Middlesex County, Ontario

Middlesex County is a primarily rural county and census division in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Landlocked, the county is bordered by Huron and Perth counties on the north, Oxford County on the east, Elgin County on the south, and Chatham-Kent and Lambton County on the west.

The county seat is the city of London, although the city is politically independent from the county. The Middlesex census division, which consists of the county together with the City of London and three First Nations reserves, had a population of 500,563 in 2021.<ref name="sc2021"/> Part of the county is also included in the London census metropolitan area.

Administrative divisions

Middlesex County is composed of eight incorporated municipalities (in order of population):

• Strathroy-Caradoc, Township of
  • Population centres: Strathroy and Mount Brydges. Other communities: Cairngorm, Campbellvale, Caradoc, Christina, Falconbridge, Glen Oak, Longwood, Melbourne (part) and Muncey.
• Middlesex Centre, Municipality of
  • Population centre: Ilderton. Other communities: Arva, Ballymote, Birr, Bryanston, Coldstream, Delaware, Denfield, Duncrief, Elginfield, Ettrick, Ivan, Kilworth, Komoka, Littlewood, Lobo, Lobo Siding, Maple Grove, Melrose, Poplar Hill, Sharon, Southgate, Southwold, Telfer and Vanneck.
• Thames Centre, Municipality of (township)
  • Population centres: Dorchester and Thorndale. Other communities: Avon, Belton, Cherry Grove, Crampton, Cobble Hill, Derwent, Devizes, Evelyn, Fanshawe Lake, Friendly Corners, Gladstone, Harrietsville, Kelly Station, Mossley, Nilestown, Oliver, Plover Mills, Putnam, Salmonville, Silvermoon, Three Bridges and Wellburn.
• North Middlesex, Municipality of (township)
  • Population centre: Parkhill. Other communities: Ailsa Craig, Beechwood, Bornish, Bowood, Brinsley, Carlisle, Corbett, Greenway, Hungry Hollow, Lieury, Moray, Mount Carmel, Nairn, Sable, Springbank, Sylvan and West McGillivray.
• Southwest Middlesex, Municipality of (township)
  • Population centre: Glencoe. Other communities: Appin, Ekfrid, Lewis Corners, Macksville, Mayfair, Melbourne (part), Newbury Station, North Appin Station, North Ekfrid, North Glencoe Station, Riverside, Strathburn, Tate Corners, Wardsville and Woodgreen.
• Lucan Biddulph, Township
  • Population centre: Lucan. Other communities: Biddulph, Clandeboye and Granton.
• Adelaide Metcalfe, Township
  • Communities: Adelaide, Crathie, Dejong, Kerwood, Keyser, Mullifarry, Napier, Napperton, Springfield, Walkers and Wrightmans Corners.
• Newbury, Village

First Nations reserves are located within the Middlesex census division but separate from Middlesex County:

• Chippewas of the Thames 42
• Munsee-Delaware 1
• Oneida 41.

History

The area was originally organized as Suffolk County, created in July 1792 by Governor John Simcoe by his first proclamation issued at Kingston, which also defined it as a constituency for the purposes of returning a member to the new Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, and was described as having the following territory:<ref>Proclamation of July 16, 1792</ref>

File:A map of the Province of Upper Canada RMG K1076.jpg

Map of Upper Canada showing 1792 division into counties and ridings

Simcoe toured the southwestern portion of the province's territory in early 1793 and concluded that the lower forks of the Thames would be best suited as the future site of the provincial capital. The names London in Middlesex were considered more appropriate for this.Template:Citation needed Suffolk County was reorganized as Middlesex County, as part of the London District, in 1798 by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada,<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> consisting of the townships of London, Westminster, Dorchester, Yarmouth, Southwold, Dunwich, Aldborough and Delaware.

