Brussels is a community within the Municipality of Huron East in Huron County,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It held village status prior to 2001. The most recent population estimate was 993 residents in 2021.

History

Brussels was settled in 1854, when William Ainley purchased 200 acres of land alongside the Maitland River. Originally, Ainley named the settlement after himself, and it was known as Ainleyville until it was incorporated as Brussels in 1872. The Ronald Streamer, a piece of firefight equipment, was made in Brussels. On January 1, 2001, it was amalgamated with Grey Township, McKillop Township, Tuckersmith Township and the village of Seaforth into the Municipality of Huron East.

Geography

Brussels is located in the

Huron East Huron East was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1882 to 1917. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created from parts of Huron Centre, Huron North and Huron South ridings. ...

, and lies on the municipal border with the

Morris-Turnberry The Municipality of Morris-Turnberry is a municipality in Huron County, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the north portion of Huron County, near the Bruce County border, southeast of Wingham. It was formed as an amalgamation of the former Morr ...

; both municipalities are located in Huron County. The town is split by two Huron County roads; 12 and 16. Huron County Road 12, called ''Turnberry Street'' ''(in-town)'' and ''Brussels Line'' ''(out-of-town)'' runs north–south through the town while Huron County Road 16 runs west–east through the town with a distinct name depending on the direction. The road is named ''Morris Road (out-of-town)'' or ''Orchard Line (in-town)'' when traveling west from the town; the road is named ''Newry Road (out-of-town)'' or ''Queen Street (in-town)'' when travelling east from the town. The

Maitland River The Maitland River is a river in Huron County, Perth County and Wellington County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a topographic map. The river is in the Great Lakes Basin and empties into Lake Huro ...

runs through the town in a south to north direction which has resulted in the construction of a dam in the community. The river and low-land areas of the dam typically floods every spring from increased rainfall and snow melt. Brussels is north of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and west of Kitchener. It is also east of the closest coastal community, Goderich on the shorelines of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

. As Brussels is a rural community, farmland surrounds the town on all sides with scattered bushes amongst the fields.

Climate

Brussels consists of a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

with four distinct seasons. The climate generally falls into the ''Dfb'' climate subtype.

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; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Brussels had a population of 993 living in 422 of its 444 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,158. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Media

Newspapers

''The Brussels Post'' was a newspaper organization formed in 1884 in the town of Brussels. The newspaper organization was in operation from 1884 through to 1929 before ceasing operations. The operations started back up in 1937 through to 1983 when ''The'' ''Brussels Post'' was discontinued. Four years after ''The Brussels Post'' ceased operations, the North Huron Citizen formed. In the early days of ''The Brussels Post'', the operations were weekly. While sources claim that ''The Brussels Post'' was formed in 1885, the earliest known digitalized paper from January 2, 1885, states that it is the 26th paper or 26th week, indicating that the first paper would have been issued around July 4, 1884. After the discontinuing of ''The Brussels Post'' in 1981, ''The Citizen'', provided by North Huron Citizen was formed. ''The Citizen'' is the newspaper still distributed around the community as of 2022. Similar to ''The Brussels Post'', the newspaper is issued weekly. While the head-office for the North Huron Citizen is located in the nearby community of

Blyth, Ontario Blyth (; ) is a village in North Huron, Ontario, Canada. Blyth is north of London and west of Waterloo at the intersection of Huron County Road 4 (London Road) and Huron County Road 25 (Blyth Road). Blyth is also inland from L ...

, there was a small office located in the Brussels downtown core. The sub-office was closed in 2022.

Notable people

* Allan Blair, professor, experimentalist * Darwin McCutcheon, professional ice hockey player *

Elston Cardiff Lewis Elston Cardiff (22 January 1889 – 16 April 1969) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Brussels, Ontario and initially chose farming as his career. From 1932 to 1940, Elston Card ...

, politician * Frances Beatrice Taylor, poet, journalist * Harry Dean Ainlay, former mayor of

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

* Jack McIntyre, professional ice hockey player *

Janet Cardiff Janet Cardiff (born March 15, 1957) is a Canadian artist who works chiefly with sound and sound installations, often in collaboration with her husband and partner George Bures Miller. Cardiff first gained international recognition in the art wor ...

, artist

References

''The Settlement Of Huron County'' by James Scott. {{authority control Communities in Huron County, Ontario Designated places in Ontario Former villages in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 2001