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In Upper and
Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
, concession roads were laid out by the colonial government through undeveloped Crown land to provide access to rows of newly surveyed
lots Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas *Land lot, an area of land *Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale together ...
intended for farming by new settlers. The land that comprised a row of lots that spanned the entire length of a new
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 ...
was "conceded" by the Crown for this purpose (hence, a "concession of land"). Title to an unoccupied lot was awarded to an applicant in exchange for raising a house, performing roadwork and land clearance, and monetary payment. Concession roads and cross-cutting ''sidelines'' or ''sideroads'' were laid out in an orthogonal (rectangular or square) grid plan, often aligned so that concession roads ran (approximately) parallel to the north shore of Lake Ontario, or to the southern boundary line of a county. Unlike previous American colonial practice, land in Ontario was surveyed first before being allocated to settlers. The provision of road allowances was an advance over earlier survey systems which allocated no roadways. Waterloo township, for example, had no road allowances. In some townships, the "line road" name (e.g., Ninth Line) was applied to the roads that elsewhere were called "concession roads", i.e., roads that ran between two adjacent concessions.


Survey systems

By one count, there were five major Ontario survey systems, with 166 variations, resulting in a "crazy quilt" of surveys. In many cases special colonization roads ran diagonally across the grid. Survey lines referenced back from the Great Lakes ran at different angles, forming triangles and other irregular shapes. Some townships had more than one survey.
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
,
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
and Toronto Township (today Mississauga) are examples. In a common square grid layout known as a 1,000-Acre Sectional System, adjacent parallel roads were 100
chains A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...
or apart, and arranged as ten 100-acre lots each 20 chains by 50 chains so that two consecutive concession roads and two consecutive side roads enclosed a square of . Another system used 100-acre lots each 30 by chains, again arranged in 1000-acre blocks. Concession roads were apart, while sideroads were apart. Other plans used during colonial surveying used different layouts and lot sizes of 100, 150, 160, 200 or 320 acres. In a ''single-front'' survey, lots were measured from one side of the concession to the other. Any errors in the survey became apparent at the road junctions, with the side roads being offset.Example Jogged Intersection in Single Front Township
img title="Concession Single Front"; style="text-decoration: none; height:150px;float: left; padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;"src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Concession_Single_Front.jpg" > In a ''double-front'' survey, lots were measured from the front of the concession to a midpoint, and then from the back of the concession to the midpoint. This makes the road junctions even, but any errors result in jogs at the midpoint of the side road.Example Even-Intersection Jogged-Sideroad in Double Front Township


Special terms

* ''Road allowance''—a strip of land for provision of a public road between lots. Typically 66 feet wide or one chain. * ''Unopened road allowance'' - is a public highway that has not been opened and assumed for maintenance purposes by-law of the township. * ''Baseline''—The first concession road in a township, was often called the ''baseline'' (from the surveying term), and roads so named remain in many municipalities, including Ottawa,
Clarington Clarington ( 2021 population 101,427) is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the Village of Newca ...
and
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
. * ''Front''—the first concession road was also frequently called the ''front''. * ''Broken front''—concession along a lake shore. * ''Townline''—a boundary line or road between two townships, e.g., Adjala- Tecumseth Townline. Note that townlines might be side roads. * ''Given roads''—special roads made to avoid natural obstacles that interfere with the grid. * ''
Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...
''—triangular shaped lots


