Tilbury (2016 population 4,768) is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

within the municipality of

Chatham-Kent Chatham-Kent (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,316)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. It is located southwest of

Chatham-Kent Chatham-Kent (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,316)Windsor on

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 ...

History

The nearby townships of Tilbury West and Tilbury East were named for the port of

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

county of

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. A settlement, called Henderson (after the local postmaster), was established with the construction of the

Canada Southern Railway The Canada Southern Railway , also known as CSR, was a railway in southwestern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway. Its name was changed to Canada Southern Railway on December 24, 1869. The 186 ...

in 1875. The name of the post office was changed to Tilbury Centre after the adjoining townships and the community was incorporated as a village in 1887. The name changed again to Tilbury a few years later, in 1895, and incorporated as a town in 1910. Tilbury is also home to the largest antique mall in its part of Southern Ontario. Tilbury is also famous for its murals which depict part of its history. In 1998, the town was amalgamated with the City of Chatham, the township of Chatham, Blenheim, Bothwell, Camden, Dover, Dresden, Erie Beach, Erieau, Harwich, Highgate, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Ridgetown, Rodney, Thamesville, Tilbury East, Wallaceburg, Wheatley and Zone to form the municipality of Chatham-Kent. The former town hall at 17 Superior Street is now Tilbury Municipal Centre and Chatham-Kent Police station. Tilbury Post Office

Transportation

Tilbury is served by

and

Ontario Highway 2 King's Highway2, commonly referred to as Highway2, is the lowest-numbered provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, and was originally part of a series of identically numbered highways which started in Windsor, stretch ...

. Public transit is provided by

CK Transit CK Transit (branded as Ride CK) provides the conventional bus transportation in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. There are five local bus routes within the urban boundaries of the old City of Chatham. Routes 1 through 4 provide services every 3 ...

's interurban Route D Chatham-Tilbury-Merlin. The closest airports are

Chatham-Kent Airport Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport is located southeast of Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. The airport is owned and operated by the Municipality of Chatham–Kent. It is managed by Z3 Aviation. Several local pilots and businesses are tenants in v ...

and

Windsor International Airport Windsor International Airport is located in the southeast portion of the city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The airport serves a mixture of scheduled airline flights and general aviation, and is a popular point of entry into Canada for private a ...

. There are no trains servicing Tilbury directly; the closest is

VIA Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

's Chatham station.

Community

Tilbury is also home of the Titans of

Tilbury District High School Tilbury District High School is a high school located in Tilbury, Ontario. It is part of the Lambton Kent District School Board. History The school was built in the 1940s. It was expanded in stages throughout the 1960s. A reduced speed limit ...

, with an attendance of around 300 students. There is also a French elementary school (École élémentaire Saint-Francis), a public elementary school (Tilbury Area Public School) as well as a Catholic elementary school (St. Joseph Catholic School). St. Joseph is a great school with just over 120 kids Along with the former townships of Tilbury East and

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

, Tilbury is a designated

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...

service area under Ontario's French Language Services Act. Tilbury has an arena located next to the Knights of Columbus hall and provides free skating in the wintertime. Tilbury also has a splash pad near Tilbury Arena and Memorial Park has a skateboard park, a tennis court, an outdoor swimming pool, and a baseball field. Tilbury's hockey alumni include Nolan Gardiner who played for the Ottawa 67's in the OHL Nolan played for the Chatham kent cyclones and the sun county panthers. Near the end of June, the organizers host a

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

fireworks event around dusk at the park. Organizers host the Tibury Santa Claus Parade in late November or early December and the Canada Day Parade in late June.it also holds many pizza places.

Media

Tilbury has a weekly newspaper, the ''Tilbury Times''. The Tilbury Times had been publishing since 1884. It features local news, sports, and highlights. In some instances, news from Tilbury may be heard on

CKSY-FM CKSY-FM (94.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Owned by Blackburn Radio, it broadcasts an adult contemporary format for Southwestern Ontario. CKSY is co-owned with classic rock station CKUE-FM and country stati ...

CFCO CFCO (630 AM) is a news, sports, and country music radio station located in Chatham–Kent, Ontario. The station, owned by London, Ontario-based Blackburn Radio, features a heavy local news commitment. CFCO is one of the few dedicated country ...

and CKUE-FM on radio, as well as television stations CBC News Windsor CBET-DT and CHWI-DT.

Downtown renovations

In 2014, sidewalks in Tilbury were replaced, and new streetlights installed. In 2017, streetlights got new types of bulbs as LEDs are used for night illumination.

External links

Official website

References

{{authority control Communities in Chatham-Kent Former municipalities in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 1998