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Former urban municipalities in Canada
What former cities and towns does your province have? I have not included all former communities such as ghost towns, only ones that were formally incorporated.
For Manitoba Cities: St. Boniface (town 1883, city 1908) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972. St. James - Assiniboia (city 1956) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972. St. Vital (city 1962) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972 Transcona (city 1961) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972 East Kildonan (city 1957) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972 West Kildonan (city 1961) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972 Towns: Brooklands (village 1921, town 1961) amalgamated with St. James in 1967 Nelsonville (town 1882) was seat of Dufferin County and grew to over 1,000, however was abandoned shortly after when the railway bypassed the town for Morden a few kilometres to the south Tuxedo (town 1913) amalgamated with Winnipeg in 1972 Gimli (town 1946) amalgamated with RM of Gimli in 2003 The following communities held town status until the 2015 municipal amalgamations Boissevain Deloraine Emerson Erickson Gilbert Plains Gladstone Grandview Gretna Hamiota Hartney Macgregor Manitou Minitonas Oak Lake Pilot Mound Rapid City Rivers Roblin Rossburn Russell Souris Sainte Rose du Lac Treherne |
The Ontario list would be very, very long, istm.
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I created a thread last year related to this, but it was very ON and QC specific IIRC. And mine was more about the resulting names of the towns. I too am curious about the subject matter. Didn't know there were so many in MB as well.
What I was curious about was how much residents resented their towns being swallowed up into bigger cities. Or when multiple towns combined to form a new municipality, how did people feel about the new name for the new town? The new names were often long, boring or stupid. Another thing I wondered about was whether people even realize that the town they live in is no longer a town on its own (incorporated), but rather now a village/community/hamlet of the bigger amalgamated town. As well, I wondered about whether people say they are from Georgetown, for example, instead of saying Halton Hills. Does anyone ever say they are from Halton Hills? Pretty much no. They would always say Georgetown. Anyway, this is an obvious example nearby to me. |
I swear, some people (esp. on this forum) are more concerned about swelling their city's population numbers, above any consideration about whether the mergers are wanted or logical.
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It was in the 70s and late 90s/early 2000s that Ontario went through a wave of these amalgamations. Tonnes of them. To save administrative and bureaucratic costs.
However, I recently read an article saying that post 2001 amalgamation, Hamilton has seen no savings. The former towns of Ancaster, Dundas, Flamboro, Glanbrook and Stoney Creek were absorbed. And I've read that many residents in Ancaster, Dundas and Flamboro in particular resent being a part of Hamilton. For one thing, Hamilton has a stigma. Secondly, those towns had a unique sense of identity. Montreal in particular has seen a couple of towns de-amalgamate from the big city shortly after joining. The Hamilton towns would love to do that. |
I also read that the promised savings never came, and instead, in many respects, it lead to pay leveling (upwards) for city workers. Dis-economies of scale set in after a certain point, particularly for sprawling urban/suburban areas that lacked a cohesive binding identity.
We have countries and Provinces for larger government; I am not at all convinced that it is necessary to have giant sprawling municipalities (population counts be damned). |
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Back to the OP's question. Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton all expanded greatly via amalgamation in the past couple of decades. And it would be hard to find many towns in Ontario that haven't been touched by mergers throughout history. And I'd say the majority of municipalities in the GTA are a result of amalgamating various towns.
Some places didn't absorb into cities or towns but rather into a whole county that functions as a single entity, if I got that right. Haldimand and Norfolk being examples. They are like a city/county. A single tier of government. Nofolk is home to Port Dover, where they have the Friday the 13th biker rally, which sees 100k people attend during the summer events. Before I was going to visit there, I assumed Port Dover was a town on its own, but alas it is not. Simcoe is another population centre there. Driving through there you'd assume it's a town on its own but nope! Single tier government is confusing. |
Mississauga and Brampton, for instance, wouldn't be the 6th and 9th largest municipalities that they are now if they hadn't merged various townships:
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Westminster was the biggest one in London, which London annexed in 1993. Property taxes went way up for the former Westminster residents with few of the benefits that the rest of London enjoyed. Although one could argue Westminster residents commuting to London benefited from London’s roads and various services that workplaces have (water, sewage, etc). The community of Lambeth was part of Westminster, and it still has some sense of place. Hyde Park was also absorbed at the same time as London also annexed part of the former London Township. Hyde Park didn’t have a whole lot back in the early 90s, pretty much just a church, a used car lot, a small industrial park, and Lord Gainsborough Restaurant. Now it’s a sprawling big box suburb.