Concession road numbering

There is considerable variation in concession road nomenclature. Markham, for example, has both "Ninth Line" and "11th Concession Road"

img title="Concession Road Markham Example"; style="text-decoration: none; height:150px;float: left; padding: 0px 3px 0px 0px;"src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Concession_Road_Markham_Example.jpg" > In some townships, numbering is sequential, starting from one side. For example, in King Township, concessions start from Yonge. Bathurst is the (former) Second Concession road, between concessions 1 and 2 (forms the front of the second concession of land). There is no "first" concession road. In some townships, the baseline passed through the middle, with concessions numbered on each side. *For example, in Regional Municipality of Peel, Peel Region and
Dufferin County Dufferin County is a county and census division located in Central Ontario, Canada. The county seat is Orangeville, and the current Warden is Wade Mills. The current chief administrative officer is Sonya Pritchard. Dufferin covers an area of , ...
,
Hurontario Street Hurontario Street is a roadway running in Ontario, Canada between Lake Ontario at Mississauga and Lake Huron's Georgian Bay at Collingwood. Within Peel Region, it is a major urban thoroughfare within the cities of Mississauga and Brampton, wh ...
is the centre line, with concession line roads to either side being numbered East or West. In present-day Mississauga (which has two surveys, divided by
Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as ...
) Kennedy Road is the former "First Line East" in the northern survey, and McLaughlin Road is the former "First Line West". The abbreviations "EHS" for "East of Hurontario Street" and "WHS" for "West of Hurontario Street" are used in Dufferin. *In Warwick Township in
Lambton County Lambton County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which is drained by the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake Saint Cl ...
, the
Egremont Road King's Highway22, commonly referred to as Highway22, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, located between Sarnia and London. Since 1998, the majority of the former route has been known as Middlesex County Ro ...
was the baseline, with successive concessions numbered either "North of the Egremont Road" ("NER") or "South of the Egremont Road" ("SER"). In some townships, such as those in
Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada comprising eight lower-tier municipalities and with a 2016 population of 66,491. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth Governor General of the ...
, each side of each successive concession road comprised a separate numbered concession. Thus, the south side of a road might be Concession 2 and the north side Concession 3. In this system, for the purposes of road signing only even (or, sometimes, odd) numbers were used, so that concession roads were successively numbered, e.g., 2, 4, 6, etc. This simplified the address numbering of farm lots, especially along township boundary roads where opposite sides of the same road were in different townships. Where even numbers were used, the numbers of odd-numbered concessions would appear only in property records (e.g., ''Lot 18, Concession 11, Brant Township'', which would be on the north side of Concession Road 10). Many concession roads retain their original names. Less developed areas are often referred to as "back concessions".


Side road numbering

Side road or sideline numbering varies depending on the township. Some examples: * Sequential—In King Township, sideroads were numbered consecutively. The last concession road was 13, so the first sideroad was 14, the next 15, and so on. * By adjacent lot number—Many townships in Bruce County, are numbered in multiples of 5, i.e., starting with the ''town line'' (road on township boundary), then numbered 5th, 10th, 15th, and so on, with five lots between each pair of successive sidelines in the original township survey. The side road number is tied to the adjacent lot number. Many side roads are no longer numbered, but have been given names. For example, In Renfrew County, most side roads are given names, with Stokes Road, Patterson Road, Dillabough Road, Cheese Factory Road, as examples. McIlwraith points out that the naming process has been underway for many years.


Impact

In most of Upper Canada this layout of roads preceded urban development, so that most Ontario municipalities now have grid patterns of streets. In cities, many concession roads have become major streets. However, a few of the "sideline" roads in urban areas still retain their historic numbered lines or use "Line" for their street designations: Brown's Line, Ninth Line, and Guelph Line are important thoroughfares in Toronto and its western suburbs.


See also

*
Range road A range road in Canada is a road that runs north–south along a range grid line of the Dominion Land Survey. Range roads (Rge. Rd.) are perpendicular to township roads (Twp. Rd.) which run east–west along the township grid lines. Western Ca ...
*
Dominion Land Survey The Dominion Land Survey (DLS; french: links=no, arpentage des terres fédérales, ATF) is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile (2.6 km2) sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout ...
*
County road A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...
* Township road * Mile Road System (Michigan)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concession Road History of transport in Canada Roads in Ontario Roads in Quebec Types of roads Roads in Canada by type Culture of Ontario