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47-599: Oro-Medonte is a township in south-central Ontario , Canada, on the northwestern shores of Lake Simcoe in Simcoe County . The two neighbouring townships of Oro and Medonte were merged in 1994, under a restructuring of Simcoe County. It is divided into lines based on the concession system implemented by the British colonial government in the mid-18th century. Currently there are 15 lines that are now streets and highway exits off Highway 11 . The township comprises

94-533: A historic colonization road and a former part of Highway 93 , defines most of Oro-Medonte's boundary with the neighbouring township of Springwater . The Toronto, Simcoe and Muskoka Junction Railway (TS&MJ) was formed in 1869. Its line headed northeast from a junction at Allandale (now part of Barrie), curving around the tip of Lake Simcoe and passing through the townships which would eventually become Oro-Medonte on its way to Orillia, Washago , and ultimately Gravenhurst . Construction began in 1870, and in 1871

141-518: A land area of 585.42 km (226.03 sq mi), it had a population density of 39.3/km (101.8/sq mi) in 2021. Separated municipalities but remain a census subdivision of the county Township (Canada) In Eastern Canada , a township is one form of the subdivision of a county . In Quebec, the term is canton in French. The historic colony of Nova Scotia (present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick , and Prince Edward Island ) used

188-549: A landing for settlers, mainly from the British Isles , who after arriving by lake steamer, on Lake Simcoe , followed these trails to their settlement in search of independence and land ownership. Craighurst started as a small community on the Penetanguishene Road in the 1830s. Its post office was established in the 1850s, at its peak in the late 19th century, Craighurst had four hotels, three churches, and

235-556: A lower-tier municipality (if located in a county or regional municipality , i.e. in Southern Ontario ) or single-tier municipality (if located in a district, i.e. in Northern Ontario ). A township municipality may consist of a portion of one or more geographic townships united as a single entity with a single municipal administration. Often rural counties are subdivided into townships. In some places, usually if

282-506: A new wharf was constructed and the name was changed from Hodges' Landing to Hawkestone. The establishment of Shanty Bay was strongly influenced by the Underground Railroad . Many African-American refugees first settled near the water in shanties (small homes), contributing toward the name of the village. Lucius Richard O'Brien (1832–1899), the noted oil and watercolour landscape painter was from Shanty Bay. His father founded

329-492: A political unit called a rural municipality in general is 3 townships by 3 townships in size, or 18 miles squared, about 324 square miles (840 km ). Three municipalities in British Columbia , Langley , Esquimalt and Spallumcheen , have "township" in their official names but legally hold the status of district municipalities . Lieutenant-Colonel (United Kingdom) Lieutenant colonel ( Lt Col ),

376-485: A road was surveyed parallel to that road and named Wilberforce in honour of William Wilberforce , the British parliamentarian who worked so hard to abolish slavery. The Blacks were settled along this new road. The Oro Black Settlement grew to about 90 families, then diminished as the settlers found steady income elsewhere (mainly on railway trains and ships on the Great Lakes ). The last Oro Black retired to Barrie in

423-554: A school house. A thriving community of a tavern, hotel, store and the first post office was located near the lake east of the creek at Hodges' Landing. The first postmaster was Charles Bell. Two dams and three mills sawed logs and ground grains. It is thought that the first mill was established by John Williamson who subsequently built the large brick house on the North-East corner of the Ridge Road and Line No. 11 South. In 1856

470-508: Is a crown above a four-pointed "Bath" star , also colloquially referred to as a "pip" . The crown has varied in the past with different monarchs; the current one being the Tudor Crown. Most other Commonwealth countries use the same insignia, or with the state emblem replacing the crown. In the modern British Armed forces, the established commander of a regiment or battalion is a lieutenant colonel. From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919,

517-549: Is a rank in the British Army and Royal Marines which is also used in many Commonwealth countries. The rank is superior to major , and subordinate to colonel . The comparable Royal Navy rank is commander , and the comparable rank in the Royal Air Force and many Commonwealth air forces is wing commander . The rank insignia in the British Army and Royal Marines , as well as many Commonwealth countries,

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564-506: Is on file, and the station was demolished in 1966. Carthew also disappeared from timetables in 1973. Despite the elimination of passenger service in the township, CN passenger and freight trains continued to travel along the line on their way to Orillia. This would continue with the consolidation of passenger services under Via Rail . In 1995, CN successfully applied to the Canadian Transport Commission to abandon

