Holland Landing is a community in the town of

East Gwillimbury East Gwillimbury is a town (lower-tier municipality) on the East Holland River in the upper-tier municipality the Regional Municipality of York. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area of southern Ontario, in Canada. It was formed by the amalgama ...

, located in the northern part of the

Regional Municipality of York 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 Regiona ...

, in south-central

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. Its major road is

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 ...

(bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the community has bus service by

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 millio ...

route 68 and

York Region Transit York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road. YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bu ...

route 52 (Monday to Saturday service). The East Gwillimbury GO train station is in the southeast corner of Holland Landing, providing weekday commuter train service. 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 ...

runs through the community and has several marinas for recreational boats. Most of Holland Landing's internal economy is based on the

service industry The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, and some manufacturing.

History

In 1793, Governor

John Graves Simcoe John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded Yor ...

came across what would be the future site of Holland Landing, then known as St. Albans. He believed the area would make an ideal portage route and defence point between

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

(now

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 ...

) and

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. To ...

. Holland Landing was named after Samuel Holland, first Surveyor-General of

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...

, who had served on HMS ''Pembroke'', under Captain John Simcoe, father of Governor Simcoe, for whom

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' ...

is named. Holland Landing was the northernmost point on the original alignment of Yonge Street. North of the town the Holland River is easily navigable, and the location was selected as a well sited inland port for Lake Simcoe, via the river. It was intended that Yonge Street, in combination with the similar

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 ...

further north, would provide access to the upper

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

from the city of York. Holland Landing would be a major point on this route. However, it never served this intended role in any real capacity. The closest it came was during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, when the British decided to retake the entire lake system through the construction of a number of first-rate ships in Kingston and

Penetanguishene 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 ...

. A large anchor, over fifteen feet (roughly 4.6 m) long and weighing approximately 4000 lbs (about 1 816 kg), for the frigate under construction at Penetanguishene was shipped from England and had made it as far as Holland Landing when the war ended. It was abandoned and is currently on display at Anchor Park. The town itself was not formed until the early 19th century, settled by the same Quaker immigrants as nearby Newmarket and

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

. In 1815, a population of settlers from

Selkirk, Manitoba Selkirk is a city in the western Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba, located on the Red River of the North, Red River about northeast of the provincial capital Winnipeg. It has a population of 10,504 as of the 202 ...

arrived in Holland Landing after a conflict between them and the Métis.

Samuel Lount Samuel Lount (September 24, 1791 – April 12, 1838) was a blacksmith, farmer, magistrate and member of the Legislative Assembly in the province of Upper Canada for Simcoe County from 1834 to 1836. He was an organizer of the failed Upper Can ...

, a martyr of the 1837 Rebellion led by

William Lyon Mackenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...

, farmed and operated a smithy here. Lount was captured later, convicted of treason, and hanged on April 12, 1838. The idea for a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

linking to Lake Simcoe and the Trent-Severn Waterway was approved and construction started in 1906. Holland Landing would connect Newmarket and Bradford. It was almost complete in the summer of 1912 – three lift locks, three swing bridges and a

turning basin A turning basin, winding basin or swinging basin is a wider body of water, either located at the end of a ship canal or in a port to allow cargo ships to turn and reverse their direction of travel, or to enable long narrow barges in a canal to tu ...

– when the new government of

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

cancelled the project. The project was abandoned, earning it the name "The Ghost Canal". It continues to serve as a historical landmark.

Demographics

*Population: **2006: about 8,500 - estimate based on the census population of East Gwillimbury, and the town's data which indicate 41% of its residents are in Holland Landing. **2015: about 9,000

Education

The community has four primary schools; Holland Landing Public School ( YRDSB), Park Avenue Public School (YRDSB) and Good Shepherd Catholic School ( YCDSB) and École élémentaire catholique Jean-Béliveau (a French-language Catholic school). There are no higher education institutions in Holland Landing, or indeed in East Gwillimbury. Students from Holland Landing typically attend one of the high schools in Newmarket.

Notable people

* Sam Bennett, ice hockey player, currently playing with the Florida Panthers of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. * Darrin Madeley, former ice hockey player, who had a brief stint with the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

of the

. *

Kevin Pangos Kevin Joseph Pangos (born January 26, 1993) is a Canadian-Slovenian professional basketball player for Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He spent his college basketball career playing for the Gonzaga B ...

, basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA.

Nearest communities

* Bradford, northwest * Queensville, northeast * Sharon, east * Newmarket, south * Kettleby, southwest * Ansnorveldt, west * Keswick, north

References