The County of Victoria, or Victoria County, was a county in the Canadian province of

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 ...

. It was formed in 1854 as ''The United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria'', and separated from Peterborough in 1863. In 2001, the county was dissolved and reformed as the city of

Kawartha Lakes Kawartha Lakes (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 79,247) is a List of municipalities in Ontario , single-tier municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Though structured as a single-tier municipality, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typica ...

. While British settlement began in 1821, the area that was encompassed by Victoria County had already been inhabited by First Nations, including by the Wendat.

History

The history of Victoria County began with the passing of the Constitutional Act in 1791, dividing Canada into two provinces:

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

(present day Ontario) and

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

(present day

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); and appointing a lieutenant-governor for each. The first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada was Colonel

John Graves 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 ...

, who surveyed the province and set out tracts of land for

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

with genuine interests. Before the land that became Victoria County could be surveyed, however, speculators had Simcoe removed from office in 1796, and the land was secured from settlement for over 20 years. Following the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, a large wave of immigration prompted the province to purchase more land from local Indian tribes. On 5 November 1818, six Mississauga chiefs, Buckquaquet of the Eagles, Pishikinse of the Reindeers, Paudash of the Cranes, Cahgahkishinse of the Pike, Cahgageewin of the Snakes, and Pininse of the White Oaks, met in Port Hope. There they surrendered the rights to over four thousand square kilometres of land, known as the "Mississauga Tract". In exchange, the Indians (numbering about 400) were to receive $750 per year in goods. However, the government later changed this to $10 per year for each living person born before the deal was signed. The Mississauga Tract included all of Victoria and Peterborough counties, as well as parts of 28 adjacent townships. Following the purchase, the land became

Newcastle District The Newcastle District was a historic district in Upper Canada which existed until 1849. It was formed in 1802 from the Home District, consisting of the counties of Durham and Northumberland. History The legislature had enacted in 1798 that "as s ...

in 1802. In 1845, it was renamed Colborne District consisting of the County of Peterborough. In 1851, Peterborough County was divided into the counties of Peterborough and Victoria, which were united for municipal purposes as the United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria. A

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

was authorized in 1856 to facilitate the creation of a provisional county council for Victoria, but, as the united counties council delayed conducting it, a further Act was passed in 1861 to compel its being held, following which the provisional council was formed. and its formal separation took place in 1863. Further townships were surveyed in the following years that were attached to the County, extending its reach northwards. In 1868, the townships of Ryde, Draper, Macaulay, Stephenson, Brunel, McLean and Oakley were detached from the County and transferred to the new District of Muskoka, and the townships of Stisted, Chaffey, Franklin and Ridout were detached in a similar manner in 1873. They were not withdrawn for municipal purposes until their annexation to

Simcoe County Simcoe County is a county and census division located in the central region of Ontario, Canada. The county is located north of the Greater Toronto Area, and forms the north western edge of the Golden Horseshoe. The county seat is located in Mi ...

in 1877. The townships of Anson, Hindon and Lutterworth were also withdrawn from the County in 1874 and transferred to the new Provisional County of Haliburton. In 1974, as a result of the creation of the

Regional Municipality of Durham The Regional Municipality of Durham (), informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, it forms the east end of the Greater Toronto A ...

, Manvers Township was withdrawn from Durham County and transferred to Victoria County. On 1 January 2001, Victoria County was dissolved, and its townships and incorporated communities were amalgamated to form the

City of Kawartha Lakes Kawartha Lakes (2021 population: 79,247) is a single-tier municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Though structured as a single-tier municipality, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontario county and is mostly rural. It is the second l ...

, a name chosen because of the prominence of the lakes in the geography of the region.

Organization before amalgamation in 2001

It encompassed

Townships

Victoria County consisted of 13 separate townships and 6 incorporated villages with their own local governments. Population centres are listed in parentheses: *

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

(Victoria Road, Coboconk) * Carden (Dalrymple) * Dalton (Sebright, Uphill, Sadowa) * Eldon (Glenarm) * Emily (Downeyville, Fowlers Corners) * Fenelon (Isaacs Glen, Powles Corners) * Laxton, Digby and Longford (Uphill, Norland) *

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

(uninhabited) *

Manvers Manvers is a suburb of Wath upon Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It lies across the border with the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster The City of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough with city statu ...

