Huron County, Ontario

Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community.

The population reported in the 2016 Census for this predominantly agricultural area with many villages and small towns was 59,297 in a land area of 3,399 square kilometers. Of the total population, 7,628 reside in Goderich.

History


The portion of the Huron Tract ceded to the Canada Company 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):

Territorial evolution
Legislation was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada 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 provided for the County to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the Bruce Peninsula withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County.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. In 2017, the Reeve was Ben Van Diepenbeek from the Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh ward.

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)
 * 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 throughout the province.

Demographics
Huron County comprises a single Statistics Canada census division. The population has been quite stable in recent years.

Historic populations:
 * Population in 2001: 59,701
 * Population in 1996: 60,220

(Other languages, 2016: German 3.3%, Dutch 2.1%)

Communities

 * Amberley (border with Bruce County)
 * Auburn
 * Bayfield
 * Belgrave
 * Belmore (border with Bruce County)
 * Benmiller
 * Bluevale
 * Blyth
 * Brucefield
 * Brussels
 * Carlow
 * Centralia (border with Middlesex County)
 * Clinton
 * Corbett (border with Middlesex County)
 * Crediton
 * Dashwood
 * Drysdale
 * Dungannon
 * Egmondville
 * Ethel
 * Exeter
 * Goderich
 * Gorrie
 * Harpurhey
 * Hensall
 * Holmesville
 * Huron Park
 * Kinburn
 * Kingsbridge
 * Kintail
 * Kippen
 * Kirkton (border with Perth County)
 * Lakelet
 * Leadbury
 * Londesborough
 * Molesworth (border with Perth County)
 * Mount Carmel (border with Middlesex County)
 * Nile
 * Port Albert
 * St. Augustine
 * St. Columban (border with Perth County)
 * St. Joseph
 * Saltford
 * Seaforth
 * Shipka
 * Summerhill
 * Vanastra
 * Varna
 * Walton
 * Whitechurch (border with Bruce County)
 * Wingham
 * Winthrop
 * Whalen Corners (border with Perth and Middlesex Counties)
 * Woodham (border with Perth County)
 * Wroxeter
 * Zurich

Former communities/ghost towns

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