# Huron County, Ontario

Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community.
The population reported in the 2021 Census for this predominantly agricultural area with many villages and small towns was 61,366 in a land area of 3,398 square kilometres. Of the total population, 7,881 reside in Goderich.

## History

* Original extent of the Huron Tract.
* Map of Canada West in 1850, with the Huron District outlined in brown.
* Canada West in 1857. Huron County is marked in light pink.
* Huron County Militia in Goderich, 1866
The portion of the Huron Tract ceded to the Canada Company was established as the "County of Huron" in 1835, with the exception of certain townships that were transferred to other counties:
   * Adelaide Township went to Middlesex County
   * The townships of Moore and Sarnia, Plympton, Enniskillen, Warwick, Brooke and Bosanquet went to Kent County

### Historic townships

In 1835, the county was declared to consist of the following townships:
* Biddulph
* Blanshard
* Colborne
* Downie
* Ellice
* South Easthope
* North Easthope
* Fullarton
* Goderich
* Hay
* Hibbert
* Hullett
* Logan
* McKillop
* McGillivray
* Stephen
* Stanley
* Tuckersmith
* Usborne
* Williams
They have since devolved to the following counties (as outlined in red):
* Huron County
* Middlesex County
* Perth County

### Territorial evolution

Legislation was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in 1838 to authorize the separation of the county from the London District and constitute it as the Huron District. The county was extended northward in 1840, upon the survey of a new range of townships on its northern boundary, beginning with Ashfield Township, and later including Wawanosh, Morris, Grey and Elma. The District itself came into being in October 1841.
Huron County was continued for electoral purposes in 1845, and the District was extended northwards as far as the Bruce Peninsula in 1846.
The District (which existed for judicial and municipal purposes) was abolished at the beginning of 1850. Legislation passed later in the same session of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada provided for the county to be reconstituted as the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce, with the territory of the Bruce Peninsula withdrawn and annexed to Waterloo County. The townships were distributed as follows:
Distribution of the townships of the United Counties of Huron, Perth and Bruce (1850) :
| From | Perth County | Bruce County | Huron County |
| Huron County | Blanchard Hibbert Fullarton Logan Downie (including the Gore of Downie) Ellice Easthope North Easthope South (including the Town of Stratford) Elma Wallace | Huron Kinloss Curloss Carrick Kincardine Greenock Brant Bruce Saugeen Elderslie Arran | the remaining townships of Huron County |
| Waterloo County | Mornington | | |
The Bruce Peninsula was later returned to Bruce in 1851. The County of Perth was given its own Provisional Municipal Council at that time, and was separated from the United Counties in 1853.
Several townships were transferred to Middlesex County:
   * Williams, in 1845
   * Biddulph and McGillivray, in 1862.
Legislation was passed in 1866 to provide for the dissolution of the United Counties on January 1, 1867, with Huron and Bruce County becoming separate counties for all purposes.

## Government

The Huron County Council consists of fifteen members from the nine area municipalities to ensure that each is represented on this council. Each year, a Warden is elected from the group; this individual chairs meetings and represents the County at various functions. Elected to Ashfeild-Colborne-Wawanosh Council in 2014, and acclaimed as Mayor in 2018, the current Warden is Glen McNeil.
Most of the population of the county resides in the Huron—Bruce, formerly Huron and Huron—Middlesex, federal electoral district. The majority also reside in the Huron—Bruce (provincial electoral district) formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex.
The county's Official Plan (2015) addresses the following issues: "agriculture, community services, the economy, natural environment, extractive resources, and settlement patterns." According to this document, agriculture is a particularly significant part of the economy since "Huron leads all counties and regions in Ontario in total value of production; and it also exceeds the production totals of several provinces".

### Municipalities

Huron County comprises nine lower-tier municipalities (in order of population):
* Municipality of South Huron (population centre: Exeter)
* Municipality of Huron East (population centres: Seaforth, Brussels)
* Town of Goderich
* Municipality of Central Huron (population centre: Clinton)
* Municipality of Bluewater (population centre: Bayfield)
* Township of Ashfield–Colborne–Wawanosh
* Township of North Huron (population centre: Wingham, Blyth)
* Municipality of Howick
* Municipality of Morris-Turnberry
The boundaries of the county's municipalities have been in effect since 2001, after the provincial government imposed mergers throughout the province.

## Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Huron County had a population of 61,366 living in 25,334 of its 29,455 total private dwellings, a change of 3.5% from its 2016 population of 59,297. With a land area of 3,398.28 km$^2$ (1,312.08 sq mi), it had a population density of 18.1/km$^2$ (46.8/sq mi) in 2021.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1921 | 47,088 | — |
| 1931 | 45,180 | −4.1% |
| 1941 | 43,742 | −3.2% |
| 1951 | 49,280 | +12.7% |
| 1956 | 51,728 | +5.0% |
| 1961 | 53,805 | +4.0% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1966 | 54,446 | +1.2% |
| 1971 | 52,951 | −2.7% |
| 1976 | 56,007 | +5.8% |
| 1981 | 56,127 | +0.2% |
| 1986 | 55,996 | −0.2% |
| 1991 | 59,065 | +5.5% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1996 | 60,220 | +2.0% |
| 2001 | 59,701 | −0.9% |
| 2006 | 59,325 | −0.6% |
| 2011 | 59,100 | −0.4% |
| 2016 | 59,297 | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 61,366 | +3.5% |
Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes. Source: Statistics Canada :

## Communities

* Amberley (border with Bruce County)
* Auburn
* Bayfield
* Belgrave
* Belmore (border with Bruce County)
* Benmiller
* Bluevale
* Blyth
* Brucefield
* Brussels
* Carlow
* Centralia (border with Middlesex County)
* Clinton
* Corbett (border with Middlesex County)
* Crediton
* Dashwood
* Drysdale
* Dungannon
* Egmondville
* Ethel
* Exeter
* Fordwich
* Goderich
* Gorrie
* Harpurhey
* Hensall
* Holmesville
* Huron Park
* Kinburn
* Kingsbridge
* Kintail
* Kippen
* Kirkton (border with Perth County)
* Lakelet
* Leadbury
* Londesborough
* Molesworth (border with Perth County)
* Mount Carmel (border with Middlesex County)
* Nile
* Port Albert
* St. Augustine
* St. Columban (border with Perth County)
* St. Joseph
* Saltford
* Seaforth
* Shipka
* Summerhill
* Sunshine
* Vanastra
* Varna
* Walton
* Whitechurch (border with Bruce County)
* Wingham
* Winthrop
* Whalen Corners (border with Perth and Middlesex Counties)
* Woodham (border with Perth County)
* Wroxeter
* Zurich

### Former communities/ghost towns

* Donnybrook
* Francistown
* Mafeking
* McGaw
* Rodgerville
* Sodom
* Spidertown (border with Middlesex County)