611-529: Is the title given to the current protest and legal battle between Stan Dunford , Republic Live , The Municipal Government of Oro-Medonte, SaveOro and The West Oro Ratepayers Association (WORA). Burl's Creek Event Grounds is a grounds located on the south side of Highway 11 on Oro-Medonte's 8th Line. It was established in 1994 by Don Hanney, a local businessman, as an event grounds to host small country events such as agricultural fairs, farmers' markets and Highland games. Burl's Creek has also hosted events like

658-634: The Barrie Auto Flea Market . In 2015 Burl's Creek Event Grounds was sold to Dunford, as well as many other adjacent lots totaling 560 acres. Dunford started to develop the land to make way for a much larger event park. Several residents of Oro-Medonte have communicated their concerns with the Township Council and have joined together under the organization of SaveOro. In the spring of 2015 the township council passed temporary bylaws that would allow Burl's Creek Event Grounds to use

705-648: The Prairie Provinces and parts of British Columbia , a township is a division of the Dominion Land Survey . Townships are (mostly) 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) squares, about 36 square miles (93 km ) in area. The townships are not political units (although political boundaries often follow township boundaries) but exist only to define parcels of land relatively simply. Townships are divided into 36 equal 1-by-1-mile (1.6 by 1.6 km) square parcels, known as "sections." In Saskatchewan ,

752-603: The "Pugsley Farm" property located on the East half of Lot 23 and Lot 24 in Hawkestone. The 200 acres (0.81 km) were developed into a large recreation area and children's camp where members of the UNF and their families have spent their summers on the shores of Lake Simcoe. A portion of the property was subdivided into 100 lots of 0.5 acres (0.0020 km) and sold to members of the UNF who built summer homes and cottages adjacent to

799-757: The 1940s, and when he died, he was buried in the cemetery beside the Oro African Church. The Oro Methodist Episcopal African Church was built out of logs by the Oro Black Settlers and was finished in 1849. It is likely the oldest log African Church still standing in North America. In 2003, it was designated a Canadian national historic site, mainly due to the link the Oro settlers had to the War of 1812. The church had fallen into disrepair, but since

846-448: The 560-acre site for camping and parking, but the bylaw was rescinded by council but not before SaveOro had filed a court application. According to Deputy Mayor Ralph Hough, "there was a process in the planning act that we missed so it was never legal". The venue was scheduled to use the 560 acres for two concerts in the summer of 2015: Wayhome Music Festival featuring Neil Young and Boots and Hearts Music Festival . The temporary bylaw

893-708: The British Conquest, primarily as a surveying unit. They were designated and cover most of the unattributed territory in Eastern Quebec and what is now known as the Eastern Townships and later used in surveying the Outaouais and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions. Townships often served as the territorial basis for new municipalities, but township municipalities are no different from other types such as parish or village municipalities. In

940-464: The Highway 11 corridor, but travel express through the township and make no stops. The Lake Simcoe Regional Airport is located in the township near the community of Guthrie. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Oro-Medonte had a population of 23,017 living in 8,636 of its 9,510 total private dwellings, a change of 9.4% from its 2016 population of 21,036 . With

987-824: The Northern Railway of Canada, which itself went through numerous mergers, becoming part of the Grand Trunk and, later, the Canadian National Railways . In the Canadian National (CN) system, the line through Oro was a part of the Newmarket Subdivision . The section of the line through the township was abandoned in 1996. A branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway was built through Craighurst in

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1034-662: The Oro Black Settlement was populated by escaped slaves coming to Oro via the underground railroad (UGRR), documentation suggests all Black settlers were freemen. Further, the 1819 settlement preceded by about a decade what is commonly consider the beginning of the UGRR. The blocks of land on the Penetanguishene Road, were at the time being granted to settlers of European origin. In that one or more Blacks had already established successful farms further east,

1081-458: The UNF. The entire property was named "Sokil", which is the Ukrainian word for "Hawk" in reference to the village of Hawkestone where the community was established. Today the private subdivision is maintained by the UNF, which manages the non-municipal water system, roads and other related issues as well as the recreation area and children's camp, where three children's summer camps run throughout

1128-539: The bank of Hawkestone Creek, Ridge Road, Mount St. Louis, and throughout the Township of Oro-Medonte. The Huron village of Cahiagué (near Hawkestone) was the capital village of the Ahrendarrhonon (Rock) nation. In 1615, Samuel de Champlain estimated the village to comprise 200 houses. The War of 1812 drew attention to the militarily strategic region between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. To provide supplies to

