Chatham-Kent
Municipality (single-tier)
Municipality of Chatham-Kent
Thames River in Chatham
Nickname(s):  Classic Car Capital of Canada, The Maple City
Coordinates: 42°24′00″N 82°11′00″W / 42.40000°N 82.18333°W / 42.40000; -82.18333
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County (historical)	Kent
Formed by political merger	1998
Government
• Mayor	Darrin Canniff
• Governing body	Chatham-Kent Municipal Council
• MPs	Lianne Rood (CPC) Dave Epp (CPC)
• MPPs	Trevor Jones (PC) Monte McNaughton (PC)
Area [1]
• Land	2,457.90 km2 (949.00 sq mi)
Elevation	198 m (650 ft)
Population  (2021)[1][2]
• Municipality	103,988 (Ranked 53rd)
• Density	42.3/km2 (110/sq mi)
• Urban	45,171 (Chatham) 10,323 (Wallaceburg) 4,687 (Tilbury)
• Census division	104,316
Demonym	Chathamite
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Forward sortation area	N7L to N7M
Area code(s)	519, 226, 548
Website	www.chatham-kent.ca

Chatham-Kent (2021 population: 103,988)^[1] is a single-tier municipality in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is mostly rural, and its population centres are Chatham, Wallaceburg, Tilbury, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Wheatley and Dresden. The current Municipality of Chatham-Kent was created in 1998 by the amalgamation of Blenheim, Bothwell, Camden, the City of Chatham, the Township of Chatham, Dover, Dresden, Erie Beach, Erieau, Harwich, Highgate, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Ridgetown, Duart, Thamesville, Tilbury East, Tilbury, Wallaceburg, Wheatley and Zone.

The Chatham-Kent census division, which includes the independent Delaware Nation at Moraviantown First Nation, had a population of 104,316 in the 2021 census.^[2]

History

The area of Chatham-Kent is part of the traditional territory of the Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe and Wyandot First Nations of Canada.^[3] After the Treaty of Paris in 1763 ceded control of the area from the French to the British, it became part of the Territory of Quebec. The title to the Chatham-Kent area was surrendered to the British as part of the 1790 McKee's Purchase, (named for Alexander McKee) to provide land for settlers.^[4] McKee's Purchase was designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada in 1931. A historical plaque for the purchase is located in Blenheim Park in Blenheim.^[3] Indigenous persons remain resident in the area today at the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown and Walpole Island First Nation.

European settlement of the former city of Chatham area began with a naval dockyard in 1792, at the fork of the Thames River with McGregor's Creek. The town was named after William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. It was built as a naval dockyard, a characteristic shared by Chatham, Kent, England. In England, the name Chatham came from the British root ceto and the Old English ham thus meaning a forest settlement.^[5] Following the American Revolution and the Gnadenhutten massacre, a group of Christian Munsee settled in what is now the Moraviantown reserve. In the War of 1812, the Battle of the Thames took place between Moraviantown and Thamesville on October 5, 1813.

Black population

During the 19th century, the area was the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad. As a result, Chatham-Kent is now part of the African-Canadian Heritage Tour. Josiah Henson Museum for African-Canadian History, formally known as Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site is a museum of the Dawn Settlement, established in 1841 by Josiah Henson near Dresden as refuge for the many slaves who escaped to Canada from the United States.^[6] John Brown, the abolitionist, planned his raid on the Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Chatham and recruited local men to participate in the raid. He held in Chatham a Convention of Colored Men on May 8–10, 1858.^[7] The small village of North Buxton, part of the African Canadian Heritage Tour, also played an important role in the Underground Railroad. By the 1850s, the city of Chatham was referred to as the "black mecca of Canada".^[8] A museum in the city, the Black Mecca Museum, still bears this name.^[9] Chatham was home to a number of black churches and business, with Black Canadians making up one-third of the city's population and controlling a significant portion of the city's political power. Nearby Dresden and Buxton were also home to thousands of land-owning black residents.^[10] However, after the abolition of slavery in the United States, many black families left the area. Today the city of Chatham is just 3.3% black, with Chatham-Kent as a whole being 2.1% black. Few of the black-owned institutions are still in operation.^[11]

After slavery ended in the United States

In 1846, the town of Chatham had a population of about 1,500, with part of the town being called Chatham North. There were four churches, a theatre, a weekly newspaper and a cricket club. The road between London and Amherstburg was open, and transportation by stagecoach was available. A fast boat also provided transportation to Detroit and Buffalo. Chatham had many tradesman, a foundry, two banks, three schools, a tavern and a library where one could read books and newspapers.^[12] By 1869, the population was 3,000 in this industrial area with several mills, foundries, and breweries; a great deal of wood was being produced. A steamboat offered transportation to Windsor and Detroit. There was one bank office.^[13]

Between 1906 and 1909, the city was home to the Chatham Motor Car Company,^[14] and from 1919 to 1921, Denby Motor Truck Company of Canada.^[15] It was also where the Hyslop and Ronald steam fire engine manufacturer was located; the factory would be taken over by Chatham Motor Car.^[14] In addition, it hosted meat packer O'Keefe and Drew.^[16]

The Hawaiian pizza is claimed to have been invented in Chatham in 1962 at the Satellite Restaurant by Sam Panopoulos.^[17] In the U.S., former Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes proposed building a bridge across Lake Erie linking Cleveland to the southern coast of Kent County.^[18]

Before 1998, Kent County consisted of the townships of Camden, Chatham, Dover, Harwich, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Romney, Tilbury East and Zone. In some of Canada's earliest post-Confederation censuses, some residences in Kent County were incorrectly reported as being in Bothwell "County", which was a separate electoral district comprising parts of Kent and Lambton counties but not a distinct county in its own right.

