Country Canada Incorporated 1974 Area 423.7 km² Province Ontario | Region Durham Website www.townshipofbrock.ca Population 11,341 (2011) Local time Friday 9:14 PM | |
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Weather -13°C, Wind N at 8 km/h, 72% Humidity | ||
Brock is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, Canada. Brock Township is also a former municipality and geographic township prior to the amalgamation that formed the current municipality.
Contents
Map of Brock, ON, Canada
The Trent-Severn Waterway forms part of the northern border of the municipality, which enters Lake Simcoe through Ramara Township. There are five locks in Brock. Thorah Island in Lake Simcoe is within the municipal boundaries of Brock.
History
The original Brock Township was surveyed in 1817 as part of York County and the first meetings were held in 1833. The township was originally named for Major General Sir Isaac Brock (1769–1812) whose estate received free land here for his service in the War of 1812. William Bagshaw became Brock's first Postmaster and Justice of the Peace in 1819 when he owned property on Lot 5 Concession 9. Other early, settler ancestors included names like: Acton, Charters, Dusto, Purvis, Rundle, Bagshaw, Doble, Phair, St. John, Umphrey, Brethour, Doyle, Fallowdown, Ruddy and Vrooman (for whom the semi-ghost town of Vroomanton was named).
In 1852, the Township became part of the newly created Ontario County. In 1878, Cannington was incorporated as a village and was no longer part of the Township for municipal purposes.
In 1974, as part of the municipal restructuring around the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham, Brock was amalgamated with Thorah Township and the villages of Beaverton and Cannington to form the new Township of Brock.
Communities
Beaverton is the largest community and commercial centre of the township, while Cannington is home to the municipal administration and local high school.
Beaverton is the commercial and financial centre for the township, and several stores, services and entertainment facilities are located there. Several chain outlets such as McDonald's, Independent Grocer and Tim Hortons are located along Highway 12.
Smaller communities in the township include Ball Subdivision, Blackwater, Cedar Beach, Creightons Corners, Derryville, Gamebridge, Layton, Maple Beach, Pinedale, Saginaw, Sunderland, Thorah Beach, Vallentyne, Vroomanton, Wick and Wilfrid.
Municipal politics
The township's current mayor is John Grant.
The township faced controversy following the 2010 municipal election, in which then-incumbent mayor Larry O'Connor was reelected by a margin of just 13 votes over Terry Clayton. The narrow margin resulted in an ongoing judicial recount battle, and O'Connor resigned as mayor on March 28, 2011. The municipal council subsequently appointed Clayton as mayor.
Demographics
According to the 2006 Statistics Canada Census, the municipality has a population of 11,979 over an area of 423.31 km². This represents a slight (1.1%) drop from the 2001 census, when the township had a population of 12,110.
2011 Census data show that 94.2% of Brock residents have English as their mother tongue (one of the highest percentages in the GTA). Of all other languages, only German exceeds the 1% mark (1.1%).