Hastings County | |
|---|---|
| County of Hastings | |
 Seal  Coat of arms | |
| Motto: Communities With Opportunities | |
 Hastings County | |
| Coordinates:44°45′N77°35′W / 44.750°N 77.583°W /44.750; -77.583 | |
| Country |  Canada |
| Province |  Ontario |
| County seat | Belleville |
| Municipalities | List
|
| Area | |
| • Land | 5,270.75 km2 (2,035.05 sq mi) |
| • Census division | 6,013.35 km2 (2,321.77 sq mi) |
| Land area excludes Belleville & Quinte West | |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 44,115 |
| • Density | 8.4/km2 (22/sq mi) |
| • Census division | 145,746 |
| • Census division density | 24.2/km2 (63/sq mi) |
| Total excludes Belleville & Quinte West | |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Website | www |
Hastings County is a county andcensus division of theCanadian province ofOntario. Geographically, it is located on the border ofEastern Ontario andCentral Ontario. Hastings County is the second-largest county in Ontario, afterRenfrew County. Its county seat isBelleville, which is, along withQuinte West, independent of Hastings County.
Hastings County has trademarked the moniker "Cheese Capital of Canada".[2]
The 14 local municipalities within Hastings County are:
TheTyendinaga Mohawk Territory is within the Hastings census division but is independent of the county. The cities ofBelleville andQuinte West areseparated municipalities and so are within the geographical boundaries of the county and included in the Hastings census division, but they not under the administration of the county government.
Hastings County (named forFrancis Rawdon-Hastings) was first organized for electoral purposes in 1792, with its boundaries described as being:
bounded on the east by the westernmost boundary of thecounty of Lenox, on the south by thebay of Quinte, until it meets a boundary on the easternmost line of theriver Trent, thence along the river until it intersects the rear of the ninth concession, thence by a line running north sixteen degrees west until it intersects theriver Ottawa or Grand river, thence descending the said river until it meets the northwesternmost boundary of thecounty of Addington; and the said county of Hastings to comprehend all the islands of the bay of Quinte and the river Trent nearest to the said county, in the whole or in greater part fronting the same.[3]
For the initial elections to theLegislative Assembly of Upper Canada, it was united withNorthumberland County and most ofLennox County for purposes of returning one member.[4]
It was situated within theMecklenburg District, which was later renamed the "Midland District" in 1792.[5]
In 1798, theParliament of Upper Canada passed legislation to provide, that, at the beginning of 1800:
... the townships of Sidney, Thurlow, the tract of land occupied by the Mohawks, Huntingdon, Hungerford, and Rawdon, do constitute and form the county of Hastings.[6]
The territory withdrawn from the County continued to form part of the Midland District.[7]
In 1821, the newly surveyed townships of Elzevir, Madoc and Marmora were added to the county.[8] 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 andAmeliasburgh Township unsuccessfully petitioned the provincial government for district status during 1817, 1818, 1823 and 1825. AfterPrince 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.[9]
It was constituted as the District of Victoria in 1839 (which continued until its dissolution in 1850).[10] By 1845, the county was declared to consist of the following geographic townships:[11]
Belleville, after an abortive attempt two years previously, was organized as a municipality with its own Board of Police in 1836,[12][13] and was designated as thedistrict seat in 1837.[14] It was constituted as a town under theBaldwin Act in 1850,[15] and later became a city in 1877.[16]
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 inBelleville and by 1864 around 100 people were employed by the railroad.
In August 1866, discovery of gold at Eldorado, nearMadoc, caused great excitement throughout Hastings County as people flooded to the area from all over North America. According to Barnes, "gold has been found in twenty-seven locations spread over nine townships."[17] The railroads and 170 miles (270 km) 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 ofBelleville 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.[18]
By 1927 the original townships had each formed separate governance and many of them had been partitioned due to increase in population and development. The 1927 townships were:[19]
FollowingWorld War II, more efficient communication and transportation led a trend toward consolidation of township administrations:
At the dawn of the 21st century, there has been a trend toward amalgamating rural and urban administrations. On 1 January 1998:
In 1998, theVillage of Tweed was amalgamated with its Township of Hungerford and the contiguous Township of Elzevir & Grimsthorpe to form the Municipality of Tweed. In 1999, the Village of Bancroft merged with Dungannon Township to form the Town of Bancroft.
On 1 January 2001, the Municipality of Hastings Highlands was incorporated by amalgamating the contiguous townships of Bangor, Wicklow & McClure, Herschel and Monteagle. Also in 2001, the Village of Marmora amalgamated with the surrounding townships of Marmora and Lake to form the Municipality of Marmora and Lake.
As acensus division in the2021 Census of Population conducted byStatistics Canada, Hastings County had a population of145,746 living in61,141 of its68,518 total private dwellings, a change of6.8% from its 2016 population of136,445. With a land area of 6,013.35 km2 (2,321.77 sq mi), it had a population density of24.2/km2 (62.8/sq mi) in 2021.[1]
| 2021 | 2016 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 145,746 (+6.8% from 2016) | 136,445 (+1.1% from 2011) | 134,934 (3.4% from 2006) |
| Land area | 6,013.35 km2 (2,321.77 sq mi) | 6,103.92 km2 (2,356.74 sq mi) | 6,103.48 km2 (2,356.57 sq mi) |
| Population density | 24.2/km2 (63/sq mi) | 22.4/km2 (58/sq mi) | 22.1/km2 (57/sq mi) |
| Median age | 47.6 (M: 46.0, F: 49.2) | 46.3 (M: 45.1, F: 47.4) | |
| Private dwellings | 68,518 (total) 61,141 (occupied) | 65,136 (total) 57,017 (occupied) | 63,014 (total) |
| Median household income | $75,000 | $61,109 |
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| 2001 and 2006 population figures exclude incompletely enumerated Indian reserve. Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes. Source: Statistics Canada[1][24] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Following are members of Hastings County Council as of August, 2019:[25]
The county is served byHighway 401 in the south,Highway 7, a leg of theTrans-Canada Highway, in the central region, Highways62 and37 travelling north to south,Highway 28 travelling east to west in the northern region, andHighway 127 travelling north from Maynooth, also in the northern region.
There are 5 EMS stations in Hastings County withHastings-Quinte EMS HQ located inBelleville, Ontario.
Currently,Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board operates public schools. Previously,Hastings County Board of Education operated public schools.
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