Hastings County is located in the province of Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. Hastings County is the second largest county in Ontario. The county seat is Belleville, which is independent of Hastings County. Hastings County has trademarked the moniker "Cheese Capital of Canada".
Administrative divisions
The 14 local municipalities within Hastings County are:
The Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is within the Hastings census division but is independent of the county. The cities of Belleville and Quinte West are separated municipalities, falling within the boundaries of the county and included in the Hastings census division, but not under the administration of the county government.
History
The first boundaries of Hastings County was organized for electoral purposes in 1792, and was described as being: For the initial elections to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, it was united with Northumberland County and most of Lennox County for purposes of returning one member. It was situated within the Mecklenburg District, which was later renamed the "Midland District" in 1792. In 1798, the Parliament of Upper Canada passed legislation to provide, that, at the beginning of 1800: The territory withdrawn from the County continued to form part of the Midland District. In 1821, the newly surveyed townships of Elzevir, Madoc and Marmora were added to the County. While in this time agriculture was the most important industry in Hastings County, by 1822 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. It was constituted as the District of Victoria in 1839. By 1845, the County was declared to consist of the following townships:
Elzevir
Grimsthorpe
Hungerford
Huntingdon
Lake
Marmora
Madoc
Rawdon
Sydney
Tudor
Thurlow
Tyendinaga
Belleville, after an abortive attempt two years previously, was organized as a municipality with its own Board of Police in 1836, and was designated as the district seat in 1837. It was constituted as a town under the Baldwin Act in 1850, and later became a city in 1877. 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. According to Barnes, "gold has been found in twenty-seven locations spread over nine townships." The railroads and 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. By 1927 many of the original townships had been partitioned. The 1927 townships were:
Bangor
Carlow
Cashel
Dungannon
Elzevir
Faraday
Grimsthorpe
Herschel
Hungerford
Huntingdon
Lake
Limerick
Madoc
Marmora
Mayo
McClure
Monteagle
Rawdon
Sidney
Thurlow
Tudor
Tyendinaga
Wicklow
Wollaston
Demographics
The figures below are for the Hastings census division, which combines Hastings County, Belleville and Quinte West, along with the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Historic populations:
