Government

The Origins of Hastings County

The Growth of Hastings County Hastings County dates its existence from July 16, 1792, when Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe divided Upper Canada into 19 counties and four districts. Until 1849, however, the county was not regarded as a unit of local government. The county unit was originally formed for three purposes: to serve as a riding, as the organizational division for the militia, and for land registration. Hastings County was part of Midland District, which also included Frontenac, Lennox, Addington, and Prince Edward counties.

As populations grew, new districts were added. Victoria District was created in 1839 to be the administrative level for Hastings County. This district existed until 1849 when all districts were abolished and succeeded by counties as the basic unit of local government. Victoria District became Hastings County.

Townships, which became subdivisions of counties, actually predated the county system. Township surveys began in the early 1780s as Loyalist settlers moved into Upper Canada. In Prince Edward County, townships were surveyed as early as 1783. On the north side of the Bay of Quinte, Thurlow Township was surveyed in 1787, which was also the year the first legal settler took up residence in the township. Sidney Township, also on the Bay, was surveyed in 1790.

An early map from 1792 shows a triangular Hastings County, tapering to a sharp point somewhere in today's Algonquin Park. Later realignment extended parallel county boundaries northward until they reached the Ottawa River. Since that would have created an impossibly long and narrow county to administer, the northern region later became part of Renfrew County and Algonquin Park.

The settlement of Hastings County progressed northward from "The Front", as the land along the shore of the Bay of Quinte was known. This expression is still heard today in northern parts of the county. The City of Belleville, the City of Quinte West (separate municipal corporations) and Tyendinaga Territory occupy most of the shoreline which was once part of Hastings.

The pattern of township surveys in the 1800s shows a consistent drive northward from The Front into the highlands of Hastings toward the Madawaska Valley. With the opening of the Hastings Colonization Road in the 1850s, surveyors moved into north Hastings and began opening up new townships. Since the intent of the colonization roads was to move new settlers into more remote regions of the province, surveyors needed to move quickly to create new townships and settlement lots.