Dufferin County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and

census division Census divisions, in Canada and the United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-level census geographic uni ...

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 , and its population was 61,735 at the time of the 2016 Census.

History

It was originally organized as the "Provisional County of Dufferin", with preparatory work authorized by the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...

in 1875 and the actual formation taking effect in 1881, being created from parts of the counties of Grey and Simcoe, on the north and east, and from the County of Wellington on the south and west. The Village of Grand Valley was erected from East Luther in 1897, and the two municipalities amalgamated in 1995 to form the Township of East Luther Grand Valley, which was erected into the Town of Grand Valley in 2012. The county gets its name from

Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (21 June 182612 February 1902) was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society. In his youth he was a popular figure in the court of Queen Vict ...

, who was

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm ...

between 1872-1878. Originally an agriculturally based economy, Dufferin's economy has diversified to include commercial and retail businesses, industries related to residential and commercial construction (building, supplies, aggregates, real estate) and manufacturing. A portion of Dufferin’s economy still depends on agriculture but tourism is becoming more important as the county takes a more positive role in attracting visitors.

Geography

Dufferin County is the highest plateau immediately south of

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. T ...

, and as such forms the watershed between the four lakes:

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawato ...

, Erie,

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 ...

and

Simcoe Simcoe may refer to: Geography Canada * Simcoe, Ontario, a town in southwestern Ontario, near Lake Erie, Canada * Simcoe County, a county in central Ontario, Canada * Lake Simcoe, a lake in central Ontario, Canada * Simcoe North, a federal and pr ...

. Four rivers — Saugeen,

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...

, Credit and Nottawasaga — take their rise in Dufferin or in adjacent townships and drain through the county. The county is a lofty table-land that is about above sea-level and about above the level of

downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Str ...

. A continuation of the Caledon Mountains skirts the eastern side of the county. The highest peaks, however, are no match for the Blue Mountains north of Dufferin or the Caledon Mountains on the south. The County of Dufferin, sits on the fringe of the Greater Toronto Area, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto. It is largely a rural county with three urban settlement areas, namely Grand Valley, Orangeville and Shelburne. The Town of Orangeville, the county seat, is situated on the southern border of the county and is the largest urban centre, with just over half the population. Although Orangeville dominates in terms of population, in area it is very small and geographically compact.

Climate

Demographics

As a

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 cultu ...

, Dufferin County 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.

Education

Upper Grand District School Board The Upper Grand District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 18 prior to 1999) is a school board in Ontario, Canada. It spans an area of 4211 km² and serves approximately 35,000 students through 65 elemen ...

operates secular Anglophone public schools. The

Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 43 prior to 1999) is the separate school board that oversees 153 Catholic school facilities (125 elementary schools, 26 secondar ...

operates Anglophone Catholic public schools. The '' Conseil scolaire Viamonde'' operates secular Francophone schools serving the area. The '' Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud'
(CSDCCS)
operates Catholic Francophone schools serving the area.

Travel Region

Dufferin County is part of two Ontario travel regions. Headwaters Tourism Association represents the county and the adjacent municipalities of Caledon and

Erin Erin is a Hiberno-English word for Ireland originating from the Irish word ''"Éirinn"''. "Éirinn" is the dative case of the Irish word for Ireland, "Éire", genitive "Éireann", the dative being used in prepositional phrases such as ''"go h ...

, while Central Counties of Ontario combines the Headwaters area and a larger adjacent region.

References

External links

* {{Subdivisions of Ontario Counties in Ontario