Hastings County is located in the province of

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. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. Hastings County is the second-largest county in Ontario, after Renfrew County, and its county seat is Belleville, which is independent of Hastings County. Hastings County has trademarked the moniker "Cheese Capital of Canada".

Administrative divisions

The 14 local municipalities within Hastings County are: * Town of Bancroft * Town of

Deseronto Deseronto is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, in Hastings County, located at the mouth of the Napanee River on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, on the northern side of Lake Ontario. The town was named for Captain John Deseronto, a n ...

* Municipality of Centre Hastings * Municipality of

Hastings Highlands Hastings Highlands is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario. Located in the northernmost portion of Hastings County, the township had a population of 4,078 in the 2016 Canadian census. Big Mink Lake is one of many lakes located in Hast ...

* Municipality of Tweed * Municipality of

Marmora and Lake Marmora and Lake is a municipality along the banks of Crowe River and Beaver Creek, about midway between Toronto and Ottawa on provincial Highway 7 in Hastings County in Central Ontario, Canada. It is home to approximately 4,000 full time and ...

* Township of

Carlow/Mayo Carlow Mayo is a township in northern Hastings County in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of the townships of Carlow and Mayo. Historically, the economy in the area was based on timber and mining. The Little ...

* Township of Faraday * Township of

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2 ...

* Township of Madoc * Township of

Stirling-Rawdon Stirling-Rawdon is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Hastings County. It was formed on January 1, 1998, through the amalgamation of Rawdon Township with the Village of Stirling. Stirling was named the 2012 Kraft Hockeyvil ...

* Township of

Tudor and Cashel Tudor and Cashel is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Hastings County. The township consists of two non-contiguous portions, separated by Limerick township and the northernmost portion of Tweed.The municipality is mostly ...

* Township of Tyendinaga * Township of Wollaston The Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is within the Hastings census division but is independent of the county. The cities of Belleville and Quinte West are separated municipalities and so are within the geographical boundaries of the county and included in the Hastings census division, but they not under the administration of the county government.

History

Hastings County (named for Francis Rawdon-Hastings) was first organized for electoral purposes in 1792, with its boundaries described as being: For the initial elections to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, it was united with Northumberland County and most of Lennox County for purposes of returning one member. It was situated within the Mecklenburg District, which was later renamed the "Midland District" in 1792. In 1798, the

Parliament of Upper Canada The Parliament of Upper Canada was the legislature for Upper Canada. It was created when the old Province of Quebec was split into Upper Canada and Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791. As in other Westminster-style legislatures, ...

passed legislation to provide, that, at the beginning of 1800: The territory withdrawn from the County continued to form part of the Midland District.

19th century

In 1821, the newly surveyed townships of Elzevir, Madoc and Marmora were added to the county. While in this time agriculture was the most important industry in Hastings County, by 1822 (when the Marmora Iron Works was approaching its peak production) mining was playing an increasingly more important role in the area's economy. Prominent citizens of Hastings County and Ameliasburgh Township unsuccessfully petitioned the provincial government for district status during 1817, 1818, 1823 and 1825. After Prince Edward County successfully achieved its own government in 1831, Hastings County continued to send petitions throughout the 30s before finally achieving the status of a separate district in March 1837. It was constituted as the District of Victoria in 1839 (which continued until its dissolution in 1850). By 1845, the county was declared to consist of the following geographic townships: * Elzevir * Grimsthorpe * Hungerford * Huntingdon * Lake * Marmora * Madoc * Rawdon * Sydney * Tudor * Thurlow * Tyendinaga Belleville, after an abortive attempt two years previously, was organized as a municipality with its own Board of Police in 1836, and was designated as the district seat in 1837. It was constituted as a town under the Baldwin Act in 1850, and later became a city in 1877. Edward Fidlar became the first warden of Hastings County with their first meeting on January 28, 1850. By this time the Hastings County Council was also interested in education and the building of the railroad. On October 27, 1856, the first railroad train arrived in Belleville and by 1864 around 100 people were employed by the railroad. In August 1866, discovery of gold at Eldorado, near Madoc, caused great excitement throughout Hastings County as people flooded to the area from all over North America. According to Barnes, "gold has been found in twenty-seven locations spread over nine townships." The railroads and of good gravel roads opened these areas to settlement by 1880. In 1889 the Belleville Waterworks was created as a private company, which was then bought by the city of Belleville in 1889.

