Carleton Place
Town in Ontario, Canada
Carleton Place is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in Lanark County, about 55 kilometres (34 mi) west of downtown Ottawa. It is located at the crossroads of Highway 15 and Highway 7, halfway between the towns of Perth, Almonte, Smiths Falls, and the nation's capital, Ottawa. Canada's Mississippi River, a tributary of the Ottawa River flows through the town. Mississippi Lake is just upstream by boat, as well as by car.
The town is situated on the edge of a large limestone plain, just south of the edge of the Canadian Shield in the deciduous forest ecoregion of North America.
01History
Carleton Place was first settled by Europeans when British authorities prompted immigration to Lanark County in the early 19th century. The Morphy and Moore families were among the first to arrive. Edmond Morphy chose the site in 1819 when he realized there was potential in the area's waterfall. He built a mill there and was the first of many such textile and lumber industries to locate in the area. The settlement was then known as Morphy's Falls.
In 1829, the area was renamed Carleton Place (a name by local merchant Alexander Morris), after a street in Glasgow, Scotland, when a post office was constructed. In November 1870, it separated from Beckwith Township and became an incorporated village, and a town in 1890. The community's economic growth was enabled by the construction of the Brockville and Ottawa Railway later in the century. The town was also renowned for its access to Mississippi Lake, and had steamship service to Innisville on the west end of Mississippi Lake between the 1860s and 1920s.
02Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Carleton Place had a population of 12,517 living in 5,210 of its 5,341 total private dwellings, a change of 17.6% from its 2016 population of 10,644. Statistics Canada cited Carleton Place as the fastest growing municipality in Canada in 2021. With a land area of 9.94 km2 (3.84 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,259.3/km2 (3,261.5/sq mi) in 2021.
Canada census, Carleton Place community profile| 2021 | 2016 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 12,517 (+17.6% from 2016) | 10,644 (+8.5% from 2011) | 9,809 (+3.8% from 2006) |
| Land area | 9.94 km2 (3.84 sq mi) | 9.05 km2 (3.49 sq mi) | 8.83 km2 (3.41 sq mi) |
| Population density | 1,259.4/km2 (3,262/sq mi) | 1,176.2/km2 (3,046/sq mi) | 1,110.3/km2 (2,876/sq mi) |
| Median age | 41.6 (M: 40.0, F: 43.2) | 42.3 (M: 40.3, F: 44.2) | |
| Private dwellings | 5,341 (total) 5,210 (occupied) | 4,403 (total) | 4,246 (total) |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $71,481 |
| Historical census populations, Carleton Place | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes. Source: Statistics Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
03Economy
The logging industry stimulated economic development in the 19th century, with white pine logs exported to Europe. Local forests were depleted of hemlock to provide bark for the leather tanning industry. Both textile and lumber mills flourished, but none still operates. "The Findlay Foundry", founded by David Findlay in 1862, operated until 1974, making cast-iron cookware and woodstoves. Some of the designs created by this company are still being made by another company. Today, the remaining mill buildings house condominiums and high-tech industry. The "Crash Position Indicator" (CPI) was manufactured and marketed in Carleton Place by Leigh Instruments Ltd.
04Education
The Upper Canada District School Board manages public education in Carleton Place and Lanark County, while the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario is in charge of schools teaching the Catholic curriculum. Schools in the Carleton Place area include:
05Notable residents
- Roy Brown, RAF pilot credited with shooting down the Red Baron
- D'Alton Corry Coleman, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway
- David Cooney, Juno Award-winning folk-rock musician, a founding member of the band Waltons
- Ryan Cuthbert, sprint kayaker, 2 time Olympian (2004 Sydney Olympics(k-4 1000m), 2008 Beijing Olympics(k-2 1000m))
- Shean Donovan, professional ice hockey player (retired), who last played for the Ottawa Senators.
- John Edwards, sprint canoer, Olympian (1972 Munich Olympics), (1976 Montreal Olympics)
- Jill Heinerth, cave diver and explorer
- Eddie MacCabe, sports editor of the Ottawa Journal and the Ottawa Citizen
- Leslie McFarlane, wrote many of the original Hardy Boys books under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon
- Jordan McIntosh, pop-country musician, 2014 Country Music Association of Ontario Rising Star Award Recipient and 2015 Canadian Country Music Association Rising Star Award Nominee
- Bat Phillips, professional ice hockey player for the Montreal Maroons
- Andrew Willows, sprint kayaker, 2 time Olympian (2004 Athens Olympics(k-4 1000m), 2008 Beijing Olympics(k-2 500m))
06Sister cities
Carleton Place is an active participant in the Sister Cities program and has a relationship with the following municipalities:
- Franklin, Tennessee, United States (2008)
- Comrie, Scotland, United Kingdom
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Carleton Place”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Carleton Place, Ontario (cropped).jpg by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
- Carleton Place ON downtown.jpg by Royalbroil, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Carleton Place ON.jpg by P199, CC BY-SA 3.0
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