(Janetville, Bethany) * Mariposa (Oakwood, Little Britain, Manilla) *

Ops OPS may refer to: Organizations * Obscene Publications Squad, a former unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England * Oceanic Preservation Society * Office of Public Safety, a former US government agency * Orchestre philharmonique de Strasb ...

(Reaboro) * Somerville (Coboconk, Kinmount) * Verulam (Dunsford, Bobcaygeon) The township of Laxton, Digby and Longford is an amalgamation of the once individual townships of Digby and Laxton, and half of the original Longford Township. The separate township of Longford is uninhabited, though dotted with abandoned logging towns.

Incorporated communities

*Town of Lindsay *Village of

Bobcaygeon Bobcaygeon is a community on the Trent–Severn Waterway in the Kawartha Lakes, City of Kawartha Lakes, east-central Ontario, Canada. Bobcaygeon was incorporated as a village in 1876, and became known as the "Hub of the Kawarthas". Its reco ...

*Village of

Fenelon Falls Fenelon Falls is a village in Ontario, Canada, part of the city of Kawartha Lakes. Nicknamed the "Jewel of the Kawarthas," it has a population of 2,500 permanent inhabitants, which swells in the summer due to tourism and holiday cottages. Fenelon ...

*Village of Omemee *Village of Sturgeon Point *Village of Woodville

Unincorporated communities and hamlets

* Ancona Point * Argyle * Avery Point * Baddow * Baker Trail * Ballyduff * Barclay *

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

Bethany Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac language, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Palestinian Arabic, Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, "Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba,

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

of Lazarus (name), L ...

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

* Birch Point *

Bolsover Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district. The civil parish for the town is c ...

* Brunswick * Burnt River * Burton * Bury's Green * Cambray * Cameron * Camp Kagawong * Campbells Beach * Coboconk * Corsons Siding * Cowan's Bay * Crawfords Beach * Cresswell * Crosshill * Cunningham's Corners * Dalrymple *

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

^* * Daytonia Beach *

Dunsford Dunsford is a village in Devon, England; it is located just inside the Dartmoor National Park. The hamlet of ''Butts'' is sited about one mile to the west; it generally considered to be part of the village, as is ''Reedy'', which is a similar ...

* East Emily * Eldon Station * Fairburn Corner * Fee's Landing * Feir Mill * Fell Station *

Fingerboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

^* * Fowler's Corners * Fox's Corners * Frank Hill * Franklin * Gilsons Point *

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

* Glandine *

Glenarm Glenarm () is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmac ...

* Glenway Village * Grasshill * Greenhurst-Thurstonia * Hickory Beach * Hillhead Corners *

Horncastle Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls rema ...

^* * Hukish * Isaacs Glen * Janetville * Joyvista Estates * Kenedon Park * Krenrei * Kenstone Beach * Keystone Beach * King's Wharf * Kinmount * Kirkfield * Lake Dalrymple * Lancaster Bay *

Lifford Lifford (, historically anglicised as ''Liffer'') is the county town of County Donegal, Ireland, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council, although the town of Letterkenny is often mistaken as holding this ...

* Linden Valley * Little Britain *

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

* Long Point * Lorneville * Lotus * MacKenzie Point * Mallards Bay * Manilla *

* Mariposa * McCrackin's Beach * McGuire Beach * Newmans Beach * Norland * Oak Hill * Oakdene Point * Oakwood * O'Donnell Landing * Orange Corners * Pickerel Point * Pleasant Point *

Pontypool Pontypool ( ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in South Wales. , it has a population of 29,062. Locat ...

* Port Hoover * Powles Corners * Reaboro * Red Cap Beach *

Rohallion Rohallion Estate (pronounced roh-HAL-ee-on, Scottish Gaelic: ''Ràth Chailleann'', 'The Fort of the Caledonians' ) is an estate in Rumson, New Jersey. The estate house was built in 1887 on a lot originally . The property owner, Edward Dean Adams, w ...

