Brockville, Ontario

From Free net encyclopedia

Brockville (2001 population 21,375, metropolitan population 44,741) is located in the Thousand Islands region on the St. Lawrence River in eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The area of the city is 20.73 square kilometres. It is the county seat for the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.

The self-proclaimed "City of the 1000 Islands", Brockville is located directly opposite Morristown, New York on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, about mid-way between Cornwall in the east and Kingston in the west and a little over an hour from the nation's capital, Ottawa.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Industry
4 Tourism
5 External links

[edit]

History

Image:Carlb-brockville-tunnel.jpg Originally settled by United Empire Loyalists in 1785, Brockville was known as Buell's Bay in honour of the community's founder William Buell. It was renamed in 1812 in honour of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, the national hero of the War of 1812.

Brockville was Ontario's first incorporated municipality. Its coat of arms, featuring a beehive surrounded by a golden chain, bears the motto Industria, Intelligentia, Prosperitas. The Port of Brockville was connected to the main line of the Grand Trunk Railroad by a tunnel constructed beneath the municipality. This was a distinctive feat of engineering accomplished between 1854 and 1860. It is the oldest railway tunnel in Canada, having been inaugurated on December 31, 1860.

[edit]

Demographics

Age Structure

0-14 years: 18.3%
15-64 years: 65.0%
65 years and over: 16.7%

Racial Groups

96.9 White
0.4% Black
0.3% Asian

Religious Groups

59.8% Protestant
23.0% Catholic
2.2% other Christian
1.1% other religions
13.9% non-professing

[edit]

Industry

Image:Carlb-brockville-cptrain.jpg Brockville is now home to several industrial manufacturers including ceiling fan manufacturer Canarm. The Brockville Procter & Gamble site is the world supplier of Swiffer cleaning products.

The once-strong electrical and electronic industry in Brockville has recently suffered greatly from both free trade (which allowed US manufacturers including Black & Decker, Enerstat and RCA-Thompson in nearby Prescott to curtail Canadian manufacturing operations while retaining access to Canadian markets) and from a downturn in the communications industry at the turn of the millennium (with everything from Aimtronics to Brock Telecom to Philips Cables having been far too closely tied to the fortunes and misfortunes of Canadian telecom manufacturer Nortel Inc.).

[edit]

Tourism

As the City of the 1000 Islands, Brockville is home to tour boats offering a scenic view of the region. Further, it is the launching point for some of the best fresh water wreck diving in the world, the Brockville Narrows having claimed many a ship before the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959.

It is also home to the historic Fulford House mansion, built by the maker of the "Pink Pills for Pale People" of yesteryear. As well, Brockville is home to famous industrial designer Phillip Benson.

[edit]

External links

Image:Carlb-victoriahall-brockville.jpg Image:Carlb-brockville-courthouse.jpg Image:Carlb-st-larry-seaway-morristown-brockville-narrows.jpg

[edit]

Sports and Hobbies

Image:Flag of Ontario.svg	Ontario
Counties	Bruce - Dufferin - Elgin - Essex - Frontenac - Grey - Haliburton - Hastings - Huron - Lambton - Lanark - Leeds and Grenville - Lennox and Addington - Middlesex - Northumberland - Perth - Peterborough - Prescott and Russell - Renfrew - Simcoe - Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry - Wellington
Districts	Algoma - Cochrane - Kenora - Manitoulin - Nipissing - Parry Sound - Rainy River - Sudbury - Thunder Bay - Timiskaming
Regional municipalities	Durham - Halton - Muskoka - Niagara - Oxford - Peel - Waterloo - York
Single-tier municipalities	Brant - Brantford - Chatham-Kent - Greater Sudbury - Haldimand - Hamilton - Kawartha Lakes - Norfolk - Ottawa - Prince Edward - Toronto
Separated municipalities	Barrie - Belleville - Brantford - Brockville - Gananoque - Guelph - Kingston - London - Orillia - Pembroke - Peterborough - Prescott - Quinte West - Smiths Falls - St. Marys - St. Thomas - Stratford - Windsor