20th century

In 1911, Hastings County was the first in the province to appoint a reforestation committee, which was instrumental in passing laws around county forests. Postal service began in the area in 1913. By 1927 the original townships had each formed separate governance and many of them had been partitioned due to increase in population and development. The 1927 townships were: * Bangor * Carlow * Cashel * Dungannon * Elzevir * Faraday * Grimsthorpe * Herschel * Hungerford * Huntingdon * Lake * Limerick * Madoc * Marmora * Mayo * McClure * Monteagle * Rawdon * Sidney * Thurlow * Tudor * Tyendinaga * Wicklow * Wollaston Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, more efficient communication and transportation led a trend toward consolidation of township administrations:
The Township of Carlow/Mayo was formed by amalgamation of the contiguous townships of Carlow and Mayo.
The Township of Wicklow and McClure was formed by amalgamation of the contiguous townships of McClure and Wicklow.
Lake Township and Marmora Township were administered as the Township of Marmora & Lake.
Elzevir Township and Grimsthorpe Township were administered as the Township of Elzevir & Grimsthorpe since before 1968.
The Township of Tudor and Cashel was formed by amalgamation of the geographically non-contiguous townships of Cashel and Tudor.

21st century

At the dawn of the 21st century, there has been a trend toward amalgamating rural and urban administrations. On 1 January 1998: * The City of Quinte West was formed through amalgamation of the City of Trenton and the Township of Sidney from Hastings County, with the Village of Frankford and the Township of Murray from Northumberland County. * The Municipality of Centre Hastings was incorporated by amalgamating Huntingdon Township with the Village of Madoc. * The Township of Stirling-Rawdon was formed through the amalgamation of Rawdon Township with the Village of Stirling. In 1998, the Village of Tweed was amalgamated with its Township of Hungerford and the contiguous Township of Elzevir & Grimsthorpe to form the Municipality of Tweed. In 1999, the Village of Bancroft merged with Dungannon Township to form the Town of Bancroft. On 1 January 2001, the Municipality of Hastings Highlands was incorporated by amalgamating the contiguous townships of Bangor, Wicklow & McClure, Herschel and Monteagle. Also in 2001, the Village of Marmora amalgamated with the surrounding townships of Marmora and Lake to form the Municipality of Marmora and Lake.

Demographics

As a

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 ...

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 ...

, Hastings 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. Historic populations: * Population in 2001: 125,915 * Population in 1996: 126,099

Transportation

The county is served by

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 provin ...

in the south, Highway 7, a leg of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

, in the central region, Highways 62 and 37 travelling north to south, Highway 28 travelling east to west in the northern region, and Highway 127 travelling north from Maynooth, also in the northern region.

County council

Following are members of Hastings County Council as of August, 2019: Warden: Rick Phillips
Town of Bancroft: Paul Jenkins
Township of Carlow/Mayo: Bonnie Adams
Municipality of Centre Hastings: Tom Deline
Town of Deseronto: Dan Johnston
Township of Faraday: Dennis Purcell
Hastings Highlands: Tracy Hagar
Township of Limerick: Carl Stefanski
Township of Madoc: Loyde Blackburn
Municipality of Marmora & Lake: Jan O'Neill
Township of Stirling/Rawdon: Bob Mullin
Township of Tudor & Cashel: Libby Clarke
Municipality of Tweed: Jo-Anne Albert
Township of Tyendinaga: Rick Phillips
Township of Wollaston: Lynn Kruger

Education

Currently,

Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 29 prior to 1999) has 39 elementary and eight secondary schools, serving over 18,400 students, and employing more than 1,070 teachers ...

operates public schools. Previously, Hastings County Board of Education operated public schools.

Emergency Services

There are 5 EMS stations in Hastings County with Hastings-Quinte EMS HQ located in Belleville, Ontario.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Counties in Ontario