1175-696: The communities of Barrillia Park, Bass Lake Park, Baywood Park, Big Cedar Estates, Braestone, Carley, Carthew Bay, Cedarmont Beach, Coulson, Craighurst, Creighton, Crown Hill, Eady, East Oro, Edgar, Eight Mile Point, Fair Valley, Fergus Hill Estate, Knox Corners, Forest Home, Foxmead, Guthrie, Hawkestone, Hawkestone Beach, Hobart, Horseshoe Valley, Jarratt, Lakeview, Martinville, Mitchell Square, Moons Beach, Moonstone, Mount St. Louis, Oro Beach, Oro Lea Beach, Oro Park, Oro Station, Palm Beach, Parkside Beach, Prices Corners, Roberta Park, Rugby, Shanty Bay, Simcoeside, Sugar Bush, Vasey, Waddington Beach and Warminster. First Nations had long established encampments and trails on

1222-476: The company was leased to the Northern Railway of Canada and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary thereafter. Service began along the line later that year, with the first known railway station in the township being located at Hawkestone. A basic wooden station building was constructed in 1871, with more outbuildings constructed later. The Northern Railway of Canada would engage in a number of upgrades to

1269-458: The county paying $ 390 and the government $ 250 for each. The company was manned by pioneer men of Oro. Local Wm.E. O'Brien of Shanty Bay became Lieutenant Colonel of the Battalion in 1882. This East Oro drill-shed served Oro Company until the start of the 20th century and was dismantled around 1918. The Toronto, Simcoe and Muskoka Junction Railway was built through the area in 1871. Its route

1316-647: The early 20th century, opening from Bolton to Craighurst in November 1906, when a station was opened. On July 19, 1907, the track was extended to Bala and by June 1908, the line was completed to Sudbury . This is now the MacTier Subdivision , a part of the railway's main line between the east and west. Edgar was the site of a cold war radar station from 1952 to 1964. In 1959 the Ukrainian National Federation (UNF) purchased

1363-469: The excellent harbour at Penetanguishene, a road of about 35 km was surveyed c. 1813 between the two bodies of water. That road did not actually become a functional road for about 30 years after it was surveyed. In the meantime, townships were created and surveyed on both sides of the Penetanguishene Rd c. 1820. Oro Township was one of those townships. Although there is no documentation about

1410-872: The last Canadian National train passed through the township. In 1998, the land used for the railway was acquired by city council for a shared-use recreational trail stretching from Barrie to Orillia . Sections are used in the winter season by the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs. Bass Lake Provincial Park and the Copeland Forest Resources Management Area are located within the township. Three major ski resorts, Mount St. Louis Moonstone , Horseshoe Resort , and Hardwood Ski and Bike , are also located within Oro-Medonte. Highway 400 , Highway 11 and Highway 12 pass through Oro-Medonte. Penetanguishene Road ,

1457-453: The line came under Canadian National ownership and formed a component of its Newmarket Subdivision . The Great Depression saw a slump in rail traffic, and by the mid-1930s, the new owners of the line, CN Rail, had begun to strip back service. The station agent at Hawkestone was removed and replaced with a caretaker in 1936. In 1963–64, CN made a number of abrupt cuts to service, cancelling all service to Shanty Bay and Oro Station, and putting

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1504-416: The line throughout the early 1870s, such as the extension from Washago to Gravenhurst, as well as conversion of the line from 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) Provincial gauge to the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge . In 1875, the line was incorporated into the Northern Railway of Canada and became its Muskoka Branch. The Northern Railway of Canada

1551-563: The line. The last passenger train to travel the line was Via Rail No. 1 in 1996, the Canadian , headed west to Vancouver . By the end of the year, the line north of Barrie was abandoned, along with Via Rail service to Barrie and Orillia, and the route of the Canadian was shifted to the east shore of Lake Simcoe, to follow the CN Bala Subdivision through Washago. This ended over 125 years of railway operations and history in

1598-466: The origin of the name "Oro" it is assumed it came from the Spanish word for gold. After the War of 1812, Sir Peregrine Maitland, then Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada , offered Black veterans grants of land in what was to become the Township of Oro. This was in the area between Kempenfelt Bay on Lake Simcoe and Penetanguishene Bay on Lake Huron's Georgian Bay. In the 1830s Richard Hodges established

1645-432: The original historical administrative subdivisions surveyed and established primarily in the 1800s. They are used primarily for geographic purposes, such as land surveying, natural resource exploration and tracking of phenomena such as forest fires or tornados , but are not political entities. Township municipalities, also called "political townships", are areas that have been incorporated with municipal governments, and are

