Chatham-Kent ( 2021 population: 103,988) is a

single-tier municipality A unitary authority is a type of local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed ...

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...

, Canada. It is mostly rural, and its population centres are Chatham, Wallaceburg,

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a Tilbury Fort, 16th century fort ...

, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Wheatley and

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. The current Municipality of Chatham-Kent was created in 1998 by the amalgamation of Blenheim,

Bothwell Bothwell () is a Protected area, conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland and part of the Greater Glasgow area. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton, ...

, Camden, the City of Chatham, the Township of Chatham, Dover, Dresden, Erie Beach, Erieau, Harwich,

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Ridgetown, Romney, Thamesville, Tilbury East, Tilbury, Wallaceburg, Wheatley and Zone. The Chatham-Kent

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 ...

, which includes the independent Delaware Nation at Moraviantown First Nation, had a population of 104,316 in the 2021 census.

History

The area of Chatham-Kent is part of the traditional territory of the

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long prec ...

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

and Wyandot

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

of Canada. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763 ceded control of the area from the French to the British, it became part of the Territory of Quebec. The title to the Chatham-Kent area was surrendered to the British as part of the 1790 McKee's Purchase, (named for Alexander McKee) to provide land for settlers. McKee's Purchase was designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada in 1931. A historical plaque for the purchase is located in Blenheim Park in Blenheim. Indigenous persons remain resident in the area today at the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown and Walpole Island First Nation. European settlement of the former city of Chatham area began with a naval dockyard in 1792, at the fork of the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

with McGregor's Creek. The town was named after

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British people, British British Whig Party, Whig politician, statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pit ...

. It was built as a naval dockyard, a characteristic shared by

Chatham, Kent Chatham ( ) is a town within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. In 2020 it had a population of 80,596. Th ...

, England. In England, the name Chatham came from the British root ''ceto'' and the Old English ''ham'' thus meaning a forest settlement.The Place Names of Kent, Judith Glover, 1976, Batsford. Following the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and the Gnadenhutten massacre, a group of Christian Munsee settled in what is now the Moraviantown reserve. In the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, the

Battle of the Thames The Battle of the Thames , also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was an American victory in the War of 1812 against Tecumseh's Confederacy and their United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British allies. It took place on October 5, 1813, ...

took place between Moraviantown and Thamesville on October 5, 1813.

Black population

During the 19th century, the area was the northern terminus of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. As a result, Chatham-Kent is now part of the African-Canadian Heritage Tour. Josiah Henson Museum for African-Canadian History, formally known as Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site is a museum of the Dawn Settlement, established in 1841 by Josiah Henson near Dresden as refuge for the many slaves who escaped to Canada from the United States. John Brown, the abolitionist, planned his raid on the Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Chatham and recruited local men to participate in the raid. He held in Chatham a Convention of Colored Men on May 8–10, 1858. The small village of

North Buxton North Buxton is a Dispersed settlement, dispersed rural community located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1849 as a community for and by former African-American Slavery in the United States, slaves who escaped to Canada to ...

, part of the African Canadian Heritage Tour, also played an important role in the

. By the 1850s, the city of Chatham was referred to as the " black mecca of Canada". A museum in the city, the Black Mecca Museum, still bears this name. Chatham was home to a number of black churches and business, with

Black Canadians Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent. Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...

making up one-third of the city's population and controlling a significant portion of the city's political power. Nearby

and

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

were also home to thousands of land-owning black residents. However, after the abolition of slavery in the United States, many black families left the area. Today the city of Chatham is just 3.3% black, with Chatham-Kent as a whole being 2.1% black. Few of the black-owned institutions are still in operation.

After slavery ended in the United States

In 1846, the town of Chatham had a population of about 1,500, with part of the town being called Chatham North. There were four churches, a theatre, a weekly newspaper and a cricket club. The road between London and Amherstburg was open, and transportation by stagecoach was available. A fast boat also provided transportation to Detroit and Buffalo. Chatham had many tradesman, a foundry, two banks, three schools, a tavern and a library where one could read books and newspapers. By 1869, the population was 3,000 in this industrial area with several mills, foundries, and breweries; a great deal of wood was being produced. A steamboat offered transportation to Windsor and Detroit. There was one bank office. Between 1906 and 1909, the city was home to the Chatham Motor Car Company, and from 1919 to 1921, Denby Motor Truck Company of Canada. It was also where the Hyslop and Ronald steam

fire engine A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

manufacturer was located; the factory would be taken over by Chatham Motor Car. In addition, it hosted meat packer O'Keefe and Drew. The

Hawaiian pizza Hawaiian pizza is a pizza invented in Canada, topped with pineapple, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and either ham or bacon. History Sam Panopoulos, a Greek-born Canadian, created the first Hawaiian pizza at the Satellite Restaurant in ...

is claimed to have been invented in Chatham in 1962 at the Satellite Restaurant by Sam Panopoulos. In the U.S., former

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Governor Jim Rhodes proposed building a bridge across Lake Erie linking

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

to the southern coast of Kent County. Before 1998, Kent County consisted of the townships of Camden, Chatham,

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

, Orford,

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

, Romney, Tilbury East and Zone. In some of Canada's earliest post-Confederation censuses, some residences in Kent County were incorrectly reported as being in Bothwell "County", which was a separate

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

comprising parts of Kent and Lambton counties but not a distinct county in its own right. In 1998, the County of Kent and the city of Chatham were amalgamated by the Province of Ontario to form the Municipality of Chatham–Kent. Most services were also combined. Since then, bus service has begun to serve all of Chatham-Kent. Starting in 2007, routes were set up to include the former towns of Wallaceburg and

. Before 1998, each town had their own fire department. It then became the Chatham-Kent Fire Department upon amalgamation. The county also had separate police departments until 1998. The city of Chatham, as well as the towns of Wallaceburg, Dresden, and

, each had their own departments. The Chatham-Kent Police Service was formed on September 1, 1998. Many residents opposed amalgamation, as 18 city councillors boycotted the official vote, and the final decision to amalgamate was imposed on the County by a provincial commissioner. In a study on amalgamations in Ontario from 2003, 48% of respondents in Chatham-Kent felt the value they received as taxpayers became worse after amalgamation, and 64% of respondents still did not think of the community as "the Municipality of Chatham-Kent." Chatham-Kent has many historic festivals throughout the year, such as the Battle of Longwoods reenactment, which takes place on Labour Day weekend at Fairfield Museum on Longwoods Road. Chatham Kent is also home to many historic buildings which are part of an annual ghost tour offered each year at Halloween. The participants go on a guided walk of downtown while the guide informs them of various ghost stories tied to the local buildings in which they pass. Chatham-Kent was a major part of the

and as such hosts the

Homecoming each September. This celebrates the area's black culture and the roots laid by early black settlers in the Buxton area.

Communities

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent currently consists of the following communities, listed by the Townships of the former Kent County (pre-1998 amalgamation): * Camden Township: **

, Thamesville; Croton, Dawn Mills, North Thamesville; Wabash; Oakdale * Chatham Township: ** Chatham, Wallaceburg; Appledore, Arkwood, Darrell, Eberts, Kent Bridge, Louisville, Oldfield, Thornecliffe, Tupperville, Turnerville, Whitebread; Ennett, Riverside * Dover Township: ** Mitchell's Bay, Pain Court; Bagnall, Baldoon, Bearline, Bradley, Dover Centre, Electric, Grande Pointe, Oungah; Bass Haven * Harwich Township: ** Blenheim, Erieau,

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

; Bates Subdivision, Eatonville, Erie Beach, Fargo Station, Guilds, Huffman Corners, Kent Centre, Lake Morningstar Estates, McKay's Corners, Mull, New Scotland, Northwood, Pinehurst, Raglan, Rondeau Bay Estates, Troy, Van Horne, Vosburg, Wilson's Bush; Blenheim Junction, Lynnwood Subdivision, Porkies Corners, Richardson Station, Rushton's Corners * Howard Township: ** Morpeth, Ridgetown; Beechwood, Botany, Selton; Slabtown, Trinity * Orford Township: **

; Clearville, Duart, Muirkirk, Palmyra, Turin; Austen's, Clachan, Henderson's, Lee's * Raleigh Township: **

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

; Dealtown, Doyles,

, Ouvry, Pardoville, Prairie Siding, Rhodes, Ringold, Sleepy Hollow, South Buxton; Sandison, Southside Estates; Cedar Springs * Romney Township: ** Wheatley; Coatsworth, Port Alma, Renwick; Holiday Harbour * Tilbury East Township: **

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

; Fletcher, Glenwood, Jeannette, Jeannette's Creek, Port Crewe, Quinn, Stevenson, Stewart, Valetta * Zone Township: **

; Bothwell Station, Briarwood Estates; Fairfield, Zone Centre

Geography

At , Chatham-Kent is the ninth largest municipality by area in Canada. Over 44,000 of the 107,000 residents live in the former City of Chatham. Other population centres in the municipality include Wallaceburg, Blenheim and

, Ridgetown and

. The Lower

runs through Chatham–Kent to Lake St. Clair in the west, while the Sydenham River flows through Wallaceburg and Dresden. The municipality has approximately 88 kilometres of shoreline along lake Erie and 24 kilometres along lake St. Clair. The

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." ...

of Bkejwanong (commonly referred to as Walpole Island) borders on Chatham–Kent, whereas the Indian reserve of Moravian 47 is an enclave within the city and is part of the Chatham–Kent census agglomeration and census division.

Climate

Chatham-Kent 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 cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfa''), with cold, snowy winters and warm to hot, humid summers. A typical summer will feature heat waves with temperatures exceeding often. Winters are cold, and feature occasional cold snaps bringing temperatures below , but also commonly include mild stretches of weather above freezing.

Adjacent townships and municipalities

* St Clair and Dawn-Euphemia (north and northwest) * Southwest Middlesex (northeast) * West Elgin (northeast and east) * Across

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

: the City of

and Cuyahoga, Lorain and Erie Counties,

, US (south) *

Lakeshore, Ontario Lakeshore is a municipality on Lake Saint Clair (North America), Lake St. Clair, in Essex County, Ontario, Essex County, Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1999 by amalgamating the Town of Belle River with the township (Canada), townships o ...

and

Leamington, Ontario Leamington ( ) is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 29,680 in the Canada 2021 Census, it forms the second largest urban centre in Windsor-Essex County after Windsor, Ontario. It includes Point Pelee Nationa ...

(southwest and west) * Across Lake St. Clair: Macomb and St. Clair Counties,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, US (west)

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Chatham-Kent 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.

Ethnicity

*Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses. 2006 census
''For all groups that comprise at least 1% of the population. Note that a person can report more than one ethnic origin.'' *"Canadian": 34.7% *English: 32.9% *French: 21.9% *Scottish: 20.2% *Irish: 19.1% *German: 12.2% *Dutch: 11.1% *Belgian: 5.9% *First Nations: 3.1% *Italian: 2.1% *African descent: 2.1% *Polish: 2.1% *Ukrainian: 2.0% *Welsh: 1.5% *Czech: 1.4% *Metis: 1.2% *American (modern immigrant): 1.2% *Hungarian: 1.2% *Portuguese: 1.2% *Mexican: 1.0%

Language

Although most of the population of Chatham-Kent is English-speaking, a few of its communities and Catholic parishes were settled by francophone (French-speaking) farmers in the mid-nineteenth century. These include Pain Court, Tilbury and Grande Pointe, where French is still spoken by a significant percentage of the population. These communities are designated French language service areas under Ontario's '' French Language Services Act''. Approximately 8,500 residents of Chatham-Kent have French as a mother tongue and 1,500 have French as their home language. Essex County also has a relatively large francophone population, especially in the municipality of Lakeshore. Together, Chatham–Kent and Essex Counties make up one of the concentrations of

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians ( or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2021, according to the Government of Ontario, ther ...

s in the province of Ontario. Both elementary and secondary francophone schools exist across the municipality. A French socio-cultural organization, ''La Girouette'', which is based in Chatham, promotes French-Canadian culture and language in the area. Knowledge of official language statistics: *English only: 92.2% *French only: <0.1% *English and French: 7.2% *Neither English nor French: 0.5%

Economy and industry

A breakdown of the total labour force in Chatham-Kent shows the leading industries ( NAICS) are manufacturing, health care, and retail: *Manufacturing: 12.9% *Health care and social assistance: 12.3% *Retail trade: 11.2% *Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting: 7.5% *Accommodation and food services: 6.7% *Construction: 6.5% *Educational services: 5.9% *Transportation and warehousing: 5.0% *Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services: 5.0% *Public administration: 4.4%

Agribusiness and chemical

At the outskirts of Chatham is the headquarters for Corteva Agriscience (Formerly Pioneer ), a major agricultural seed breeding and biotechnology company. GreenField Specialty Alcohols Inc.'s Commercial Alcohols division, Canada's largest

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

plant and one of the world's largest, opened in Chatham in 1996. The plant produces ethanol for industrial, medical, and beverage uses. There are a number of

vineyards A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

in the municipality.

Automotive

Chatham's roots in the automotive sector go back to Gray-Dort Motors Ltd., one of Canada's earliest automobile manufacturers. In the 21st century, auto industry plants in the municipality include Autoliv Canada in Tilbury (airbags), Mahle in Tilbury (emissions controls and plastics), in Ridgetown (automotive electronic pedal assembly and sensors), Dana Canada in Chatham (heat shields for thermal and acoustic management of exhaust manifolds, catalytic converters, and turbochargers), and Vitesco Technologies (Powertrain Canada ULC) in Chatham (design, development, and testing of Actuators for clean, efficient vehicles). Chatham-Kent also is home to

RM Auctions RM Sotheby's is a collector car auction company headquartered in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, with offices across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The company specializes in the sale of classic, vintage, sports, and exotic cars, and ...

, a vintage automobile auction house, and RM Restorations, a vintage automobile restoration company. The nickname "The Classic Car Capital of Canada" comes from the abundance of classic car events in the community.

Energy

Chatham is home to a major corporate office of Enbridge Gas Inc., a natural gas utility and

Enbridge Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline transport, pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and n ...

company. Other energy related companies include wind farms near the shores of

Public sector

The Canadian Federal government is one of the largest employers in the Chatham-Kent area with over 450 employees in several departments in the area. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability Unit is housed in the Judy Lamarsh (see Notable Residents) Building in downtown Chatham. This federal office is the single largest disability processing centre in Canada, processing 50% of all CPP Disability benefits. The office also processes Old Age Security benefit claims.

Retail hub

Chatham serves as a retail centre for the municipality and surrounding area. This includes the large big-box stores in Super Centre on St. Clair Street. Wallaceburg also houses a number of big box stores and fast food locations.

Attractions

The long, white sandy beaches, fishing, hiking trails and conservation areas make Erieau a popular vacation spot. There are two Provincial Parks in Chatham-Kent:

Rondeau Provincial Park Rondeau Provincial Park is the second oldest provincial park in Ontario, Canada, having been established with an order in council on 8 September 1894. The park is located in Southwestern Ontario, on an 8 km long crescentic sand spit exten ...

and Wheatley Provincial Park, There are also numerous local conservation areas. Downtown Chatham is home to the annual "Retrofest" organized by the Historic Downtown Chatham BIA, in partnership with the Kent Historic Auto Club. Hundreds of classic car enthusiasts travel to downtown Chatham to showcase their classic cars and vintage vehicles. Downtown Chatham is also home to the Chatham Capitol Theatre, a theatre that, when it opened in 1930, was the largest in the region. The theatre is run by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and hosts shows and entertainers. Chatham was home to the Wheels Inn, a family resort for four decades until its closure in 2010. In 2011, the Chatham-Kent John D. Bradley Convention Centre was constructed on the site of the Wheels Inn. In July 2019, a new Cascades casino was opened in Chatham, close to the Convention Centre on Richmond Street.

