Grey County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nor ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The county seat is in Owen Sound. It is located in the subregion of

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

named

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake ...

. Grey County is also a part of the Georgian Triangle. At the time of the

Canada 2016 Census The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...

the population of the county was 93,830.

Administrative divisions

Grey County consists of the following municipalities (in order of population):

History

Origin and evolution

The first European settlement was in the vicinity of Collingwood or Meaford. Exploring parties arrived from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in 1825 by travelling from Holland Landing and down the Holland River into

Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly in the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century the lake was called ''Ouentironk' ...

and Shanty Bay. From there they travelled by land to the Nottawasaga River into

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. T ...

and along the thickly wooded shore. In 1837 the village of Sydenham was surveyed by

Charles Rankin Charles Rankin, (1797 − 1886 or 12 October 1888) was an early Irish-born and Scottish-descended settler and land surveyor in Upper Canada (the predecessor to the province of Ontario, Canada). He is significant due to his role in the surveyi ...

. In 1856 it was incorporated as the Town of Owen Sound with an estimated population of 2,000. In 1840, the area became part of the new District of Wellington, and its territory formed the County of Waterloo for electoral purposes. In 1849, Wellington District was abolished, and Waterloo County remained for municipal and judicial purposes. The territory of the Bruce Peninsula became part of Waterloo in 1849, but was later withdrawn and transferred to

Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada comprising eight lower-tier municipalities and with a 2016 population of 66,491. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth Governor General of the ...

in 1851. In January 1852, Waterloo County became the United Counties of Wellington, Waterloo and Grey. Grey County was named in honour of the British Colonial Secretary's father, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830-1834. Its territory was declared to consist of the following townships, together with part of the Indian Reserve on the Bruce Peninsula: * Artemesia * Bentinck * Collingwood * Derby * Egremont * Euphrasia * Glenelg * Holland * Melancthon * Normanby * Osprey * Proton * Saint Vincent * Sullivan * Sydenham The Indian lands were later surveyed and became the townships of Keppel and Sarawak. A Provisional Municipal Council was organized for the County in April 1852, with the Town of Sydenham named as the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

. Waterloo was withdrawn from the United Counties in January 1853, and the remainder was renamed the United Counties of Wellington and Grey. In January 1854, the United Counties was dissolved, and Wellington and Grey were separate counties for all purposes. In 1861-1862 the first gravel roads were constructed into Owen Sound at a cost of $300,000. The four colonization roads were: :* the Garafraxa Road running from Fergus to Owen Sound (now

Highway 6 Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * AH6 (highway), Asian Highway 6 * European route E6 * European route E006 Albania * :de:Nationalstraße 6 (Albanien), National Road SH6 Argentina * P ...

); :* the Durham Road leading east and west from the village of Durham (formerly part of Highway 4, and now County Road 4); :* the Lake Shore Road from Collingwood to Owen Sound (now Highway 26); and :* the Toronto-Sydenham Road leading from Shelburne to Owen Sound (now Highway 10). Prior to the road building it often took two days to walk up to Owen Sound. In 1881, the township of Melancthon and the village of Shelburne were withdrawn from Grey and transferred to the new Dufferin County. On January 1, 2001, Grey County underwent a major restructuring, resulting in the reduction in number of the local municipalities:County of Grey
Municipal Amalgamations
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Demographics

As a

census division Census divisions, in Canada and the United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-level census geographic uni ...

in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...

, Grey County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

External links