Established 1792 | Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | |
Ontario County was the name of two historic counties in the Canadian province of Ontario.
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Ontario County (1792-1800)
The original Ontario County existed from 1792 to 1800 as part of the Eastern District, and consisted of the islands in the St. Lawrence River. After 1800, Ontario County was dissolved and the islands were reassigned to the nearest mainland counties:
Ontario County (1852-1973)
The second Ontario County (area 514,031 acres (2,080 km2)) was created in 1852 from the East Riding of York County. It was replaced by Regional Municipality of Durham effective January 1, 1974.
Original townships
The Town of Oshawa was also located in the county.
In 1855 the Town of Whitby was incorporated in part of Whitby Township. Scugog Township was formed from a portion of Reach Township and Cartwright Township in adjoining Northumberland and Durham County in 1856. And in 1858, the Township of East Whitby was formed from the eastern portion of Whitby Township.
A number of villages were also incorporated as separate municipalities in the county after it was created: Port Perry in 1871, Uxbridge in 1872, Cannington in 1878 and Beaverton in 1884. In the twentieth-century, the wartime town of Ajax, located in Pickering Township, was incorporated as an improvement district in 1950. It became a town in 1955. The Village of Pickering was incorporated as a village in 1953.
On January 1, 1974, the portion of Ontario County south of the Trent-Severn Waterway and about half of adjacent Durham County were amalgamated as the Regional Municipality of Durham. The remaining portions of Durham County were transferred to other neighbouring counties, and the portion of Ontario County north of the Trent-Severn Waterway (Rama and Mara Townships) was transferred to Simcoe County. In addition, the part of Pickering Township west of the Rouge River (West Rouge and Port Union) was transferred to the Borough of Scarborough in the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. At this time Ontario and Durham counties were dissolved.
Whitby served as the "County Town" or county seat and as such was the location for the county offices, courthouse and land registry office. It continues in this role for Durham Region today.