Far earlier in London’s history, communities such as London East, Kensington, and Byron have been absorbed, although Byron still retains a sense of place. |
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edit: apparently they will reopen near the new gigantic Mandarin buffet. |
What's now Fredericton originally consisted of Fredericton, Silverwood, Nashwaaksis, Devon, Barker's Point, Lower St. Marys, and Marysville. I'm not sure which of these were ever incorporated, but I know Devon and Nasis definitely were.
Saint John has quite a history of amalgamation, having absorbed Parrtown, Carleton, Portland, Millidgeville, Simonds (Parish), Lancaster (City) and Lancaster (Parish). The creation of Miramichi in the 90s included the following communities, ofhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...amichi_Map.jpg which I believe three (Chatham, Newcastle, Douglastown) were incorporated. |
Kingston was first incorporated in 1840 with a much smaller land area than today (obviously) and between 1840 and 1959 was gradually expanded outwards to match urban development growth, and then two major annexations occurred in 1959 and 1998.
What are now the urban neighbourhoods of Portsmouth and Williamsville were originally separate communities that developed independently of Kingston (Portsmouth was actually founded a few years earlier than Kingston was). Williamsville was never an incorporated village (it was just a community within the township) and it ended up being annexed to Kingston around 1880-ish as part of the one of the small scale annexations that occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A streetcar line was built connecting Portsmouth to Kingston in 1893 and from that point on Portsmouth was largely a Kingston suburb, and the two grew into each other until their built forms connected around 1930. Portsmouth remained politically independent as an incorporated village until the 1959 annexation when it became part of Kingston. The 1959 annexation also added lots of then-rural lands to the north and west of Kingston were added to the city as well, which were developed as new suburbs. By 1970-ish Kingston had overspilled those borders and the rural townships adjacent to Kingston started to become suburbs, and were incorporated into the city in 1998. |
I'm not sure if this meets the idea of the thread, but to me one of the most hauntingly beautiful is Ocean Falls, BC:
[IMG]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3526/...ac348047_z.jpgPublic dock at Ocean Falls by Ron Caves, on Flickr[/IMG] From Ron Caves on Flickr More photos and history here: http://www.canadiannaturephotographe...ceanfalls.html |
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I’ve sometimes wondered, prior to 1998, if you lived in Kingston Township or Pittsburgh Township, did you say you were from “Kingston”? Or were other community names such as Cataraqui, Collins Bay, or Westbrook in use? |
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Demographics of former cities in Canada that have undergone "mega amalgamations", Toronto (1998), Montreal (2002/06), Ottawa (2001), Winnipeg (1972), Hamilton (2001) and Halifax (1996).
Old Toronto 1901 208,040 1911 381,383 1921 521,893 1931 631,207 1941 667,567 1951 675,754 1961 672,407 1971 712,786 1981 599,712 1991 635,395 2001 676,352 2011 736,775 2016 797,642 Montreal 1901 267,730 1911 490,504 1921 618,506 1931 818,517 1941 903,007 1951 1,021,520 1961 1,191,062 1971 1,214,351 1981 980,354 1991 1,017,666 2001 1,039,534 2011 1,058,194 2016 1,098,296 Ottawa 1901 59,928 1911 87,062 1921 107,843 1931 126,872 1941 154,951 1951 202,045 1961 268,206 1971 302,341 1981 295,163 1991 313,987 2001 337,031 2011 337,761 2016 341,998 Winnipeg 1901 42,340 1911 136,035 1921 179,097 1931 218,785 1941 221,960 1951 235,710 1961 265,429 1971 246,246 (245,637) 1981 207,886 (200,002) 1991 212,671 (196,384) 2001 206,898 (189,801) 2011 211,236 (193,925) 2016 218,525 (200,188) Hamilton 1901 52,634 1911 81,960 1921 114,151 1931 155,547 1941 166,337 1951 208,321 1961 273,991 1971 309,173 1981 306,434 1991 318,499 2001 331,121 2011 330,480 2016 330,095 Halifax 1901 40,832 1911 46,619 1921 58,372 1931 59,275 1941 70,488 1951 85,589 1961 92,511 1971 122,035 1981 114,594 1991 114,455 2001 119,292 2011 130,130 2016 132,943 |
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Wikipedia has old census numbers for something more consistently resembling the current CMA (CMA in the past or Halifax County plus cities/towns). They look like this: Code:
1851 39,914 — |
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