1692-399: The station building at Hawkestone up for sale. Hawkestone still appeared intermittently on CN train timetables for the next few years, but disappeared for the last time in 1968. The station building was demolished around 1969. Canada's Board of Transport Commissioners had contacted the Township of Oro in 1964 asking if it objected to the removal of Oro's station, but no reply from the township

1739-465: The summer of 2015 work has begun on restoring it. The township council is composed of a mayor and six councillors who each represent one of six wards. The members of the council from the elections of October 24, 2022 are: Mayor : Randy Greenlaw Deputy Mayor : Peter Lavoie (2022-2024), Lori Hutcheson (2024-2026) Councillors : The mayor and deputy mayor also represents the Township at meetings of Simcoe County Council. The Battle of Burl's Creek

1786-735: The summer, along with weekend overnight camping area, seasonal cabin rentals and a seasonal trailer park. The property also hosts the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic chapel where services are conducted each Sunday throughout the summer season. In 1819, a landmark decision was made in Fort York (now Toronto) to grant land to Black militiamen of Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men on an equal basis as it would be granted to Whites. The land designated for Black settlement

1833-582: The term township as a subdivision of counties and as a means of attracting settlers to the colony. In Prince Edward Island, the colonial survey of 1764 established 67 townships, known as lots, and 3 royalties, which were grouped into parishes and hence into counties; the townships were geographically and politically the same. In New Brunswick, parishes have taken over as the present-day subdivision of counties, and present-day Nova Scotia uses districts as appropriate. In Ontario , there are both geographic townships and township municipalities. Geographic townships are

1880-401: The township is in a county rather than in a regional municipality , the head of a political township may be called a " reeve ", not a mayor. However, the distinction is changing as many rural townships are replacing the title with "mayor" to reduce confusion. A few townships keep both titles and designate "mayor" as the head of the municipal council and use "reeve" to denote the representative to

1927-747: The township. Today, the former right of way of the rail line has been converted into the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail , a recreational multi-use trail . Starting in August 2019, public transit service returned to Oro-Medonte when Simcoe County LINX Route 3 began operations, connecting Barrie to Orillia along Highway 11, with a single stop in the township at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro Station. Ontario Northland intercity motor coaches also travel along

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1974-412: The upper tier (usually county) council. The term "geographic township" is also used in reference to former political townships that were abolished or superseded as part of municipal government restructuring. In Quebec , townships are called cantons in French and can also be political and geographic, similar to Ontario although the geographic use is not used much or at all. They were introduced after

2021-696: The village. Shanty Bay also has one of Canada's oldest "Rammed Earth Construction" churches, St. Thomas Anglican Church , built between 1838 and 1841 and dedicated in 1842. The Church was officially opened on February 27, 1842 In 1866–67 a drill-shed was erected in East Oro by the Oro Company, 35th Battalion the Simcoe Foresters . At this time when the Fenian raids were alarming the country, eight company drill-sheds were built in Simcoe County ,

2068-512: Was in Oro Township. Within a few years all Blacks of any origin could acquire land in Oro Township on an equal basis as any other settler. There was a military strategy behind the decision. Settlers would provide support for the fort at Penetanguishene by providing food and other local supplies, and, if the war with the U.S. again broke out, the trained militiamen could be armed to defend the region. Although for years folklore suggested that

2115-615: Was purchased in 1888 by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), which in turn undertook improvements such as building a stockyard at Shanty Bay, followed by a passenger station and stable in 1898. At Hawkestone, the Grand Trunk renovated the existing station in 1900 as well as constructing a large stockyard in 1905. In 1917, not long before the Grand Trunk's amalgamation into Canadian National Railways (CN Rail), one of its trains derailed in front of Hawkestone station. Soon after,

2162-549: Was rescinded and so the concerts remained on the original 94 acres. As of July 26, 2015, the current struggle was continuing between all of the parties. As of June 2023, this festival has been held in Oro-Medonte in consecutive years since moving from the Bowmanville Area, with a show planned for August 10–13. The event was cancelled in both 2020 & 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic . In September 1996,

2209-600: Was roughly parallel to the lakeshore, passing through Shanty Bay, Oro Station, and Hawkestone. An extensive station complex evolved at Hawkestone, with a freight shed, stockyards and a massive water tower to supply the requirements of the steam locomotives . The railway was incorporated as a company in 1869 as an extension connecting the Northern Railway of Canada to the Muskoka region and Lake Muskoka , and eventually reached Gravenhurst in 1875. However, financial problems led to increasing integration and eventual merger under

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