# Hampton, Ontario

Hampton is a community located in the municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Canada. It was the location of the offices of Darlington Township until 1974 when it became part of the newly created Town of Newcastle (now Clarington) as part of the municipal government restructuring that created the Regional Municipality of Durham.
Hampton was founded by Henry Elliot in 1840, who opened the first mill here in the former Darlington Township. At first it was called Elliot's Mill and by 1848 just Millsville. Other former names have included Hog's Hollow and Shantytown. The Elliott home backed onto the pond and is one of the most historic properties in the Billings. With the opening of the post office the name Hampton was chosen, as it was an abbreviation of Henry Elliot's birthplace, Kirkhampton in Cornwall, England.

## Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Hampton had a population of 775 living in 272 of its 276 total private dwellings, a change of 2.6% from its 2016 population of 755. With a land area of 1.23 km$^2$ (0.47 sq mi), it had a population density of 630.1/km$^2$ (1,631.9/sq mi) in 2021.

## Hampton Post office history

The first post office in Hampton was opened in 1851. At that time, the name of the village was Millsville, but the name was changed with the opening of the post office. Henry Elliott served as its first Postmaster. His son, Henry Jr., took over the position until 1915, when Mr. W. Horn was appointed. During this period, the post office was located on the east side of town at Horn's store (later destroyed by fire in 1983). In 1937, the post office was moved to Barron's store across the street.
Finally, in 1971 the post office was moved to the federal building at its present location on Millville Ave, with Pete Barron as Postmaster. For many years, Marguerite (Chic) Richardson was the Assistant Postmaster. Mrs. Nancy Pella became Postmistress in 1982. Mrs. Pella retired in 2011. Mrs. Heather Garvock is the current Postmaster. Today, it services the village with lock boxes and two rural routes. One of these rural routes came into being with the closure of the Enniskillen post office in 1986.

## Hampton Community Association

Hampton Community Association (HCA) is a non-profit volunteer based organization that manages Hampton Community Hall and organizes local community events in Hampton. The purpose of the HCA Board and Volunteers is to encourage community participation and provide a gathering area for the Hampton residents, and to encourage the rental of the Community Hall to be financially self sustaining, and to be representative of as many facets of the community as possible. The HCA board consists of Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, 8 Members-at-Large and Volunteers. The board meets monthly at the hall, which is open to the public. Once a year in January at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), the HCA members and its residents, along with special guests such as Clarington mayor, Clarington council members, and other important guests meet together at the Hampton Community Hall and discuss important topics about the community and its surrounding areas, Q&A sessions are also held where you can ask anything. Also during the meeting, the Hampton Community Association holds an Election for the open positions as well HCA Constitution revisions/updates during AGM.

## In film

* In 2005 Stephen King's 11.22.63 TV series starring James Franco was filmed in Hampton and Enniskillen. Old Scugog Rd. North of Hampton was used all the way to and including Hampton Auto Care garage that was converted to gas station south of the cemetery, also a scene was filmed on King Lane dirt road heading towards Holt Road.
* The 2002 John Q film's baseball scene was filmed in Hampton, Ontario.
* In 1982 an episode of The Littlest Hobo, titled "Trooper", was filmed in Hampton, Ontario. The Hampton Junior Public school as well as a local house were used as settings. The town itself representing the evacuated town of Middleton. Several children from the school were used as extras.
* The 1971 biker film, The Proud Rider, was partially filmed outside the Hampton United Church during the film's final scene.