Minden Hills

Minden Hills
Township (lower-tier)
Township of Minden Hills

Municipal office
Minden Hills
Coordinates: 44°56′N 78°44′W / 44.933°N 78.733°WCoordinates: 44°56′N 78°44′W / 44.933°N 78.733°W
Country  Canada
Province  Ontario
County Haliburton
Settled 1850s
Formed January 1, 2001
Government
 • Type Township
 • Reeve Brent Devolin
 • Federal riding Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock
 • Prov. riding Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock
Area[1]
 • Land 878.17 km2 (339.06 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Total 5,655
 • Density 6.4/km2 (17/sq mi)
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
Postal Code K0M
Area code(s) 705
Website www.mindenhills.ca
Minden

Minden Hills is a township in and the county seat of Haliburton County, Ontario, Canada. It is an amalgamation of the geographical townships of Snowdon, Lutterworth, Anson, Hindon and Minden. It is usually referred to as Minden, after its largest community.

The township was formed on January 1, 2001, through the amalgamation of the townships of Lutterworth, Snowdon, and Anson Hindon & Minden.

Communities

The primary residential and commercial centre of the township is Minden, located just off Highway 35 (44°55′34″N 78°43′33″W / 44.92611°N 78.72583°W).

The township also includes the smaller communities of Blairhampton, Brady Lake, Buller, Carnarvon, Deep Bay, Dutch Line, Gelert, Hindon Hill (abandoned community), Howland, Ingoldsby, Irondale, Kilcoo Harbour, Lochlin, Lutterworth, Miners Bay, and Moore Falls.

Minden

After originally being surveyed in 1858, Minden was named after a town in the North Rhine-Westphalia federal state in Germany. The Minden community has been around since April 1, 1859, prior to which the settlement was originally called Gull River.[2][3] The original settlers were drawn to the region via the Bobcaygeon Road (an original colonization road) because of its timber resources. The town lies on the banks of the Gull River and during the 19th and 20th centuries, loggers used this river to move timber to sawmills downstream.

Since the 1940s the town has become an increasingly popular summer destination given its close proximity to larger cities in southern Ontario. The population grows dramatically during the summer months as a result of tourism. The Minden Times and the County Voice are the local newspapers, and the local post office on Water St. services residents with lock boxes and three rural routes.

The Minden Hills Cultural Centre is home to the Agnes Jamieson Gallery, named after Dr. Agnes Jamieson, the first female coroner in Ontario, which houses the largest known collection of André Lapine's work. Both lived in Minden during part of their lives. The Cultural Centre is also home to the Minden Hills Museum which includes seven heritage buildings, including a school, a blacksmith shop and a church. R.D. Lawrence Place, an interactive learning centre celebrating the author Ron Lawrence, is also located here.

Minden is home to one of the OCA's most prestigious camps, Onondaga. Located on Rackety Trail off highway 35, Onondaga was established in 1918.

2013 flood

The Gull River flooded in April 2013, leading to a state of emergency declaration on April 20.[4] By May 3, 2013, officials were predicting that it would take more than two weeks for water levels to return to normal because of overall high water levels in the Trent-Severn Waterway system. The excess water that was held back in the reservoir lakes north of Minden is being slowly released and moved through the village so as not to cause increased damage. The use of the reservoir lakes north of Minden to collect water was necessary to avert a threat to the essential utilities of water, hydro and sewage treatment. However, it has extended the flood damage area north throughout the entire Gull River Watershed. There is now damage to properties on many of these lakes with substantive damage to properties surrounding Horseshoe Lake. [5]

Many residents of the area were evacuated from their homes on very short notice and remain out of their homes as of May 3, 2013 with the expectation that they will not be able to return to check the damage to their home until mid-May. Total damage estimates are not yet available, but fundraising has begun through a fund established by the Township of Minden Hills to assist in recovery efforts.[6]

Currently, non-insured claims by residents to the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program totaled 1.8 million dollars, by November 2013. This is on top of an estimate of 2.2 million dollars in insured claims. The township has so far spent $370,000 on flood related costs.[7]

Demographics

Population trend:[10]

Mother tongue:[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Minden Hills census profile". 2011 Census of Population. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  2. ↑ Murray, Florence B. 1963. Muskoka and Haliburton 1615-1875: A Collection of Documents. Florence B. Murray, Ed. The Champlain Society for the Government of Ontario, University of Toronto Press
  3. ↑ Item Display - Post Offices and Postmasters - ArchiviaNet - Library and Archives Canada
  4. ↑ Minden Hills still under water after two weeks — and may be for two more, GlobalNews.ca, May 1, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  5. ↑ Flood release #24, Minden Times, May 3, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013
  6. ↑ Township of Minden Hills - Flood Related
  7. ↑ http://www.mindentimes.ca/2013/11/26/township-flood-costs-approaching-400k
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "2006 Community Profiles". Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  9. ↑ "2001 Community Profiles". Canada 2001 Census. Statistics Canada. February 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  10. ↑ Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006 census

External links

 Lake of Bays, Algonquin Highlands
Bracebridge
Kawartha Lakes		 Dysart et al
Highlands East
   Minden Hills  
Kawartha Lakes, Trent Lakes