Colonial settlement , built in 1818. The area that has come to be known as Essex was one of the first counties to be settled by non-indigenous people in
Upper Canada, later to become
Ontario. The settlements were mostly established by French settlers in the mid-18th century. Around 1749, the first permanent settlements began to appear on what is now the south or Canadian side of the
Detroit River, across from the French Fort Detroit. They cultivated long, narrow plots of land along the river. Despite the name, this is not a river as such but rather a strait connecting
Lake Huron and the smaller
Lake Saint Clair in the north to
Lake Erie in the south, as part of the
Great Lakes. Lower down the river, lands were occupied by native people known as
Wyandot or Huron, around the Jesuit Catholic Mission of Bois Blanc (French for White Wood), opposite the island of the same name. The Mission was eventually abandoned and re-established closer to what became
Sandwich Township after the British took over the French territory following the Seven Years' War. It was closer to the safety of the British-fortified
Fort Detroit. When farmers arrived, they encountered difficulty in trying to clear the extremely thick forests that covered Essex County. The farmers grew to "hate" the trees, and chopped them down, starved them from nourishment by cutting deep gashes in the bark, and burned them to clear the way to get to the fertile soils underneath. The fires were so intense, that the reddish glow could be seen from
Fort Chicago, 300 miles (500 km) away, as millions of cords of wood burned. Settlement continued southward along the river and was known as Petite Côte (Small Coast), which was a reference to the shorter length of river frontage compared to the Detroit/American side. Landmarks were named for settler
LaSalle and the local
Ojibway, which continue to be in use. The first road in Ontario was laid out to connect the settlements, which is now over 200 years old and is known as
Former King's Highway 18 (now County Road 20). When river frontage along the Petite Côte was occupied, settlement began to extend toward
Lake St. Clair, which became known as the "
Assumption Settlement", for the name of its Catholic church. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the French ventured east along the south shore of Lake Saint Clair and settled in the present-day areas of Belle River (Belle-Rivière), Rochester, Tecumseh, Saint-Joachim and Stoney Point (Pointe-aux-Roches). These communities still have a large
francophone population.
Amherstburg and
Sandwich were the first towns established in Essex County, both in 1796 after the British finally ceded and evacuated
Fort Detroit along the
Detroit River under the terms of the "
Jay Treaty". This was negotiated by
John Jay, and signed in 1794 following the American Revolutionary War. It was intended to settle the US northern boundary with Canada. It upheld the original boundary lines along the
Great Lakes between the US and
Upper Canada by the
Treaty of Paris of 1783 and the wider set of treaties known as the
Peace of Paris, which ended the
American Revolution (1775–1783) and overseas European and multi-continental wars. Britain
ceded the territory of eastern
North America to be the
United States. The British built
Fort Malden near Amherstburg, opposite
Bois Blanc Island, separating the British military presence from the more heavily populated area of
Sandwich upstream, and positioned strategically to control the entrance of the river from
Lake Erie and
Lake Huron to the north. The populations of both towns were augmented by people immigrating from the southern
United States after the
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), including from
the new City of Detroit, who chose to remain
British subjects, known as "
Loyalists" or "
United Empire Loyalists". After the
American Revolution, and the
War of 1812 (1812–1815), which also was a confrontation over the northern border, some people continued to migrate north to the area. Settlers also arrived from the east seeking land, traveling by
Lake Ontario and the
St. Lawrence River of
Lower Canada. Settlers began to move eastward along the north shore of Lake Erie. The colonial government purchased land for development from the Indigenous in the southern half of the current county, located in the four townships formerly known as Gosfield North and South, and Colchester North and South. The British Court made land available for settlement, provided that the colonist complete certain improvements within a year and that it not be used for speculation. This area became known as the "New Settlement" (as compared to the "Old Settlement" of the towns of Amherstburg and Sandwich. Settlers in this area included
Hessians who fought for the British against the American rebels, (especially known in history at the
Battle of Trenton in
New Jersey on the morning of December 26, 1776) and
Pennsylvania Dutch pacifists (ethnic German
Mennonites, many from
Pennsylvania).
