Middlesex County, Ontario
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Middlesex County is a primarily rural county and
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
Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...
, Canada. Landlocked, the county is bordered by Huron and
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counties on the north, Oxford County on the east, Elgin County on the south, and
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and
Lambton County Lambton County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which is drained by the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake Saint Cla ...
on the west. The county seat is the city 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 ...
, although the city is politically
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from the county. The Middlesex
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 ...
, which consists of the county together with the City of London and three
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
reserves, had a population of 500,563 in 2021. Part of the county is also included in the London
census metropolitan area The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of stat ...
.


Administrative divisions

Middlesex County is composed of eight incorporated municipalities (in order of population): * Strathroy-Caradoc, Township of **Population centres: Strathroy and Mount Brydges. Other communities: Cairngorm, Campbellvale, Caradoc, Christina, Falconbridge, Glen Oak, Longwood, Melbourne (part) and Muncey. * Middlesex Centre, Municipality of **Population centre: Ilderton. Other communities: Arva, Ballymote, Birr, Bryanston, Coldstream, Delaware, Denfield, Duncrief, Elginfield, Ettrick, Ivan, Kilworth, Komoka, Littlewood, Lobo, Lobo Siding, Maple Grove, Melrose, Poplar Hill, Sharon, Southgate, Southwold, Telfer and Vanneck. * Thames Centre, Municipality of (township) **Population centres: Dorchester and Thorndale. Other communities: Avon, Belton, Cherry Grove, Crampton, Cobble Hill, Derwent, Devizes, Evelyn, Fanshawe Lake, Friendly Corners, Gladstone, Harrietsville, Kelly Station, Mossley, Nilestown, Oliver, Plover Mills, Putnam, Salmonville, Silvermoon, Three Bridges and Wellburn. * North Middlesex, Municipality of (township) **Population centre: Parkhill. Other communities: Ailsa Craig, Beechwood, Bornish, Bowood, Brinsley, Carlisle, Corbett, Greenway, Hungry Hollow, Lieury, Moray, Mount Carmel, Nairn, Sable, Springbank, Sylvan and West McGillivray. * Southwest Middlesex, Municipality of (township) **Population centre: Glencoe. Other communities: Appin, Ekfrid, Lewis Corners, Macksville, Mayfair, Melbourne (part), Newbury Station, North Appin Station, North Ekfrid, North Glencoe Station, Riverside, Strathburn, Tate Corners, Wardsville and Woodgreen. * Lucan Biddulph, Township **Population centre: Lucan. Other communities: Biddulph, Clandeboye and Granton. * Adelaide Metcalfe, Township **Communities: Adelaide, Crathie, Dejong, Kerwood, Keyser, Mullifarry, Napier, Napperton, Springfield, Walkers and Wrightmans Corners. * Newbury, Village First Nations reserves are located within the Middlesex census division but separate from Middlesex County: * Chippewas of the Thames 42 * Munsee-Delaware 1 * Oneida 41.


History

The area was originally organized as Suffolk County, created in July 1792 by Governor
John Simcoe Lieutenant-General (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 u ...
by his first proclamation issued at Kingston, which also defined it as a
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for the purposes of returning a member to the new
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, and was described as having the following territory: Simcoe toured the southwestern portion of the province's territory in early 1793 and concluded that the lower forks of the Thames would be best suited as the future site of the provincial capital. The names London in Middlesex were considered more appropriate for this. Suffolk County was reorganized as Middlesex County, as part of the London District, in 1798 by the
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, consisting of the townships of London, Westminster, Dorchester, Yarmouth, Southwold, Dunwich, Aldborough and Delaware. Middlesex County was expanded several times thereafter, starting in 1821 with the addition of the townships of Moza, Ecfrid ''(sic)'', Carradoc ''(sic)'' and Lobo. Adelaide Township came from the Huron Tract in 1835, and Williams Township was withdrawn from Huron County and annexed to Middlesex in 1845. In 1837, Bayham and Malahide Townships were transferred to Middlesex from Norfolk County. Metcalfe Township was formed from the north part of Ekfrid and the south part of Adelaide in 1845. Upon the abolition of the London District in January 1850, Middlesex County was constituted for municipal purposes. The County was reorganized as the United Counties of Middlesex and Elgin in 1851, with its townships divided thus: Elgin County was separated from Middlesex in September 1853. The townships of Biddulph and McGillivray were withdrawn from Huron County and annexed to Middlesex in 1862. There was a village at Ekfrid Station that had a blacksmith's shop, a gristmill and a store that was created by the Grand Truck railroad. Today it is ghost town as the post office closed on 31 January 1914 and the railroad station in 1950. Another settlement existed at Mayfair that was founded in 1854. Mayfair had by the 1880s a tavern, two cheese factories, a sawmill, a blacksmith, a painter, a tailor, and a large house called Mayfair Castle that had marble imported from Italy. Mayfair Castle costed $7000 to build at a time when the average brick house costed $1000 to build. The post office closed in 1914 and today Mayfair is a ghosttown with only the former Baptist Church and Mayfair Castle still standing. In 1829, a hamlet was founded at Strathburn that had a school by 1840. A church was founded in 1844 and a post office opened in 1852. By 1963, Strathburn had become a ghost town with only home inhabited and all the rest abandoned.. The historic townships of the County (including those originally part of Huron County marked in red) are shown below:


Withdrawal and evolution of the City of London

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 ...
, when it became a city in 1855, separated from Middlesex County, and it expanded later in stages:


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 ...
, Middlesex 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. Middlesex County has 38,231 people over the age of 15, with 45% of them working in the same municipality as the one they live in. That implies that more than 50% of them commute to other municipalities.


Municipal government

Members of the County Council are the mayors (or reeves) of the municipalities of Adelaide Metcalfe, Lucan Biddulph, Middlesex Centre, North Middlesex, Southwest Middlesex, Strathroy-Caradoc and Thames Centre as well as the Village of Newbury. Centres with a population exceeding 5,000 also get an additional seat for their deputy mayors. The head of council is one of its members who is elected as reeve for a one year term by the councillors.


See also

*
List of municipalities in Ontario Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Canada with 14,223,942 residents as of Canada 2021 Census, 2021 and is List of Canadian provinces and territories by area#Land area, third-largest in lan ...
*
List of townships in Ontario This is a list of township (Canada), townships in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Townships are listed by List of census divisions of Ontario, census division. Northern Ontario Northeastern Ontario Algoma D ...
* List of secondary schools in Ontario#Middlesex County


References


External links

* {{Authority control Counties in Ontario Southwestern Ontario