Simcoe is an unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada located near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County.[1]
Simcoe is located at the junction of Highway 3, at Highway 24, due south of Brantford, and accessible to Hamilton by nearby Highway 6. The town is northwest of Nanticoke in Haldimand County. Simcoe is the centre of an agricultural area known for tobacco, vegetables and small fruits. Brantford railway station serves as the local railway station for this town, even though it's located more than an hour to the north. While Via Rail has an almost total monopoly on the local rail travel; GO Transit is speculated to expand to Brantford by the year 2020.[2]
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| Census | Population |
|---|---|
| 1841 | 1,400 |
| 1871 | 1,856 |
| 1881 | 2,645 |
| 1891 | 2,674 |
| 1901 | 2,627 |
| 1911 | 3,227 |
| 1921 | 3,953 |
| 1931 | 5,226 |
| 1941 | 5,954 |
| 1951 | 7,269 |
| 1961 | 8,754 |
| 1971 | 10,793 |
| 1981 | 14,326 |
| 1991 | 15,539 |
| 2001 | 14,175 |
| 2006 | 14,522 |
Simcoe was founded in 1795 by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe.[3] In 1878, Simcoe was incorporated as the Corporation of the Town of Simcoe and had its own town council and mayor.
The Norfolk County Memorial Tower in Simcoe, Ontario commemorates the lives of Canadians who died for their country in conflicts overseas.[4]
In 2001, the town and all other municipalities within the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk were dissolved and the region was divided into two single tier municipalities with city-status but called counties. Simcoe now forms Ward 5 of Norfolk County.
Simcoe has its own radio station, CD 98.9, and two newspapers: The Simcoe Reformer and the NYCA Hub. The town is also home to the Norfolk General Hospital. Simcoe was one of the communities in Canada that the Olympic Torch passed through on its way from Athens, Greece to its destination in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. There was a ceremony in town hall with mayor Dennis Travale handing the torch off to a lucky person.
The Eva Brook Donly Museum is a Victorian historic house museum that also features displays of local history from the founding of Norfolk County right up to the 20th century. The town hosts a Friendship Festival, a Canadian Open Country Singing Contest, the Panorama, the W.D. Stalker, the only operating alligator tugboat in operation,[5] and the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show.[3]
Lynnwood/Campbell-Reid House, a Neoclassical house built in 1850-1 for Duncan Campbell, a local banker and Simcoe’s first postmaster, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1972.[6][7]
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