In 1998, the County of Kent and the city of Chatham were amalgamated by the Province of Ontario to form the Municipality of Chatham–Kent. Most services were also combined. Since then, bus service has begun to serve all of Chatham-Kent. Starting in 2007, routes were set up to include the former towns of Wallaceburg and Dresden. Before 1998, each town had their own fire department. It then became the Chatham-Kent Fire Department upon amalgamation. The county also had separate police departments until 1998. The city of Chatham, as well as the towns of Wallaceburg, Dresden, and Tilbury, each had their own departments. The Chatham-Kent Police Service was formed on September 1, 1998. Many residents opposed amalgamation, as 18 city councillors boycotted the official vote, and the final decision to amalgamate was imposed on the County by a provincial commissioner.^[19][20] In a study on amalgamations in Ontario from 2003, 48% of respondents in Chatham-Kent felt the value they received as taxpayers became worse after amalgamation, and 64% of respondents still did not think of the community as "the Municipality of Chatham-Kent."^[21]

Chatham-Kent has many historic festivals throughout the year, such as the Battle of Longwoods reenactment, which takes place on Labour Day weekend at Fairfield Museum on Longwoods Road. Chatham Kent is also home to many historic buildings which are part of an annual ghost tour offered each year at Halloween. The participants go on a guided walk of downtown while the guide informs them of various ghost stories tied to the local buildings in which they pass. Chatham-Kent was a major part of the Underground Railroad and as such hosts the Buxton Homecoming each September. This celebrates the area's black culture and the roots laid by early black settlers in the Buxton area.

Communities

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent currently consists of the following communities, listed by the Townships of the former Kent County (pre-1998 amalgamation):

• Camden Township:
  • Dresden, Thamesville; Croton, Dawn Mills, North Thamesville; Wabash; Oakdale
• Chatham Township:
  • Chatham, Wallaceburg; Appledore, Arkwood, Darrell, Eberts, Kent Bridge, Louisville, Oldfield, Thornecliffe, Tupperville, Turnerville, Whitebread; Ennett, Riverside
• Dover Township:
  • Mitchell's Bay, Pain Court; Bagnall, Baldoon, Bearline, Bradley, Dover Centre, Electric, Grande Pointe, Oungah; Bass Haven
• Harwich Township:
  • Blenheim, Erieau, Shrewsbury; Bates Subdivision, Eatonville, Erie Beach, Fargo Station, Guilds, Huffman Corners, Kent Centre, Lake Morningstar Estates, McKay's Corners, Mull, New Scotland, Northwood, Pinehurst, Raglan, Rondeau Bay Estates, Troy, Van Horne, Vosburg, Wilson's Bush; Blenheim Junction, Lynnwood Subdivision, Porkies Corners, Richardson Station, Rushton's Corners
• Howard Township:
  • Morpeth, Ridgetown; Beechwood, Botany, Selton; Slabtown, Trinity
• Orford Township:
  • Highgate; Clearville, Duart, Muirkirk, Palmyra, Turin; Austen's, Clachan, Henderson's, Lee's
• Raleigh Township:
  • Charing Cross; Dealtown, Doyles, North Buxton, Ouvry, Pardoville, Prairie Siding, Rhodes, Ringold, Sleepy Hollow, South Buxton; Sandison, Southside Estates; Cedar Springs
• Romney Township:
  • Wheatley; Coatsworth, Port Alma, Renwick; Holiday Harbour
• Tilbury East Township:
  • Merlin, Tilbury; Fletcher, Glenwood, Jeannette, Jeannette's Creek, Port Crewe, Quinn, Stevenson, Stewart, Valetta
• Zone Township:
  • Bothwell; Bothwell Station, Briarwood Estates; Fairfield, Zone Centre

Geography

At 2,458 square kilometres (949 sq mi), Chatham-Kent is the 9th largest municipality by area in Canada and the largest in southwestern Ontario. Over 44,000 of the 107,000 residents live in the former City of Chatham. Other population centres in the municipality include Wallaceburg, Blenheim and Tilbury, Ridgetown and Dresden.

The Lower Thames River runs through Chatham–Kent to Lake St. Clair in the west, while the Sydenham River flows through Wallaceburg and Dresden. The municipality has approximately 88 kilometres of shoreline along lake Erie and 24 kilometres along lake St. Clair.

The Indian reserve of Bkejwanong (commonly referred to as Walpole Island) borders on Chatham–Kent, whereas the Indian reserve of Moravian 47 is an enclave within the city and is part of the Chatham–Kent census agglomeration and census division.

Climate

Chatham-Kent has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa),^[22] with cold, snowy winters and warm to hot, humid summers. A typical summer will feature heat waves with temperatures exceeding 30 °C (86 °F) often. Winters are cold, and feature occasional cold snaps bringing temperatures below −15 °C (5 °F), but also commonly include mild stretches of weather above freezing.

Adjacent townships and municipalities

• St Clair and Dawn-Euphemia (north and northwest)
• Southwest Middlesex (northeast)
• West Elgin (northeast and east)
• Across Lake Erie: the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga, Lorain and Erie Counties, Ohio, US (south)
• Lakeshore, Ontario and Leamington, Ontario (southwest and west)
• Across Lake St. Clair: Macomb and St. Clair Counties, Michigan, US (west)

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Chatham-Kent had a population of 103,988 living in 44,028 of its 46,752 total private dwellings, a change of 2.3% from its 2016 population of 101,647. With a land area of 2,451.9 km² (946.7 sq mi), it had a population density of 42.4/km² (109.8/sq mi) in 2021.^[25]