Hastings County is located
in the province of Ontario
, Canada
. It
is The Cheese Capital of Canada. Geographically, it is located on
the border of
Eastern Ontario and
Central Ontario. The population was
125,915 in 2001 and grew to 130,474 in the 2006 Canada Census. With
the area of reaching nearly from north to south, Hastings County is
the second largest county in Ontario.
The seat
of the county is Belleville
.
Municipalities
The 14 municipalities within the county are:
The cities
of Belleville and Quinte West
are separated municipalities.
From 1837 to 1849, it was known as
Victoria
District for administrative purposes. The district town
was Belleville.
The northern portion of Hastings
County is characterized by a rugged landscape with forested hills
and many lakes.
History
The first boundaries of Hastings County were established 1792 by
Lieutenant-Governor
John Graves
Simcoe. The southern boundary was the Bay of Quinte, the
eastern boundary was Lennox County and the western boundary ran
from the Trent River to the Ottawa River, in a triangular shape.
The County consisted of Sidney, Thurlow, Rawdon, Huntingdon and
Hungerford townships as well as the Mohawk Tract. The area was
named for
Francis
Rawdon-Hastings.
Three new
townships; Elzevir, Madoc and Marmora were created in 1821 and on
Monday, October 1, 1821 the first Hastings County fair was held in
Belleville . The largest prize paid was to Captain
Daniel Ostrom of Sydney at $20 and Ruliff Purdy of Sidney received
the most prizes totaling $106.50.
While in this time agriculture was the most important industry in
Hastings County, by 1822 (when the Marmora Iron Works was
approaching its peak production) mining was playing an increasingly
more important role in the area's economy.
Prominent citizens of Hastings County and
Ameliasburgh Township
unsuccessfully petitioned the provincial government for district
status during 1817, 1818, 1823 and 1825.
After Prince
Edward County
successfully achieved its own government in 1831,
Hastings County continued to send petitions throughout the 30s
before finally achieving the status of a separate district in March
1837. Belleville was named the county's District Town.
From 1839 until 1849, Hastings County was renamed Victoria District
after
Queen Victoria. By 1841 the
county had access to local courts but not local government was in
place. On February 8, 1842 the Victoria District's first council
met under warden William Hutton. During much of this time roads and
bridges were the most important issues the council dealt
with.
Edward Fidlar became the first warden of Hastings County with their
first meeting on January 28, 1850. By this time the Hastings County
Council was also interested in education and the building of the
railroad.
On
October 27, 1856 the first railroad train arrived in Belleville and by 1864 around 100 people were employed by the
railroad.
In August 1866, discovery of gold at Eldorado, near
Madoc, caused great excitement throughout
Hastings County as people flooded to the area from all over North
America. The railroads and 170 miles of good gravel roads opened
these areas to settlement by 1880.
In 1889
the Belleville Waterworks was created as a private company, which
was then bought by the city of Belleville in 1889. In 1911, Hastings County was the
first in the province to appoint a reforestation committee, which
was instrumental in passing laws around county forests. Postal
service began in the area in 1913.
Transportation
The county is served by
Highway
401 in the south,
Highway 7,
a leg of the
Trans-Canada
Highway, in the central region, and Highways
62 and
37 travelling north to south.
County Council
Hastings County offices in downtown
Belleville.
Warden: Ron Emond
Town of Bancroft: Lloyd Churchill
Hastings Highlands: Ron Emond
Township of Carlow/Mayo: Dave Panabaker
Municipality of Centre Hastings: Tom Deline
Town of Deseronto: Norm Clark
Township of Faraday: Carl Tinney
Township of Limerick: David Golem
Township of Madoc: Bob Sager
Municipality of Marmora & Lake: Terry Clemens
Township of Stirling/Rawdon: Peter Kooistra
Municipality of Tweed: Jo-Anne Albert
Township of Tudor & Cashel: Wanda Donaldson
Township of Tyendinaga: Margaret Walsh
Township of Wollaston: Dan McCaw
See also
References
External links
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