Brockville, Canada

Brockville (2001 population 21,375, metropolitan population 44,741) is located in the Thousand Islands region on the St. Lawrence River in eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The area of the city is 20.73 square kilometres. It is the county seat for the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.

The self-proclaimed "City of the 1000 Islands", Brockville is located directly opposite Morristown, New York on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, about mid-way between Cornwall in the east and Kingston in the west and a little over an hour from the nation's capital, Ottawa.

History

Brockville claims the oldest rail tunnel in Canada

Originally settled by United Empire Loyalists in 1785, it was known as Buell's Bay in honour of the community's founder William Buell. Brockville was renamed in 1812 in honour of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, the national hero of the War of 1812.

Brockville was Ontario's first incorporated municipality. Its coat of arms bears the motto Industria, Intelligentia, Prosperitas. The Port of Brockville was connected to the main line of the Grand Trunk Railroad by a tunnel constructed beneath the municipality. This was a distinctive feat of engineering accomplished between 1854 and 1860. It is the oldest railway tunnel in Canada, having been inaugurated on December 31, 1860.

Demographics

Age Structure

• 0-14 years: 18.3%
• 15-64 years: 65.0%
• 65 years and over: 16.7%

Racial Groups

• 96.9 White
• 0.4% Black
• 0.3% Asian

Religious Groups

• 59.8% Protestant
• 23.0% Catholic
• 2.2% other Christian
• 1.1% other religions
• 13.9% non-professing

Industry

An old CP train outside the Brockville tunnel

Brockville is now home to several industrial manufacturers including ceiling fan manufacturer Canarm. The Brockville Procter & Gamble site is the global supplier of dryer added Bounce fabric softener and the North American supplier of Swiffer cleaning products.

The once-strong electrical and electronic industry in Brockville has recently suffered greatly from both free trade (which allowed US manufacturers including Black & Decker, Enerstat and RCA-Thompson in nearby Prescott to curtail Canadian manufacturing operations while retaining access to Canadian markets) and from a downturn in the communications industry at the turn of the millennium (with everything from Aimtronics to Brock Telecom to Philips Cables having been far too closely tied to the fortunes and misfortunes of Canadian telecom manufacturer Nortel Inc.).

Tourism

As the City of the 1000 Islands, Brockville is home to tour boats offering a scenic view of the region.

It is also home to the historic Fulford House mansion, built by the maker of the "Pink Pills for Pale People" of yesteryear.