* Rokeby * Rosedale * Sadowa * Salem Corners * Sandy Point * Sebright * Silver Lake * Snug Harbour * Southview Estates * Sullivan's Bay * Sylvan Glen Beach * Taylor's Corners * Tracey's Hill * Union Creek * Valentia * Verulam Park * Victoria Place * View Lake * Washburn Island * Watson's Siding * Yelverton

Abandoned towns, post offices and church villages

Aros AROS Research Operating System (AROS, pronounced "AR-OS") is a free and open-source multi media centric implementation of the AmigaOS 3.1 application programming interface (API) which is designed to be portable and flexible. , ports are availab ...

Dongola Dongola (), also known as Urdu or New Dongola, is the capital of Northern State in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. It should not be confused with Old Dongola, a now deserted medieval city located 80 km upstream on the opposite bank. Et ...

* Downeyville * Fleetwood Station *

Hartley Hartley may refer to: Places Australia *Hartley, New South Wales * Hartley, South Australia ** Electoral district of Hartley, a state electoral district Canada * Hartley Bay, British Columbia United Kingdom * Hartley, Cumbria * Hartley, P ...

* Head Lake *

Islay Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...

* Mariposa Station *

Mount Horeb Mount Horeb (; Hebrew: ''Har Ḥōrēḇ''; Greek in the Septuagint: , ''Chōrēb''; Latin in the Vulgate: ') is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God, according to the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible. I ...

^* *

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

* Ragged Rapids^* * St. Mary's *

Uphill Uphill is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Weston-super-Mare, in the North Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, at the southern edge of the town, on the Bristol Channel coast. History Bone and ...

Zion Zion (; ) is a placename in the Tanakh, often used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole. The name is found in 2 Samuel (), one of the books of the Tanakh dated to approximately the mid-6th century BCE. It o ...

Note: ^*

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Demographics

The population is mostly rural, with only 34% living in urban areas.

Infrastructure

Colonization roads

Victoria County was first opened up to settlement in the 1821. At this time, the primary routes for entering the county-to-be were narrow trails. Settlers were offered land on the condition that they help further the progress of concession roads into the region. This was often met with the bare minimum, and progress was slow. The Land Act of 1853 provided funding for the development of roads throughout the wilderness of Upper Canada. Grants were administered by the Department of Agriculture to survey and build the new roads. The roads followed the tradition of old

Roman roads Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

, and cut through the wilderness in a straight line, veering only when the terrain was impassable, but cutting through swamps and hills otherwise. Four primary roads were built: the Cameron Road, the Bobcaygeon Road, the Monck Road, and the Portage Road. http://www.ontariogenealogy.com/Victoria/settleme.html http://www.ontariogenealogy.com/Victoria/history/victoriacountypioneers2.html The Cameron road, now mostly encompassed by

Highway 35 The following highways are numbered 35: The Karakoram Highway (Urdu language, Urdu: شاہراہ قراقرم, ''Śāhirāh-i Qarāquram''), also known as the KKH, National Highway 35 (Urdu language, Urdu: قومی شاہراہ ۳۵), N-35, and ...

, provided access from Lake Ontario to the northern limits of Victoria; The Bobcaygeon Road, begun in 1853, traversed north and south along the present-day eastern boundary of the region, and is mostly encompassed by former Highway 121; The Monck Road, which connected

Lake Couchiching Lake Couchiching ( ; from the Anishinaabe language, Ojibwe ''gojijiing'' meaning "inlet") is a medium-sized lake in Central Ontario, Canada, separated from Lake Simcoe by a narrow channel. Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching are popular spots for fishin ...

to Bancroft, encompassed partially by former Highway 503, now City Road 45; The Portage Road, connecting Lake Simcoe to Balsam Lake, encompassed entirely by former Highway 48, now City Road 48

Education

At one time the Victoria County Board of Education provided educational services. In 1999 it was amalgamated into the Trillium Lakelands District School Board."New superintendent for school board," ''Lindsay Daily Post'', 29 August 2003, A10.

References

{{Authority control Former counties in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 2001 1863 establishments in Canada West 2001 disestablishments in Ontario