The Township of Hamilton is located approximately half way between Toronto and Kingston and is accessible by Hwy. 401 at Exit 472 (Burnham Street) and Exit 474 (Division Street).
You will enjoy the beautiful scenery, rolling hills and rich history that lie between Rice Lake to the north and Lake Ontario to the south. The pleasant hamlets, bed and breakfasts, and resorts offer a wide variety of sports, recreation and sightseeing.
The Township forms part of the Oak Ridges Moraine with scenic views, forests, trails and an abundance of natural wonders.
YOU ARE SURE TO ENJOY YOUR STAY!
On behalf of Hamilton Township Council, it is hoped that this web site will be informational for our residents and that it will keep them informed and updated on Township business as well as coming events and notices.
On behalf of Council and the residents, it is also my pleasure to extend greetings to visitors to this area. I hope that while you are here, you will take the time to tour the Township of Hamilton from Rice Lake to Lake Ontario. You will find a variety of attractions from resorts to historic sites. Most of all, you will meet friendly people along the way and enjoy memorable experiences.
The Township is a vibrant and exciting place to live, work and visit. It provides a wide range of housing and commercial establishments while preserving the historical rural charm of the past. It provides an opportunity to seek an alternative to urban life.
The Township's vision is to continue to have the social and cultural values that have evolved through time: a community spirit, a sense of belonging, a tradition of self-reliance, social responsibility, sharing, neighbourliness, and an appreciation of heritage and culture. The quality of life prevails through a combination of preserving the Township's natural heritage features and new economic opportunities.
Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of Lake Ontario, most of the city including the downtown section are on the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe and is roughly the midway point between Toronto and Buffalo. The major physical features are Hamilton Harbour marking the northern limit of the city and the Niagara Escarpment running through the middle of the city across its entire breadth, bisecting the city into 'upper' and 'lower' parts.
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton is the third largest metropolitan area in Ontario and the ninth largest metropolitan area in the country. The town of Hamilton was conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812. It is a part of the Golden Horseshoe, a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario. Residents of the city are called Hamiltonians.
The Founding of Hamilton Township
By the Constitutional Act of 1791, the Province of Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada. On February 14, 1791, Hamilton Township was named for Henry Hamilton, who had been lieutenant-governor of Quebec from 1782-85.
As soon as the new province of Upper Canada was created, Lord Dorchester, governor-in-chief of North America, ordered that surveys of the townships be carried out. Hamilton Township was surveyed during the 1791-2 by Augustus Jones, provincial surveyor, back to a depth of one mile from Lake Ontario. He marked out the base line (Elgin Street) and the side lines. The surveys were completed by 1796 by William Hambly and Mr. Root. The township was now ready for official settlement.
John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, advertised in the Philadelphia papers of 1791 offering 200 acres to each emigrant who would take a loyalty oath to Britain and perform settlement duties. Although loyalists had been coming to the province since the end of the American Revolution in 1783, settlement had not yet reached the middle of the Lake Ontario shore. This advertisement of free land brought many new emigrants into Hamilton Township. Some of these people were loyalists and if they could prove their claim, their sons and daughters also qualified for grants of land. (See Gores Landing and the Rice Lake Plains, P. 16, for sources for this information.)
Among those early pioneers were the Ashes, Purdys, Harrises and Goheens. According family history, the Ashes left New York State c.1795 for Hamilton Township. They settled east of Cobourg. The Harrises, Goheens and Purdys were in the township by 1796. (These are the only families researched by the author, no doubt there are others.)
On September 1, 1797, three entrepreneurs, Asa Danforth (builder of the Danforth Road in 1800), Aaron Greeley and Josiah Keeler, presented a list to the government of over 60 settlers who wished to settle in Hamilton Township. Lots and concessions were included and most were assigned in the broken front of concession 1 and 2. (The complete list of settlers is on file in the Cobourg Public Library in the Percy Climo collection).
Many of the people on the 1797 list and who were later grantees never lived in the township but got their grants through influence with the government and as rewards for military service. It took several years before all the claimants for grants were investigated and approved.
The above mentioned families were on that list of settlers and were also resident when the first township census was taken in 1804. Censuses were taken in the township every year until 1851 when they were replaced by the first Canada Census. The Canada Census was taken only every ten years thereafter.
In 1850 Hamilton Township's first reeve was chosen from among the elected councillors themselves but there were township bylaws starting in 1818. These were mostly concerned with building roads (e.g. in 1818 from Cobourg to what was later Ball's Mill), appointing overseers to make sure settlers gave their work days to maintain the roads, (a very unpopular practice) fenceviewers and controlling straying livestock.
The Township has grown and prospered over this 200 year period of time. A Coat of Arms has been designed to delineate our unique attributes, which will preserve our heritage for the future.
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