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 kilometres. 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:

Historic townships

In 1835, the County was declared to consist of the following townships:
They have since devolved to the following counties :

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 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County to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the Bruce Peninsula withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County.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:
FromPerth CountyBruce CountyHuron County
Huron County
  • Blanchard
  • Hibbert
  • Fullarton
  • Logan
  • Downie
  • Ellice
  • Easthope North
  • Easthope South
  • Elma
  • Wallace

  • Huron
  • Kinloss
  • Curloss
  • Carrick
  • Kincardine
  • Greenock
  • Brant
  • Bruce
  • Saugeen
  • Elderslie
  • Arran

  • the remaining townships of Huron County
Waterloo County
  • Mornington
    • 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:
    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 formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex.
    The County's Official Plan 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 :
    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: