) , image_map = , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , pushpin_map = CAN ON Halton#Canada Southern Ontario , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 =

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

, subdivision_name1 =

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 ...

, subdivision_type2 = Region , subdivision_name2 = Halton , established_title = , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated , established_date2 = 1974 , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name =

Ann Lawlor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...

, leader_title1 = Federal riding , leader_name1 = Wellington—Halton Hills , leader_title2 = Prov. riding , leader_name2 = Wellington—Halton Hills , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = , area_land_km2 = 276.26 , area_urban_km2 = 39.52 , area_rural_km2 = 236.74 , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = , elevation_max_footnotes = , elevation_max_m = 411 , elevation_min_footnotes = , elevation_min_m = 197 , population_footnotes = , population_total = 61,161 , population_as_of = 2016 , population_density_km2 = 221.4 , population_urban = 49854 , population_density_urban_km2 = auto , population_rural = 9154 , population_density_rural_km2 = auto , timezone = EST , utc_offset = −05:00 , timezone_DST = EDT , utc_offset_DST = −04:00 , postal_code_type =

Postal Code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

, postal_code = , area_code = 905, 289, and 365 , blank_name = NTS Map , blank_info = , blank1_name = GNBC Code , blank1_info = FBLIE , website = Halton Hills is a town in the

Regional Municipality of Halton The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton ...

, located in the northwestern end of the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater ...

, Ontario, Canada with a population of 61,161 (2016). There are many natural features within these bounds; they include the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff ove ...

, and the

Bruce Trail The Bruce Trail is a hiking trail in southern Ontario, Canada, from the Niagara River to the tip of Tobermory, Ontario. The main trail is more than long and there are over of associated side trails. The trail mostly follows the edge of the Niag ...

. Many of these local features are protected by the

Conservation Halton Conservation Halton, also known as the Halton Region Conservation Authority, is a conservation authority established under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario. It forms a partnership with the Province of Ontario, the Ministry of Natural ...

Credit Valley Conservation Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada, responsible for protecting, restoring, and managing natural resources at the watershed level. CVC operates within the Credit River watershed and smaller ...

Grand River Conservation Authority The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada. It operates under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario. It is a corporate body, through which municipalities, landowners and other organization ...

Communities

The primary population centres are Georgetown and Acton. Additionally, there are a number of

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s and rural clusters within the town, including Ashgrove, Ballinafad (straddling the boundary with

Erin Erin is a Hiberno-English word for Ireland originating from the Irish word ''"Éirinn"''. "Éirinn" is the dative case of the Irish word for Ireland, "Éire", genitive "Éireann", the dative being used in prepositional phrases such as ''"go h ...

), Bannockburn, Crewsons Corners (straddling the boundary with

, Guelph-Eramosa and Milton), Glen Williams, Henderson's Corners, Hornby,

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...

Mansewood Mansewood ( sco, Mansewid) is a residential district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde and is surrounded by the districts of Eastwood, Hillpark, Pollokshaws in Glasgow, and Thornliebank and Giffnock in Ea ...

, Norval, Scotch Block, Silver Creek, Speyside, Stewarttown, Terra Cotta (straddling the boundary with Caledon), and Wildwood. The area was first settled in the 1820s.

Geography

Esquesing Township, of which the greatest part went to form Halton Hills, was favourably described in 1846: The town is bisected by the

from southwest to northeast, and a significant portion of the rural area is located within the provincial Greenbelt. Above the Escarpment, a large proportion of the rural area is classified as environmentally sensitive wetlands, and there are several sites that are licensed for aggregate extraction, for which expansion requires detailed environmental assessment. Below the Escarpment, the rural area is mainly agricultural, with the exception of an industrial area currently being developed between

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...

and Steeles Avenue. The town also forms part of three watersheds: :* to the west of Acton, a small area flows toward the Grand River :* the northern half flows into the

Credit River The Credit River is a river in southern Ontario, which flows from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment near Orangeville and Caledon East to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately . The total le ...

, including the Black Creek and Silver Creek tributaries :* the southern half flows into the Sixteen Mile Creek The

Water Survey of Canada The Water Survey of Canada (WSC) is a scientific branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the ap ...

operates two hydrometric monitoring stations in the town, on the Black Creek below Acton, and at Norval on the

Vegetation

Halton Hills is located in the transition zone between the Huron-Ontario Forest Section of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest zone to the north and the Niagara Section of the

Carolinian forest The Carolinian forest refers to a life zone in eastern North America characterized primarily by the predominance of deciduous (broad-leaf) forest. The term "Carolinian", which is most commonly used in Canada, refers to the deciduous forests which ...

zone to the south. Both forest zones are part of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone. The natural vegetation in the Huron-Ontario Section is dominated by mixed wood forests. It is a transitional type between the southern deciduous forests and the northern coniferous forests. The forest communities of the Niagara Section are dominated by broad-leaved trees. Overall, Halton Hills consists predominantly of agricultural lands with scattered woodlands and wetlands. The woodlands are mainly deciduous forest and the wetlands are either

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

swamp or

cattail ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...

marsh.

Endangered and threatened species

American ginseng American ginseng (''Panax quinquefolius'') is a herbaceous perennial plant in the ivy family, commonly used as an herb in traditional Chinese medicine. It is native to eastern North America, though it is also cultivated in China. Since the 18th ...

exists in the town, and is protected under the ''Endangered Species Act, 2007''. Butternut trees are also threatened by the butternut

canker A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticultur ...

. The

hooded warbler The hooded warbler (''Setophaga citrina'') is a New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America and across the eastern United States and into southernmost Canada (Ontario). It is migratory, wintering in Central America and the West Indies ...

and the

Jefferson salamander The Jefferson salamander (''Ambystoma jeffersonianum'') is a mole salamander native to the northeastern United States, southern and central Ontario, and southwestern Quebec. It was named after Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. It is typically ...

are also designated as threatened species.

Brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

had been eliminated from the Black Creek watershed for many years, following the ongoing environmental disaster due to the excessive consumption of faecal mater as well as the trailer park polluting the water in the town of Erin. The trout have not returned, and anglers report that most of the fish have almost entirely disappeared from the area.

Geology

The physiography and distribution of surface material in the Town of Halton Hills are the result of glacial activity which took place in the Late Wisconsinan Substage of the

Pleistocene Epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed i ...

. This period of time, which lasted from approximately 23,000 to 10,000 years ago, was marked by the repeated advance and melting back of massive, continental ice sheets. The Niagara Escarpment dominates the physiography of the town and greatly influenced the pattern of glaciation in the region. The Escarpment, formed by erosion over millions of years, is a high relief bedrock scarp which trends to the north through the central part of the town. To the west, on the upper surface of the Escarpment, hummocky morainic ridges deposited by glacial ice form part of the Horseshoe Moraines physiographic region. To the southeast below the Escarpment, is a smooth glacial till plain partially bevelled by

lacustrine A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

action, which forms part of the South Slope and Peel Plain physiographic regions. The Town of Halton Hills is underlain by

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

s of the Queenston Formation east of the Niagara Escarpment, and by

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

s of the Amabel Formation west of the Escarpment. The escarpment face exposes a complex succession of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

s and

s of the Clinton and Cataract Groups. Red shales of the Queenston Formation underlie the eastern half of the town and are generally covered by more than 15 m of glacial sediments, predominantly the Halton Till. There are several areas of thin drift cover south of Georgetown. The

quarrying A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

of limestone has been undertaken since the 19th century, and the lime industry was once quite prevalent. In 1886, the Toronto Lime Company had operations in Limehouse and Acton, employing a total of four draw

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

s and eleven set kilns, producing

common lime ''Papilio demoleus'' is a common and widespread swallowtail butterfly. The butterfly is also known as the lime butterfly, lemon butterfly, lime swallowtail, and chequered swallowtail. These common names refer to their host plants, which are us ...

and water lime. At Limehouse, rock from the Clinton formation yielded green and brown

s and blue

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part ...

, which were used in the manufacture of mineral paints. Small oil and gas deposits have been discovered northwest and south of Acton, and around Hornby. While exploration had occurred as early as 1908, with oil being discovered in 1912, significant strikes did not occur until 1954. The town is located in an area that is considered to be of low seismic potential, and the largest recent earthquake to take place within its limits was of magnitude 3 on 29 June 1955. There is a

POLARIS Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude th ...

seismic monitoring station located just west of Acton.

Climate

Halton Hills has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(Köppen climate classification ''Dfb''). The Town has two distinct climate zones: * Zone 5a - north of the Niagara Escarpment * Zone 5b - south of the Escarpment

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ...

operates one climate monitoring station at Georgetown.

History

Both Georgetown and Acton, as well as the smaller communities in the rural area, have histories which go back about 200 years. Settlement began in the 1820s. Halton Hills was formed in 1974 through the amalgamation of the former Towns of Georgetown and Acton, together with much of the former

Esquesing Township Esquesing Township was a municipality within the historic Halton County in Ontario, Canada. It is today a geographic township in the town of Halton Hills in the Regional Municipality of Halton. Territorial development The township of Esquesing wa ...

, and a small portion of the Town of Oakville lying north of

Ontario Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provi ...

. Originally named the Town of North Halton in the establishing legislation, provision was made for a name change to be adopted in consequence of a referendum, and Halton Hills was thus chosen in October 1973: On August 1, 2013,

Toronto Premium Outlets Toronto Premium Outlets is an outlet mall in Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. Being the first Premium Outlet Center in Canada, and the first conglomeration of stores of its type in that nation, the facility opened on Thursday, August 1, 2013. It i ...

, the first Premium Outlets Centre in Canada, opened for business on Steeles Avenue at the south end of Halton Hills near the border of

Milton, Ontario Milton ( 2016 census population 110,128) is a town in Southern Ontario, Canada, and part of the Halton Region in the Greater Toronto Area. Between 2001 and 2011, Milton was the fastest growing municipality in Canada, with a 71.4% increase in popu ...

Demographics

(Other languages, 2016: Polish 1.7%, Portuguese 1.5%, Italian 1.1%, German 0.8%)

Local government

The town is divided into four wards, each of which elects two local councillors. Two regional councillors are also elected - one from Wards 1 and 2 (i.e., the area that was in the former Town of Acton and the former Township of Esquesing), and one from Wards 3 and 4 (i.e., the area in the former Town of Georgetown). The mayor is elected at large. The mayor and two regional councillors (who also serve on Halton Hills council) represent the town at the council meetings of the

. The current (2022-2026) membership of the town council is as follows: Halton Hills has its own fire department. However, policing is provided by the

Halton Regional Police Services The Halton Regional Police Service provides policing service for the Regional Municipality of Halton, which is located west of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Halton Region encompasses the City of Burlington and the Towns of Oakville, Milton and ...

. The Town has its own official plan which came into force in March 2008 and was consolidated in 2017 with the Region's plan. The libraries in the Town are managed by the Halton Hills Public Library Board.

Symbols

In 1975, the

Lord Lyon King of Arms The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants ...

awarded arms to the town, followed by the grant of a badge in 1984. Both were subsequently registered with the

Canadian Heraldic Authority The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; french: Autorité héraldique du Canada) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority is responsible for t ...

in 2005. They are specifically described as follows: * Arms: Per pale, dexter Or two bendlets wavy Sable, sinister Azure two escarpes wavy Argent, a chief per fess dancetty Azure and Argent, overall a white pine tree (''

Pinus strobus ''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada west through the Great Lake ...

'') proper; * Motto: ''Hereditas Integritas Veritas'' ( la, Heritage, integrity, truth) * Badge: On an oval Azure a white pine tree Argent within a wreath of five oak leaves alternating with five papyrus leaves Or.

Transportation

The town has four main roads: Stewarttown - Laslovarga (1)

East-west * connecting Acton and Georgetown * between Milton and Brampton North-south * between Acton and Milton * between Ballinafad and Oakville Georgetown Ontario Railway Station 2

Bus service is provided by

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

along Highway 7 on its

Georgetown line Kitchener is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends westward from Union Station in Toronto to Kitchener, though most trains originate and terminate in Brampton in off-p ...

corridor.

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

and

GO Train GO Transit rail services are provided throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The GO Transit rail fleet consists of 90 MPI MP40 locomotives and 979 Bombardier BiLevel Coaches. In , the system ha ...

service are provided at

Georgetown GO Station Georgetown GO Station is a railway station in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. It is served by GO Transit's Kitchener line and Via Rail's Toronto-Sarnia trains. It is located west of Mountainview Road North at 55 Queen Street. History The station ...

. The

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

brought train service to the area in 1856, with stations at Acton and Georgetown. Passenger service to Acton ceased in the 1990s, but

service is planned to be revived there in 2013. Rail freight service is also provided by

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

on its Halton Subdivision from Georgetown southwest through Milton to Burlington. CN's Guelph Subdivision between Georgetown and London is currently managed by

Goderich–Exeter Railway The Goderich–Exeter Railway is a short line freight railway that operates around of track in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Created in 1992, it was the first short line railway in Canada to be purchased from a class I railway, in this case ...

. In November 2020, VIA Rail Canada rerouted some of its trains onto the Halton Subdivision through Stewarttown while their usual route was closed for signal upgrades. From 1917 to 1931, Norval, Georgetown and Acton were also served by the Toronto Suburban Railway.

Schools

Media

Halton Hills is covered by the following local newspapers and online media: * ''Georgetown Independent'' * ''Acton Free Press'' * ''The Acton New Tanner'' * ''The Halton Compass'' *

Halton Herald The Halton Herald is a nonprofit newsgroup in Halton Hills, Ontario. The group, composed of volunteers, promotes itself as Halton's only independent news source. It accepts no government funding or private advertisements to maintain its reports. F ...

* ''In Georgetown Community Website'' * ''Acton UP'', local online news A radio transmitter in Hornby is used by stations

CFZM CFZM is a Class A clear-channel radio station, licensed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, broadcasting on the assigned frequency of 740 kHz, and with a low power repeater in downtown Toronto at 96.7 FM. The station airs an oldies format br ...

and CJBC.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Towns in Ontario Lime kilns in Canada