Lindsay, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lindsay (2001 population 16,930) is a community on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of southern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of the City of Kawartha Lakes (formerly Victoria County), and the hub for business and commerce in the region.
The Town of Lindsay is located forty-three kilometers west of Peterborough, on the Scugog River in Ops Township. It is the county town of Victoria County. Due to the town's close proximity to several lakes, Lindsay is often referred to as the "Gateway of the Kawarthas".
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[edit] History
The Township of Ops was surveyed in 1825 by Colonel Duncan McDonell and Lots 20 and 21 in the 5th Concession were reserved for a town site. The same year settlers began to come to the region and by 1827, the Purdy's, an American family, built a dam on the Scugog River at the site of present-day Lindsay. The following year they built a sawmill and in 1830, a grist mill was constructed.
A small village grew up around the mills and it was known as Purdy's Mills. In 1834, surveyor John Huston plotted the designated town site into streets and lots. During the survey, one of Huston's assistants, Mr. Lindsay, was accidentally shot in the leg and died of an infection. He was buried on the river bank and his name and death were recorded on the surveyor's plan. The name Lindsay remained as the name of the town by government approval. Lindsay grew steadily and developed into a lumbering and farming centre.
With the arrival of the Port Hope Railway in 1857, the town saw a period of rapid development and industrial growth. On June 19 of the same year, Lindsay was formally incorporated as a town. In 1861, a fire swept through the town and most of Lindsay was destroyed with hundreds of people left homeless. It took many years for Lindsay to recover from this disaster. In the late 1800s, local photographers Fowler & Oliver worked out of the Sunbeam Photo Gallery. It was also the home to Sir Samuel Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia during the First World War. The Victoria Street Armouries were built during this time.
In 2001 Lindsay's town government was officially dissolved and merged, with Victoria County into the new City of Kawartha Lakes. Some local groups have attempted, thus far unsuccessfully, to de-amalgamate the City and restore Victoria County to its previous status since that time.
[edit] Education
[edit] Colleges
[edit] High Schools
- I. E. Weldon Secondary School
- Lindsay Collegiate and Vocational Institute
- St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School
[edit] Facts and Figures
- Lindsay is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway, a canal system that connects central Ontario with both Lake Ontario and Lake Huron.
- Scenes from the movies "A Cool Dry Place" (1998) and "Meatballs" (1979), and the documentary film "Rise of a Legend" (2000) chronicling influential Canadian journalist Ben Medd's formative years, were all filmed in Lindsay.
- The disposable green polyethylene garbage bag was invented, in part, by Mr Larry Hansen, a resident of Lindsay. Ironically, the town is now home to the largest college of environmental studies in the province, Fleming College, School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences.
