Huron County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake,

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 ...

, in the

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community. The population reported in the 2021 Census for this predominantly agricultural area with many villages and small towns was 61,366 in a land area of 3,398 square kilometres. Of the total population, 7,881 reside in Goderich.

History

File:HuronTract.JPG, Original extent of the Huron Tract. File:1850 Tallis Map of West Canada or Ontario ( includes Great Lakes ) - Geographicus - WestCanada-tallis-1850.jpg, Map of

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

in 1850, with the Huron District outlined in brown. File:1857 Colton Map of Ontario, Canada - Geographicus - CanadaWest-colton-1857.jpg,

in 1857. Huron County is marked in light pink. File:Huron County Militia.jpg, Huron County Militia in Goderich, 1866 The portion of the Huron Tract ceded to the

Canada Company The Canada Company was a private British land development company that was established to aid in the colonization of a large part of Upper Canada. It was incorporated by royal charter on August 19, 1826, under the ( 6 Geo. 4. c. 75) of the B ...

was established as the "County of Huron" in 1835, with the exception of certain townships that were transferred to other counties: :* Adelaide Township went to Middlesex County :* The townships of Moore and Sarnia, Plympton, Enniskillen, Warwick, Brooke and Bosanquet went to Kent County

Historic townships

In 1835, the county was declared to consist of the following townships: * Biddulph * Blanshard * Colborne * Downie * Ellice * South Easthope * North Easthope * Fullarton * Goderich * Hay * Hibbert * Hullett * Logan * McKillop * McGillivray * Stephen * Stanley * Tuckersmith * Usborne * Williams They have since devolved to the following counties (as outlined in red): File:Ont Huron all.PNG, Huron County File:Ont Huron Middlesex All.PNG, Middlesex County File:Ont Huron Perth All.PNG, Perth County

Territorial evolution

Legislation was passed by the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Li ...

in 1838 to authorize the separation of the county from the London District and constitute it as the Huron District. The county was extended northward in 1840, upon the survey of a new range of townships on its northern boundary, beginning with Ashfield Township, and later including Wawanosh, Morris, Grey and Elma. The District itself came into being in October 1841. Huron County was continued for electoral purposes in 1845, and the District was extended northwards as far as the Bruce Peninsula in 1846. The District (which existed for judicial and municipal purposes) was abolished at the beginning of 1850. Legislation passed later in the same session of the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

provided for the county to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the

Bruce Peninsula The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, wi ...

withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County. The townships were distributed as follows: The Bruce Peninsula was later returned to Bruce in 1851. The County of Perth was given its own Provisional Municipal Council at that time, and was separated from the United Counties in 1853. Several townships were transferred to Middlesex County: :* Williams, in 1845 :* Biddulph and McGillivray, in 1862. Legislation was passed in 1866 to provide for the dissolution of the United Counties on January 1, 1867, with Huron and Bruce County becoming separate counties for all purposes.

Government

The Huron County Council consists of fifteen members from the nine area municipalities to ensure that each is represented on this council. Each year, a Warden is elected from the group; this individual chairs meetings and represents the County at various functions. Elected to Ashfeild-Colborne-Wawanosh Council in 2014, and acclaimed as Mayor in 2018, the current Warden is Glen McNeil. Most of the population of the county resides in the Huron—Bruce, formerly Huron and Huron—Middlesex, federal electoral district. The majority also reside in the Huron—Bruce (provincial electoral district) formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex. The county's Official Plan (2015) addresses the following issues: "agriculture, community services, the economy, natural environment, extractive resources, and settlement patterns." According to this document, agriculture is a particularly significant part of the economy since "Huron leads all counties and regions in Ontario in total value of production; and it also exceeds the production totals of several provinces".

Municipalities

Huron County comprises nine lower-tier municipalities (in order of population): * Municipality of South Huron (population centre: Exeter) * Municipality of Huron East (population centres: Seaforth, Brussels) * Town of Goderich * Municipality of Central Huron (population centre: Clinton) * Municipality of Bluewater (population centre: Bayfield) * Township of Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh * Township of North Huron (population centre: Wingham, Blyth) * Municipality of Howick * Municipality of Morris-Turnberry The boundaries of the county's municipalities have been in effect since 2001, after the provincial government imposed

mergers Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

throughout the province.

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; ), 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 ...

, Huron 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.

Communities

* Amberley (border with Bruce County) * Auburn * Bayfield * Belgrave * Belmore (border with Bruce County) * Benmiller * Bluevale * Blyth * Brucefield *

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

* Centralia (border with Middlesex County) * Clinton * Corbett (border with Middlesex County) *

Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 road, A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton, north w ...

* Dashwood * Drysdale *

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

* Egmondville * Ethel *

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

* Fordwich * Goderich * Gorrie *

Harpurhey Harpurhey ( ) is an inner-city suburb of Manchester, England, 2.3 miles northeast of the Manchester city centre, city centre. Historically in Lancashire, the population at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census was 17,652. Areas of Harpurh ...

* Hensall * Holmesville * Huron Park * Kinburn *

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population ...

* Kintail * Kippen * Kirkton (border with Perth County) * Lakelet * Leadbury * Londesborough * Molesworth (border with Perth County) *

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

(border with Middlesex County) *

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

* Port Albert * St. Augustine * St. Columban (border with Perth County) * St. Joseph * Saltford * Seaforth * Shipka * Summerhill * Sunshine * Vanastra * Varna * Walton * Whitechurch (border with Bruce County) * Wingham * Winthrop * Whalen Corners (border with

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

Counties) * Woodham (border with Perth County) * Wroxeter *

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Former communities/ghost towns

* Donnybrook * Francistown * Mafeking * McGaw * Rodgerville * Sodom * Spidertown (border with Middlesex County)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Counties in Ontario Lake Huron Southwestern Ontario