Arts and culture

The Thames Art Gallery and ARTspace, located in the historic downtown, feature exhibitions showcasing local artists from the Chatham-Kent area, while also housing other Canadian and international works. Numerous car shows are hosted annually throughout the year in downtown Chatham earning it the nameCanada's Classic Car Capitol.

Health care

Chatham-Kent is served by the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. The Public General Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital in Chatham were moved to a single campus in 2004, while the former Sydenham District Hospital remains in Wallaceburg. The eastern portion of the municipality is served by the Four Counties Health Services in Newbury in nearby Middlesex County. Research published in 2002 by the Heart and Stroke Foundation cited Chatham-Kent as a hotspot for

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

in Ontario. Further research is underway to determine the reasons for this and other hotspots. The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit launched a campaign in fall 2007 to tackle other ailments prevalent throughout the community, including

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

, chronic allergies, sinus problems, many types of cancer,

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

inflammatory bowel disease Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine, with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC) being the principal types. Crohn's disease affects the small intestine and large intestine ...

, alcoholism, and

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

. In October 2008, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance was named one of " Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

'' newsmagazine. Chatham-Kent features one of the 14 provincial

Local Health Integration Network Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) were the Health regions of Canada, health authorities responsible for regional administration of public healthcare services in the Canadian province of Ontario. Legacy LHIN functions were transferred to th ...

s (LHIN). The Erie St. Clair (ESC) LHIN services the Chatham-Kent Community as well as Sarnia/Lambton and Windsor/Essex. The ESC LHIN is located in the town of Chatham.

Media

Television stations

Chatham-Kent is also served by stations coming from Windsor, London,

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Toledo, and

Radio broadcast stations

Print media

The ''Chatham Daily News'' is the only daily newspaper in Chatham-Kent. There are several weeklies located in Chatham and the various communities in the municipality, including the ''Chatham Voice, Wallaceburg Courier Press'', the ''Blenheim News Tribune'', ''Chatham-Kent This Week'', ''Ridgetown Independent News'', ''Tilbury Times'', and the ''Wheatley Journal''. The ''Chatham Daily News'', ''Chatham-Kent This Week'', and ''Wallaceburg Courier Press'' are all owned by

Postmedia Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in Engl ...

Online media

''The Chatham Daily News'', ''Chatham-Kent This Week'', ''Wallaceburg Courier Press'', ''Chatham Voice'' and ''CKReview'' are daily online news media in Chatham-Kent with coverage of local news, sports, entertainment, and cultural events as well as a number of regular contributing columnists. The ''Chatham-Kent Sports Network'' is an online source covering local sports news, scores, and highlights from each of Chatham-Kent's communities. CKSN also follows Chatham-Kent athletes who have progressed to the Junior, College, International, or Professional ranks.

Education

Elementary and secondary

There are two anglophone school boards and one francophone school board in Chatham–Kent. These are the

Lambton Kent District School Board The Lambton Kent District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 10 prior to 1999) is the school board responsible for public education in Lambton County and Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. Lambton and Kent Coun ...

(headquartered in both Chatham and Sarnia), the St. Clair Catholic District School Board (headquartered in Wallaceburg) and the '' Conseil scolaire catholique Providence'' (CSC Providence). The LKDSB is a public school board, and consists of 13 secondary and 53 elementary schools. Chatham-Kent Secondary School is the largest public high school in Lambton-Kent. The St. Clair Catholic board consists of two secondary schools (one in Chatham and one in Sarnia) and 26 elementary schools. There are also independent schools, such as Wallaceburg Christian School and Chatham Christian Schools—an elementary and secondary school in the same building. The French Catholic board, headquartered in Windsor, has its Chatham-Kent regional office in Pain Court and consists of four elementary schools and one high school.

Post-secondary

Chatham–Kent is the home of two colleges – St. Clair College and

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

Ridgetown Campus, popularly known as Ridgetown College. St. Clair College is a satellite of St. Clair College of Windsor. There are two campuses located in the municipality – Thames Campus (located in Chatham) and the Wallaceburg Campus (located in Wallaceburg). More than 5,000 full-time and 12,000 part-time students attend the college each year. The Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph offers diplomas in agriculture, horticulture, and veterinary technology. It is part of the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College, and formerly known as Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology.

Sports

Hockey

The Chatham Maroons are a team in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. There are also four teams in the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League * Blenheim Blades * Dresden Jr. Kings * Wheatley Sharks * Wallaceburg Lakers Other teams in Chatham-Kent include CK CRUSH (Chatham Girls Minor Hockey Association), the Chatham AAA Cyclones and the A Kent Cobras.

Rugby Union football

Founded in 2001, the Chatham-Kent Havoc rugby team plays in the Southwest Rugby Union.

Transportation

Road

Chatham-Kent is situated just off

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 prov ...

, connecting

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Toronto, Kitchener- Waterloo,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

; and Detroit, Michigan via the

Ambassador Bridge The Ambassador Bridge is an international suspension bridge across the Detroit River that connects Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1929, the toll bridge is the busiest international border cros ...

. Blenheim, Chatham and Wallaceburg are linked with

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, ...

, Ontario and the

Blue Water Bridge The Blue Water Bridge is a twin-span international bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron, Michigan, United States, and Point Edward, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Water Bridge connects Highway 402 in Ontario with both Interst ...

to the United States by Highway 40. The sections of Highway 2 and

Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3 (disambiguation)#Roads, M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3 (disambiguation)#Roads, N3. For roads numbered 3A, see ...

(the Talbot Trail) in Chatham–Kent were downloaded by the province in 1998, becoming local roads 2 and 3, but they remain significant through routes and are still locally known by their old names. The first gas station in Canada to sell E85 fuel to the public is located on Park Avenue East in Chatham.

Rail

Chatham station is served by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

passenger services between Toronto and Windsor, part of the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor with four trips in each direction daily, and the community is served by both the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

and the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

for freight transportation.

Bus

Within Chatham public bus services are provided by CK Transit. Chatham-Kent has an intercity bus service, also provided by CK Transit, between all communities in the municipality except Wheatley.

Air

There is a municipal airport located 14 km south east of Chatham featuring a 1500m paved, lighted runway, with refuelling facilities, tie-down services, pilot training and chartered flights. The nearest airports served by regional carriers are Windsor and

Notable people

* Sally Ainse – Oneida diplomat and fur trader * Chris Allen – former NHL player with the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

* Doug Anakin – won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in the bobsled * Bill Atkinson – former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

* Courtney Babcock – Olympic distance runner * Shae-Lynn Bourne – championship

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

* T. J. Brodie – NHL hockey player with the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

* Ernest Burgess – 24th President of the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

, author and urban sociologist who is known for his groundbreaking

social ecology Social ecology may refer to: * Social ecology (academic field), the study of relationships between people and their environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and institutions * Social ecological model, frameworks for depicting ...

research * June Callwood – prominent magazine writer in the 1950s who became an Officer in the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1986 * Joseph Caron – former High Commissioner to India and former Canadian ambassador to China and Japan * Bridget Carleton – WNBA player for the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

* Chandra K. Clarke – entrepreneur, published author, and humour columnist *

James Couzens James Joseph Couzens (August 26, 1872October 22, 1936) was an American businessman, politician and philanthropist. He served as mayor of Detroit (1919–1922) and U.S. Senator from Michigan (1922–1936). Prior to entering politics he served as ...

– U.S. Senator, Mayor of Detroit, industrialist, philanthropist, and vice president and general manager of the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

Robertson Davies William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...

– novelist, playwright * Kenne Duncan – western/action movie actor * Andy Fantuz – former CIS offensive MVP, former slotback for the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

and Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL * Wally Floody – the "Tunnel King" from '' The Great Escape'' * Dave Gagner – retired NHL hockey player; brother-in-law of Diane Gagner; former Chatham–Kent mayor * W. B. George (1899–1972), president of the

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...

and agriculturalist at Kemptville Agricultural School, was born in Highgate * Ashley Goure –

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

sledge hockey Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an Parasports, adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a ...

player * Lee Giffin – professional ice hockey player * Frank Gross, philanthropist; awarded the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship in 2006 * Ken Houston (born September 15, 1953) – former NHL player *

Tracey Hoyt Tracey Hoyt born in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada is a Canadians, Canadian voice actor, voice actress and alumni, alumna of York University and the Second City National Touring Company (Toronto), possessing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Perf ...

– actress, Aurora Farqueson on the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

series '' The Tournament'' * Jeff Jackson – NHL hockey player *

Ferguson Jenkins Ferguson Arthur "Fergie" Jenkins Order of Canada, CM (born December 13, 1942) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher and Coach (baseball), coach. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 to 1983 for the Philadelphia Phillies, C ...

–

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

r * Anna H. Jones – teacher, speaker at the First Pan-African Conference in 1900 *

Ryan Jones Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981) is a Wales former international rugby union player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three Grand Slam wins, in 2005, as captain in 2008, and 2012. He is one ...

– former finalist of 2008 Hobey Baker Award and former member of the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

; currently playing in the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

for the Cologne Sharks * Judy LaMarsh – former Canadian Minister of Health * Archibald Lampman – one of Canada's finest 19th-century Romantic poets, born Morpeth, Kent County, 1861 * Bobbi Lancaster, a medical doctor and

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

noted for playing in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament in 2013Boivin, P. (2013)
Transgender golfer dreams of playing in LPGA
/ref> * Lori Lansens – author of ''Rush Home Road'' and '' The Girls'' * Chad Laprise – UFC fighter * John B. Lee – author, poet and current Poet Laureate of

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

, Ontario * Doug Melvin – general manager of the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

* Harry Garnet Bedford Miner –

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

winner during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, born in Cedar Springs * Dave Nichol – award-winning product marketing expert and former president of Loblaw's * Geoffrey O'Hara – early 20th-century composer, singer and music professor who was the writer of such popular songs as the 1918 hit "K-K-K-Katy" * Sam Panopoulos – inventor of the

* Ron Pardo – comic-impressionist; actor for '' History Bites'' and voice actor on animated shows like ''

PAW Patrol ''Paw Patrol'' is a Canadian children's animated television series created by Keith Chapman and produced by Spin Master, Spin Master Entertainment, with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the series is primarily broadcast on TVOntario ...

and '' World of Quest''; from Pardoville * Ray Robertson – novelist * Brooklyn Roebuck – 2012 ''The Next Star''; under licence with Sony Music Canada * Doug Shedden – professional ice hockey coach and former player * Glen Skov –

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL)

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

player * Ron Sparks – award-winning comedian, actor, writer and producer ('' Video on Trial'') * Joseph Storey – architect, designer of many local landmarks in the 1950s and 1960s * Shaun Suisham –

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

kicker (formerly with

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

) * Sylvia Tyson – singer-songwriter, broadcaster, and guitarist who found early fame with her then-husband Ian Tyson in their folk duo

Ian and Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

* Todd Warriner – former NHL hockey player picked 4th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) an ...

* Derek Whitson –

player * Brian Wiseman – 1999 IHL MVP Houston Aeros * Michelle Wright – country music singer

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1998 establishments in Ontario Underground Railroad locations in Canada Single-tier municipalities in Ontario Southwestern Ontario Populated places on Lake Erie in Canada States and territories established in 1998