Peel County, Ontario

Peel County is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario. Named for Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the county was organized in 1851. Settlers, however, were in Toronto Township as early as 1807. The Credit River was reserved for the Mississaugas, however they sold their land and moved to the Bruce Peninsula.

Peel County's townships, as surveyed, with settlements and roads (1937).

Formation and history
Now an art gallery, the Peel County Courthouse was built in 1865–66

The townships that would eventually constitute Peel were initially part of York County in the Home District, and were designated as the West Riding of York in 1845.[1]

Historic townships of the County of Peel
Township Opened Description
Albion1819Given the ancient name of England.
Caledon1819Named for the historic district of Caledonia, Scotland.
Chinguacousy1819Named, probably in honour of a loyal Chippewa chief who fought at the capture of Michilimackinac. His name was Shinguacose, "the small pine." Born to a Scottish officer and Chippewan mother, Shinguacose died around 1858. The name of the township may also be from an Indian word meaning "the place where young pines grow."
Toronto1806Named after the Toronto Purchase. (In 1834, the name was also adopted by the nearby town of York when it became the city of Toronto.)
Toronto Gore1831Its name is derived from Toronto and from the word "gore", referring to a triangular piece of land.

The following communities were organized:

Historic communities of the County of Peel
Community Township Description
Town of BramptonChinguacousyOpened in 1834 when John Elliott laid out the lots and named the place. Incorporated as a village in 1852, and as a town in 1873. Named by settler John Eliot and likely linked to Brampton, Carlisle, Cumbria in England.
Village of BoltonAlbionJames Bolton, the first settler, in partnership with his brother George, built a grist mill in 1824.
Village of Port CreditTorontoNamed for French trading post Port-de-crédit.
Village of StreetsvilleTorontoJohn Barnhart opened the first store in 1821 and Timothy Street built a saw and grist mill.
Police Village of MaltonToronto GoreIt had its beginnings about 1820. Likely named for Malton, North Yorkshire by local settler Richard Halliday.

The County was created in 1851, forming part of the United Counties of York, Ontario and Peel.[2] It was given its own provisional county council in 1856,[3] and was formally separated from York in 1860.[4]

However, disputes as to whether the county seat should be Malton or Brampton[5] prompted the provisional council to request that the separation be reversed, and an 1862 Act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada brought that into effect, reviving the United Counties of York and Peel.[6] In 1866, the counties were re-separated.[7]

In 1973, Peel County became the Regional Municipality of Peel, as a result of the Ontario provincial government's regionalization of the rapidly developing counties surrounding Toronto.[8]

Further reading

Middleton, Jesse Edgar; Landon, Fred (1927). Province of Ontario: A History 1615 to 1927. Toronto: Dominion Publishing Company.

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See also

References
  1. An Act for better defining the limits of the Counties and Districts in Upper Canada, for erecting certain new Townships, for detaching Townships from some Counties and attaching them to others, and for other purposes relative to the division of Upper Canada into Townships, Counties and Districts, S.Prov.C. 1845, c. 7, Sch. B
  2. An Act to make certain alterations in the Territorial Divisions of Upper Canada, S.Prov.C. 1851, c. 5, Sch. A, B
  3. An Act to provide for the separation of the County of Peel from the County of York, S.Prov.C. 1856, c. 66
  4. An Act to amend the Act to provide for the separation of the County of Peel from the County of York, and to provide for the selection of the County Town of the County of Peel, S.Prov.C. 1860, c. 95
  5. 1862 Act, Preamble
  6. An Act to repeal two certain Acts therein mentioned, relating to the separation of the County of Peel from the County of York, and for other purposes, S.Prov.C. 1862, c. 27
  7. An Act to complete the separation of the County of Peel from the County of York, S.Prov.C. 1866, c. 71
  8. The Regional Municipality of Peel Act, 1973, S.O. 1973, c. 60


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