File:A map of the province of Upper Canada describing all the settlements and townships, 1818.jpg

Map of Upper Canada showing 1798 division into districts, counties and townships (published 1818)

Middlesex County was expanded several times thereafter, starting in 1821 with the addition of the townships of Moza, Ecfrid (sic), Carradoc (sic) and Lobo.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> Adelaide Township came from the Huron Tract in 1835,<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> and Williams Township was withdrawn from Huron County and annexed to Middlesex in 1845.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> In 1837, Bayham and Malahide Townships were transferred to Middlesex from Norfolk County.<ref>effectively withdrawn upon the passage of Template:Cite canlaw and Template:Cite canlaw</ref> Metcalfe Township was formed from the north part of Ekfrid and the south part of Adelaide in 1845.<ref>1845 Act, Sch. A</ref>

Upon the abolition of the London District in January 1850, Middlesex County was constituted for municipal purposes.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> The County was reorganized as the United Counties of Middlesex and Elgin in 1851, with its townships divided thus:

Creation of the United Counties of Middlesex and Elgin (1851)<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref>

Elgin County	Middlesex County
Aldborough Dunwich Southwold Yarmouth Malahide Bayham South Dorchester<ref group=a name="division">divided in 1851 (1851 Act, Sch. D)</ref>	Mosa Ekfrid Carradoc (sic) Metcalfe Adelaide Williams Lobo Nissouri West<ref group=a>separated from Nissouri Township of Oxford County (1851 Act, Sch. D)</ref> North Dorchester<ref group=a name="division"/> Delaware Westminster London

Elgin County was separated from Middlesex in September 1853.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The townships of Biddulph and McGillivray were withdrawn from Huron County and annexed to Middlesex in 1862.<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref> There was a village at Ekfrid Station that had a blacksmith's shop, a gristmill and a store that was created by the Grand Truck railroad.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 81</ref> Today it is ghost town as the post office closed on 31 January 1914 and the railroad station in 1950.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 82</ref> Another settlement existed at Mayfair that was founded in 1854.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 84</ref> Mayfair had by the 1880s a tavern, two cheese factories, a sawmill, a blacksmith, a painter, a tailor, and a large house called Mayfair Castle that had marble imported from Italy.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 85</ref> Mayfair Castle costed $7000 to build at a time when the average brick house costed $1000 to build.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 85</ref> The post office closed in 1914 and today Mayfair is a ghosttown with only the former Baptist Church and Mayfair Castle still standing.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 85</ref> In 1829, a hamlet was founded at Strathburn that had a school by 1840.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 88</ref> A church was founded in 1844 and a post office opened in 1852.<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 89</ref> By 1963, Strathburn had become a ghost town with only home inhabited and all the rest abandoned..<ref>Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 91</ref>

The historic townships of the County (including those originally part of Huron County marked in red) are shown below:

File:Ont Huron Middlesex All.PNG

Townships of Middlesex County

Withdrawal and evolution of the City of London

File:Atlas of the Dominion. Counties of Middlesex, Elgin, Lambton. Province of Ontario. CTASC.jpg

Historical map that includes Middlesex County (1875)

London, when it became a city in 1855, separated from Middlesex County,<ref name="ForestCity">Template:Cite web</ref> and it expanded later in stages:

Annexations to the City of London

Year	Community
1885	London East<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref>
1890	Wortley Village<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref>
1897	London West<ref group=a>previously known as Petersville or Kensington</ref><ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref>
1912<ref name="ForestCity"/>	Pottersburg Knollwood Ealing Chelsea Green
1961	Byron Broughdale Masonville
1993<ref>Template:Cite canlaw</ref>	Lambeth Westminster Glanworth Hyde Park Crumlin Fanshawe Brockley Scottsville Tempo

Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Middlesex County had a population of Template:Val living in Template:Val of its Template:Val total private dwellings, a change of Template:Percentage from its 2016 population of Template:Val. With a land area of Template:Convert, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.<ref name="sc2021"/>

Middlesex County has 38,231 people over the age of 15, with 45% of them working in the same municipality as the one they live in.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That implies that more than 50% of them commute to other municipalities.

Municipal government

Members of the County Council are the mayors (or reeves) of the municipalities of Adelaide Metcalfe, Lucan Biddulph, Middlesex Centre, North Middlesex, Southwest Middlesex, Strathroy-Caradoc and Thames Centre as well as the Village of Newbury. Centres with a population exceeding 5,000 also get an additional seat for their deputy mayors. The head of council is one of its members who is elected as reeve for a one year term by the councillors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of municipalities in Ontario
• List of townships in Ontario
• List of secondary schools in Ontario#Middlesex County

External links

• Template:Official website