is a rural township in Ontario, Canada, part of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.
Communities
North Dumfries includes the following communities: Ayr, Branchton, Clyde (formerly from Beverley Township, Wentwor ...
, which forms part of the
Region of Waterloo
The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...
, and is located between
Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
,
Kitchener and
Highway 401
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one,
is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provinc ...
.
There is another community in Ontario named Roseville located in the
Regional Municipality of Durham
The Regional Municipality of Durham (), informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, Durham forms the east-end of the Greater To ...
near
Uxbridge
Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...
.
History
Early settlement
The area around what would become Roseville was settled by Europeans during the 1820s. This first wave was a mix of
Scottish and
Pennsylvania German settlers, who occupied lots in Concessions 1012 of Dumfries Township along the Roseville, Cedar Creek, and New Dundee roads.
One local history claims that the Roseville Road had been a "Native American trail" before European settlement, and afterward was used as a bush road that led to a lime kiln north of the village.
Families such as Bricker, Detweiler, Clemens, Johnston, Reynolds, and Crumbeck were early settlers.
These families lived in log homes which usually consisted of a single room with a loft, and were heated by an open fireplace.
By 1824, Jacob Rosenberger had arrived. He was from
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the List of counties in Pennsylvania, third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the List of the most populous cou ...
and had purchased of land in Concession 12 on the Roseville Road. He subdivided this land into smaller lots, which became the site of some of the first village buildings. Rosenberger left within a decade for the nearby
Beverley Township
Beverley Township was a township established in 1792 in Home District in the then Upper Canada, today Ontario, Canada. It was named for the town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, by John Graves Simcoe.
The township became par ...
, and later died of
cholera during the 1834 epidemic.
Name
Several
popular etymologies exist around the origin of Roseville's name. The one considered most plausible by the local historian rych mills is that it is derivative from Rosenberger's name, given his role in the development of the village.
More fanciful explanations include one published in the 1920s by the antiquarian William J. Wintemberg, based on an interview with a Roseville resident named Louis Kaiser. In this version, "Roseville" was back-formed from "Rose-will", with "will" being
Pennsylvania Dutch for "wants". The explanation for this is that an early resident named Rose was "always looking for drinks".
Another origin suggested in histories written in the 1950s and 1960s was that it was based on the name of an early resident, who was an English shoemaker named Rose.
Later development
Records from 1864 indicate that Roseville, nine miles from Berlin (Kitchener), had a sawmill owned by Henry Bricker, a general store, a school, two hotels, and a post office; the population was about 150.
In 1880, the population was about 200. There were some stores and shops, a school and churches.
During its history, Roseville has had two taverns, two hotels, four churches, three schools, a sawmill, and a shingle factory. There has also been a wagon and carriage works, a blacksmith shop, a printing shop, two cooper shops, a turnip factory, a post office, a candy store, a shoe shop, and a general store.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by
Statistics Canada, Roseville had a population of 342 living in 108 of its 112 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 338. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
References
Township of North Dumfries – Historic Roseville Walking Tour in the Township of North Dumfries, Ontario, Canada*
*
Atlas of Canada – Roseville, Ontario
External links
Rosevilleat Geographical Names of Canada
Host Town of the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo of 2012
{{authority control
North Dumfries
Communities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo
Designated places in Ontario