Oliver Paipoonge is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

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 ...

, located directly west of the city of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

. The municipality was formed on January 1, 1998, with the amalgamation of the former Township of Oliver and Township of Paipoonge. It contains several communities within its boundaries, including Baird, Carters Corners, Harstone, Kakabeka Falls, Lee, McCluskeys Corners, Millar, Murillo, Rosslyn, Slate River Valley, Stanley and Twin City. The remainder of the municipality is

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

or rural. The municipality is part of Thunder Bay's

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 ...

Geography

The geography of Oliver Paipoonge transitions from river valleys in the south, through flat open farmland and rolling hills in the central areas, to the rough

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

in the north. The most notable geographic feature is Kakabeka Falls, located on the western edge of the municipality in Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park.

Communities

Murillo contains a post office, a store, a municipal hall, and a Public Library. New commercial enterprises, located in the Rubin Industrial Park, include a well driller, self-storage facility, a forest products manufacturer, and the Rural Roots child care facility. Each year the village hosts the Murillo Fall Fair, which features chariot races. The village is the location of the government offices for the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge as well as the Oliver Paipoonge Police and the Lakehead Rural Planning Board. Murillo was originally a

water stop A water stop or water station on a railroad is a place where steam trains stop to replenish water. The stopping of the train itself is also referred to as a "water stop". The term originates from the times of steam engines when large amounts ...

on the

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

Railway (CPR). The stop was named after the Spanish painter

Bartolomé Estéban Murillo Bartolomé may refer to: People * Bartolomé Abdala (born 1964), Argentine politician * Bartolomé Bermejo (c.1440–c.1501), Spanish painter * Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566), Spanish priest * Bartolomé Castagnola (born 1970), Argentine pol ...

, as the CPR was at that time using the names of painters to name the many new communities springing up along its trans-Canadian line.Tronrud, Thorold J. & Nicholson, David (1999).
Thunder Bay Quiz Book: 101 Fascinating Questions about our History
''. Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, pps. 9 (question) and 36 (answer) . Rosslyn contains numerous commercial enterprises and is home to approximately 1,200 people and the Paipoonge Museum. A

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course and housing subdivision, named King George's Park, are currently being developed in a former

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

pit. There is also a skating rink here, and a community centre and Public Library beside it. Kakabeka Falls takes its name from the nearby Kakabeka Falls waterfall. The Lauber Arboretum is located in the community. As Kakabeka Falls' economy is based on tourism, its main street is lined with tourist oriented businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and camping sites. A three-day

street fair A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey informa ...

is hosted in the village every August. Kakabeka Falls has a public school, called Kakabeka Falls Elementary School, located on the community's main street.

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 ...

, Oliver Paipoonge 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. According to the 2016 census, 51.2% of Oliver Paipoonge's population were male and 48.8% were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 5.1% of the resident population of Oliver Paipoonge. This compares with 5.2% in Ontario as a whole. In mid-2001, 9.7% of the resident population in Oliver Paipoonge were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2% in Canada. The average age was 37.9 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.

Transportation

The municipality is served by three major highways. Highways 61 and

130 130 may refer to: *130 (number), the natural number following 129 and preceding 131 *AD 130, a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar *130 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar *Kin Sang stop, MTR digital station code *130 Ele ...

are located in the southeast corner of the municipality and serves as the backbone of the Slate River Valley, an agricultural community. Highway 130 connects to the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

(Highway 11/ 17) at Rosslyn, the largest settlement. It also serves as the main street for Kakabeka Falls. Approximately half of the population of Oliver Paipoonge lives within five kilometres of Highway 11/17. Highway 102 runs through the northeast corner of the municipality. A small grass airstrip is located northeast of Kakabeka Falls, and two rail lines run through the municipality.

Economy

Oliver Paipoonge's primary industry is agriculture, followed with tourism focused around Kakabeka Falls and forest products manufacturing in Murillo and Rosslyn. Many residents commute to work either to Thunder Bay or the surrounding woodlands.

Politics

The municipal office of Oliver Paipoonge is located in the village of Murillo. The current mayor of Oliver Paipoonge is Lucia Kloosterhuis; first elected as mayor in 2003, having previously served as a councillor in both Oliver Paipoonge and the former Township of Paipoonge. The first female elected as mayor in Oliver Township was Iris Calvert, in 1991. Previously, the Municipality of Paipoonge had not elected a female as mayor.

Sites of interest

Each year Kakabeka Falls hosts a street fair, Murillo hosts the Murillo Fall Fair, the Slate River area hosts the Slate River Ploughing Match, and the Agriplex hosts an annual summer fair. There are two museums in the municipality: the Paipoonge Museum in Rosslyn and the Pioneer Museum in the Slate River Valley. Lauber Arboretum is a private collection.

Education

Oliver Paipoonge is served by the

Lakehead District School Board The Lakehead District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 6A prior to 1999) oversees all secular English-language Public school (government funded), public schools in the Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay CMA and the ...

. There are four schools located in Oliver Paipoonge, Crestview Public School in Murillo, Kakabeka Falls Public School in Kakabeka Falls, Valley Central Public School and Thunder Bay Christian School (JK - Grade 10). High schools students are bused to Thunder Bay. A daycare centre is located in Murillo.

References

External links

* {{Thunder Bay District Municipalities in Thunder Bay District Single-tier municipalities in Ontario