Formation of Essex County In 1791, the province of
Upper Canada was formed. In 1792, Upper Canada was divided into nineteen counties, of which Essex was the eighteenth and part of the
Western District. At that time, the eastern boundary of Essex County extended further east into what is now
Kent County. Settlement continued: on January 1, 1800, an
Act for the Better Division of the Province established the Townships of Rochester, Mersea, Gosfield, Maidstone, Sandwich and Malden.
Settlement 1820 to 1870 File:"Underground"_routes_to_Canada,_Map_cropped_to_display_Southern_Ontario,_Canada.jpg|thumb|right|A number of settlements of Black slaves in Essex County are identified on this 1898 map of
"Underground" Routes to Canada. Longer roads began to appear in the county after the
War of 1812, the first of which followed Indian trails.
Colonel Thomas Talbot contributed to road development, and Talbot Road was named for him. Talbot Road followed a natural ridge of glacial moraine which stretched from Windsor to
Point Pelee. The establishment of good roads led to further settlement along the 'Middle Road' and in the area of what is now
Leamington. Settlers of this era were often emigrants from Britain and Ireland; in the 1840s the
Great Famine led to significant immigration. The village of Maidstone was the centre of the Irish community, and an area known as the "Scotch Colony" appeared along the shore of Lake St. Clair to the north. In 1854 the
Great Western Railway connected the Detroit frontier with the east, crossing Essex County. The Canadian terminal was in Windsor, which consequently forged ahead of the other towns of the county. Other railway lines were built that connected settlements in Kingsville, Harrow, Essex and Leamington. Essex County was also a destination of the
Underground Railroad. In the 19th-century Black Americans came to Essex county by way of
Pelee's Point, Gosfield (now
Kingsville),
Colchester,
Sandwich, and
Windsor. Those who stayed in the area settled in the communities of
Fort Malden,
Sandwich,
New Canaan,
Mersea, and nearby
Dawn Settlement (now
Dresden),
Buxton (now
North Buxton and
South Buxton),
Chatham, and
Elgin. The major settlement areas were
Amherstburg and
Windsor.
Late 19th century By the late 19th century Essex County had seen fur trading and logging, land clearing and farming, road building and railway development, saw mills and gristmills, railway stations and water ports. By this time the forests were being removed to make way for farmland. Also noticeable in some farmers' fields are
oil pumps, particularly near
Belle River and
Leamington, in the northern and eastern parts of the county, respectively. This is from
oil shale within the
bedrock of the
Marcellus Formation.
20th Century Essex County restructuring, 1990s In 1992, discussions began to take place to reduce the number of individual municipalities, which at the time numbered 21 in the county. This culminated on January 1, 1999, when a Minister's Order by the
Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing was implemented, putting in place the new municipal structure for the County of Essex. Townships: •
Anderdon - Now part of Amherstburg •
Colchester North - Now part of Essex •
Colchester South - Now part of Essex •
Gosfield North - Now part of Kingsville •
Gosfield South - Now part of Kingsville •
Maidstone - Now part of Lakeshore •
Malden - Now part of Amherstburg •
Mersea - Now part of Leamington •
Rochester - Now part of Lakeshore •
Sandwich East - Parts in Windsor and in Tecumseh •
Sandwich South - Now in Tecumseh •
Sandwich West - Parts in LaSalle and in Windsor •
Tilbury North - Now in Lakeshore •
Tilbury West - Now in Lakeshore Towns: •
Amherstburg, Ontario (former town of, now merged with Anderdon Twp. and Malden Twp.) •
Belle River, Ontario •
Essex, Ontario (former town of, merged with Colchester N. Twp. and Colchester S. Twp.) •
Harrow, Ontario •
Kingsville, Ontario (former town of, merged with Gosfield N. Twp. and Gosfield S. Twp.) •
Lasalle, Ontario (former part of Sandwich Town) •
Leamington, Ontario (former town of, merged with Mersea Twp.) •
St. Clair Beach, Ontario •
Tecumseh, Ontario (former town of, merged with Sandwich S. Twp) ==Demographics==