Innisfil is a town 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 Ca ...

, Canada, located on the western shore of

Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly in the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century the lake was called ''Ouentironk' ...

Simcoe County Simcoe County is located in the central portion of Southern Ontario, Canada. The county is just north of the Greater Toronto Area, stretching from the shores of Lake Simcoe in the east to Georgian Bay in the west. Simcoe County forms part of the ...

, immediately south of

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politicall ...

and north of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. It has historically been a rural area, but due to being geographically sandwiched in between the high-growth areas of Barrie area and

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...

has meant greater residential development in Innisfil.

Etymology

The name ''Innisfil'' comes from the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

'' Inis Fáil'', an ancient mythological name for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

History

The history of Innisfil spans a period in excess of 170 years. The Town was hewn from almost unbroken virgin forests which had been home to the

Huron Indians The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Wyandot are Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of Lake Ontario w ...

, and was first

surveyed Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Two-dimensional space#In geometry, two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of ...

in 1820. The area encompassed 68,653 acres (278 km²), including the villages of Allandale, Tollendal, Painswick, Minets Point, and Holly at the time. The first settlers were the Hewson and Soules families who came by way of the

East Holland River The East Holland River is a river in Ontario, Canada that is part of the Holland River watershed that empties into Cook's Bay in Lake Simcoe. The headwaters of the East Holland River rise in the Oak Ridges Moraine. The river runs generally north fr ...

and Lake Simcoe to settle at Point Endeavour; they renamed the area Hewson's Point (later named Big Bay Point). The Hewsons settled on March 30, 1820, and the Soules in 1822. The Warnica family settled the following year, in 1823, in the area now known as Painswick. The first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in the Township was built at Tollendal by George McMullen in 1829. At this time James Soules owned a sawmill on the south half of lot 26 concession fourteen (Big Bay Point), Innisfil where he made the lumber for the construction of the first frame house in Innisfil for Lewis J. Clement. John and George Warnica completed the clearing of the bush between Barrie and Churchill. John Cayton had won the contract to open the road between Churchill and the 11th line of West Gwillimbury but only made it one mile north to the 12th, known as Cayton's Corners. Owing to his slight acquaintance with the forest, he sub-let the work to John and George Warnica who completed Cayton's contract between the 4th line of Innisfil (Churchill) and the 12th line of West Gwillimbury, north of

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. This opened the land route, known as

Penetanguishene Road Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual (French and English) community has a populati ...

, which later became Highway 11 and is now

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...

. This route between York (now Toronto) and Barrie was completed in the fall of 1825. Along this road the settlers came, and spread out along the concession lines to clear the lands and develop their farms. There had been those who came ahead by way of the river and the lake; many settled near the shores of Lake Simcoe and Kempenfelt Bay. The only channels of communication were the public roads, and these were scant and poor. The pioneer farms cut from the forest were mostly self-sustaining. What few products there were for sale found a market in nearby Barrie, which was then little more than a village. Distant York was reached in the winter when the ice and snow made for better roads. During this period,

post offices A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional servi ...

, churches, and stores were established, also a form of local government performed by commissioners was appointed under a provincial act. The first post office, then called Innisfil, was located at what is now called Barclay's Corners. The first school was built in 1838 and located at Myers Corners, later called Victoria (now the community of

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

). The first church was also at Victoria, and was of

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

denomination. Milling in Innisfil was first done at Tollendal in 1835. The need for a grist mill to grind wheat is an indication of the progress toward an agricultural community. The earliest official record of a

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

shows that by 1842 the population of Innisfil was 762.

Establishment

The year 1850 marked the end of the old commissioners' rule. The population had increased to 1,807, nearly tripling in under a decade. The first municipal council was established, replacing the government of appointed commissioners. The Corporation of the Township of Innisfil was born. The settlement of Allandale became more prominent with the construction of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway (later the Northern Railway) from

to Collingwood. The first train from Toronto arrived in Allandale on October 11, 1853. The continued building of public roads, together with the railway and the lake navigation, resulted in the establishment of more flourishing hamlet settlements. Belle Ewart was formed in 1854. Henry's Corners, now Thornton, was formed in 1833. Perry's Corners, now

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Magh ...

, was formed around 1859. Hamlet settlement also resulted in a burgeoning resort development along the entire shoreline. In 1891, 500 acres (2 km²) of Innisfil became incorporated as the Village of Allandale, now part of the City of Barrie. Barrie annexed a further 500 acres (2 km²) in 1897. Innisfil flourished over the years and by 1950, had a population of 3,500. However, paved roads, the automobile (the first recorded in the town was 1912), the price of fuel, and the cost of housing outside Toronto, encouraged commuter residents. This, in turn, gradually changed the nature of Innisfil's shoreline development. Seasonal housing evolved to permanent residential. Now, about 90% of the shoreline is permanent residences.

