Planning and Development of Canadian Country Towns in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Country towns are small settlements which are scattered over the rural area. Many country towns were planned and located with specific functions, especially as a basis for pioneer settlement. These towns often preceded general settlement and developed a tradition as rural service centers. In Upper Canada, in the 1780s, the British Imperial Government began a land survey and town planning along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario to encourage settlement.The purpose of this paper is to reveal the process of formation of country towns: who had the idea of town planning, how the plan was realized and developed, and what changes the country town has undergone. The process will be assessed in the context of Canadian pioneer experience in the nineteenth century. The village of Elora in Wellington County was chosen as a typical country town in Upper Canada. It is situated in the middle of Southern Ontario, and its planning and development started in the 1830s when the development of Southern Ontario began in earnest. The following approaches were taken to examine and assess the sample village.Firstly, the general planning of Upper Canada is discussed. The Imperial government purchased the land from the indigenous people and granted it to new settlers. The administrators ordered a systematic land survey, the basic unit for which was the township. Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada in 1792, ordered the survey of Southern Ontario from the shoreline of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Many townships were set up using several survey systems which included the rectangular land system. Simcoe thought that choosing a site with natural advantages was the most important thing in town planning. The lots in the townsite were usually based on the rectangular land system.Secondly, the planning of Elora is discussed. In Wellington County, Simcoe ordered that the base line start from Lake Ontario, and townships adjacent to the lines were surveyed. Nichol Township was purchased in 1798 and the lots were set up using the double front survey system in 1819. Gilkison, from Scotland, purchased half of the south-west portion of Nichol Township and chose the site for his town of Elora at the beautiful falls on the Grand River in 1832. He organized the survey and layout for the village.Thirdly, the development of Elora between the 1840s and 1870s is discussed. The village had been in decline for years after the death of Gilkison. However, under the direction of Allan, and with the co-operation of the residents, Elora was revitalized with some manufacturing establishments, and there was a steady increase in population. As the surrounding townships were settled, Elora became a rural service center. The data of the register and some maps show the realities of town planning at that time. The north side of the Grand River was developed rapidly as a residential area, and there was also a commercial and an industrial area. They reveal the difference between the original plan and the realities of frontier settlements.From these three approaches, the results can be summarized as follows: at the beginning, the work of the land survey and the planning of towns was carried out by Imperial officials as the main colonial policy, but gradually private entrepreneurs became interested and the work became more speculative and ambitious. The planning and development of Elora is a typical example of the latter, undertaken by some private entrepreneurs, such as Gilkison and Allan. As the number of settlers and businesses increased, country towns developed quite differently from the original plan.By the 1860s, most of the available land in Wellington County had been taken up. The population of Nichol township and Elora village peaked in 1871, but since then there has been a steady decrease until 1941. The countryside and country towns in Upper Canada were influenced by urbanization and the mechanization of agriculture on the one hand,