Kent County, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kent County (area 58,00 acres) is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The county was created in 1792 and named by John Graves Simcoe in honour of the English County. The county is in an alluvial plain between Lake St. Clair, and Lake Erie, watered by two navigable streams, the Thames River and the Sydenham River.
On January 1, 1998, the county, its townships, towns, and Chatham were amalgamated into the single-tier city of Chatham-Kent.
Contents |
[edit] Original Townships
- Camden, (area 40,625 acres). Surveyed in 1794 and named from the Earl of Camden. Community centres: (Dresden, Thamesville)
- Chatham, (area, 83,964 acres) Surveyed in 1794. Community centres: City of Chatham and (Wallaceburg)
- Dover, Area 68,617 acres). Surveyed in 1794 and named from the English Channel port. Within the boundaries of Dover along the Chenal Ecarte of the river St. Clair is the site of Lord Selkirk's Baldoon Settlement, established in 1803. Community centre: (Mitchell's Bay)
- Harwich. (Area 88,349 acres). Surveyed in 1794 and named from the English port at the mouth of the Thames. (Blenheim, Erieau, Erie Beach, Shrewsbury)
- Howard (Area 58,607 acres). Surveyed in 1794 and named after Thomas Howard, Earl of Effingham, father-in-law of Sir Guy Carleton. Community centres: (Morpeth, Ridgetown)
- Orford , (Area, 49,677 acres). Surveyed in 1794 and named from the English port of Orford in Suffolk. . Community centre. (Highgate)
- Raleigh, (Area 72,100 acres). Surveyed in 1794. Likely named for Walter Raleigh. Community centres: (Charing Cross)
- Romney (area 26,193 acres), Surveyed in 1794. Named form the Kentish port in England. Community centres: (Wheatley)
- Tilbury East (area 54,116 acres). Surveyed in 1794, named form the English Tilbury fort in Essex. Community Centres: (Merlin, Tilbury)
- Zone, (area 27,154 acres). Separated form Oxford in 1821 to provide a special organizational district, "the zone", for the Indians of the Moravian Mission on the Thames. Community Center. (Bothwell)
[edit] Original Towns
- Chatham (County Seat, largest town in the county, at around 54,000).
- Blenheim
- Dresden
- Bothwell
- Highgate
- Ridgetown
- Tilbury
- Thamesville
- Wallaceburg
- Wheatley