Modern development

Cookstown, at the southwest extremity of the town, became an incorporated village in 1962, with 100 acres (400,000 m²) of Innisfil becoming part of Cookstown. In 1967, 597 acres (2.4 km²) were annexed from Innisfil by the City of Barrie to accommodate the establishment of the Formosa Spring Brewery. This facility was purchased by

Molson's The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Ca ...

and has since been closed and sub-let to other businesses. On January 1, 1982, 8,623 acres (35 km²) were annexed to the City of Barrie, with a further 737 acres (3 km²) to be annexed January 1, 1987. As a result of the annexations, Innisfil's population was reduced by approximately 26.7% to 12,153 permanent residents, and its total assessment was reduced by 20.4%. On January 1, 1991, by virtue of the South Simcoe Act, the Township of Innisfil, a northern section of the Township of West Gwillimbury, and the Village of Cookstown, were amalgamated and incorporated as the Town of Innisfil. In 1993, the

Ontario Stockyards Ontario Stockyards is a livestock auction facility located in Cookstown, Ontario and serves much of Southern Ontario in selling cattle, pork and other livestock from producers to buyers to process as meat. History St. Lawrence Market 1803-1877 T ...

livestock facility, located for a long time in

The Junction The Junction is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is near the West Toronto Diamond, a junction of four railway lines in the area. The neighbourhood was previously an independent city called West Toronto, that was also its own fe ...

West Toronto West Toronto was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904. It was located in the city of Toronto, in the province of Ontario. The district was created by the British North America Act of 18 ...

area in Toronto, relocated to just east of the Cookstown town site, on Highway 89. The County of Simcoe Act provided for further restructuring of Simcoe County on January 1, 1994, when the Village of Thornton was amalgamated with the Township of Essa and a small section of the Township of Essa, adjacent to Cookstown, was amalgamated with Innisfil. As of 2006, Innisfil had a total permanent population of 31,175 and an estimated seasonal population of 4,000 people. Having begun as a community of seasonal homes for people living in Toronto, it is now a popular place for permanent residents, mostly families and empty-nesters and, indeed, most of the "cottages" along the lake shore have since been converted into year-round homes. The Province of Ontario enacted legislation that enabled the City of Barrie to annex from the Town of Innisfil on January 1, 2010. The land in question extended south beyond 10th line west of the 10th Sideroad, and as far south as Lockhart Road on the east side of the 10th Sideroad. Innisfil retained the community of Stroud, but the community of St. Pauls was shifted to Barrie.

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 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 cultu ...

, Innisfil 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.

Neighbourhoods

The town comprises the communities of Alcona, Simcoe Beach, Alderslea, Barclay, Bear Point, Belle Ewart, Belle Air Beach, Bethesda, Big Bay Point, Big Cedar Point, Cedar Mount, Churchill, Cookstown, De Grassi Point, Fennell, Gilford, Glenhaven Beach, Glenwood Beach, Innisfil Heights, Killarney Beach, Lefroy, Maple Grove, Mooselanka Beach, Nantyr, Nantyr Park, Sandy Cove, Sandycove Acres and Stroud.

Government

The town council is composed of the mayor, deputy mayor, and seven councillors who are elected on a ward basis. The council members are as follows, elected in October 2018: * Mayor: Lynn Dollin * Deputy Mayor: Dan Davidson * Councillor, Ward 1: Kevin Eisses * Councillor, Ward 2: Bill Van Berkel * Councillor, Ward 3: Donna Orsatti * Councillor, Ward 4: Alex Waters * Councillor, Ward 5: Kenneth Fowler * Councillor, Ward 6: Carolyn Payne * Councillor, Ward 7: Rob Nicol The mayor and deputy mayor represent Innisfil at Council meetings of

. The town is part of the provincial riding of

Barrie—Innisfil Barrie—Innisfil is a federal electoral district in Ontario. It encompasses a portion of Ontario previously included in the electoral districts of Barrie and York—Simcoe. History Barrie—Innisfil was created by the 2012 federal electoral ...

, represented by Andrea Khanjin of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

, and part of the federal riding of

, which was introduced for the 2015 federal election, and represented by

John Brassard John Brassard (born May 11, 1964) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Barrie—Innisfil in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election. Brassard is a former firefighter. Political care ...

of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Co ...

Policing, EMS and Fire Services

Policing in Innisfil is provided by the

South Simcoe Police Service South Simcoe Police Service is a municipal police force in Ontario, Canada, providing service to the municipalities of Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury. It came into existence on January 1, 1997, through the amalgamation of the Innisfil ...

. Innisfil Fire and Rescue Service provides fire services in the town from 4 stations (Lefroy, Stroud, Cookstown and Innisfil) and EMS by the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services Stroud Paramedic station.

Transportation

The

Barrie line Barrie is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station in Toronto in a generally northward direction to Barrie, and includes ten stations along its route. From ...

of the

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

commuter rail system passes through Innisfil, but does not stop in the town. Highway 400 runs through the west side of the town and connects it to

. Innisfil signed a contract with

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery ( Uber Eats and Postmates), pa ...

to provide subsidized microtransit service to residents in the community, in lieu of a traditional fixed-route bus service. The service began in 2017 and attracted 8,000 monthly trips in its first year, but fares were increased in 2019 due to the rising cost of the subsidy. There are flat fares of either $4 or $6 to or from certain designated community hubs, or a $4 discount off regular Uber fares for other destinations. To control costs, there is a 30-ride cap per month on flat and discounted fares, after which riders must pay regular Uber fares. However, riders dependant on the service can apply for an additional 20 subsidized trips per month.

Culture

Cookstown is a hub of antique specialty stores and outlet shopping, and is known as the antique capital of southern Ontario. Tanger Outlets Cookstown, originally the Cookstown Manufacturers' Outlet Mall, opened in 1995. Cookstown is also known for its annual garage sale called "Wing-Ding" which occurs the first weekend of June every year. The Cookstown Fair is held annually, usually in September. Cookstown is the birthplace of

Emily Murphy Emily Murphy (born Emily Gowan Ferguson; 14 March 186827 October 1933) was a Canadian women's rights activist and author. In 1916, she became the first female magistrate in Canada and in the British Empire. She is best known for her contributio ...

, a noted Canadian women's rights activist. In 1916, she became the first woman police magistrate in Alberta, and in the British Empire. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were "persons" under Canadian law. A TV movie, '' Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery'', was filmed in Cookstown in 1998. Alcona hosts Summerfest and Winterfest at Innisfil Beach road in the early summer and mid winter, each year at Innisfil Beach located at the end of Innisfil Beach Rd (8th Line). Georgian Downs Harness racetrack and casino is located on the 5th Sideroad near the Highway 400 interchange at Innisfil Beach Road. The Sunset Speedway, located on Yonge St. south of Innisfil Beach Road, has been a local landmark for over 50 years.

Notable people

Stephen Emmett Clement Stephen Emmett Clement (October 14, 1867 – December 31, 1947), was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1915 to 1920 as a member of the Liberal Party. His father, also named Step ...

, member of Legislative Assembly of Manitoba * James Stoddart Duff, member of Legislative Assembly of Ontario *

Henry Albert Harper Henry Albert Harper (December 9, 1873 – December 6, 1901) was a Canadian journalist and civil servant. He may be best known as a friend of future Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Harper is commemorated by a statue on Parliament Hill a ...

, journalist and civil servant; friend of

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

Abel James Hindle Abel James Hindle (1870–1954) was a farmer and political figure in Saskatchewan. He represented Willow Bunch in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1917 to 1925 as a Liberal. He was born in Churchill, Ontario, the son of Abel Jam ...

, member of Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan *

Edwin Holgate Edwin Headley Holgate (August 19, 1892 – May 21, 1977), was a Canadians, Canadian artist, painter, muralist, and wood-cut artist. Holgate played a major role in Montreal's art community, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where he both st ...

, artist, painter and engraver; "eighth" member of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is officiall ...

Josh Leivo Joshua Leivo (born May 26, 1993) is a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing under contract with Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He had previously played in the National Hockey Leag ...

, NHL hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes. * Haughton Lennox, member of Canadian House of Commons * Thomas Herbert Lennox, member of Legislative Assembly of Ontario and Canadian House of Commons * William Leushner, Olympian; winner of 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals *

, women's rights activist, jurist, and author; first female magistrate in Canada, and in the British Empire * Kate Todd, actress, singer and songwriter * Charles Willoughby, member of Canadian House of Commons

References

*
A History of Simcoe County
' by Andrew Frederick Hunter

External links

* {{Authority control Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in Simcoe County Towns in Ontario Populated places on Lake Simcoe