
Hawkesbury
'Hawkesbury' is a town in Eastern
Ontario on the
Ottawa River, near the
Quebec/
Ontario border.
It lies on the south shore of the
Ottawa River about halfway between downtown
Ottawa and downtown
Montreal in
Prescott and Russell. The Long-Sault Bridge (replacing the Perley Bridge) links it to
Grenville, Quebec, to the north. It is located 25 km west of
Lachute, Quebec.
Hawkesbury is touted as the third most bilingual town in
Ontario, with about 69.6% of its inhabitants being fluent in
English and
French, the two
official languages of
Canada. (
West Nipissing is first with 73.4% followed by
Hearst at 71%.) 89% of the population is made up of French speaking Franco-Ontarians. The downtown core is very attractive. Unfortunately, development on the outskirts has hurt some of the business and the Main Street is slowly recovering. The 2 shopping centers are also recovering from the new 'big box' phenomenon happening on highway 17.
Founded in 1798, the town was named after
Charles Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury.
Thomas Mears built the first
gristmills and
sawmills, and the Union, the Ottawa River's first steamer. Demand for timber during the
Napoleonic Wars created a boom.
Timber and pulp-and-paper industries have been supplanted by textiles, synthetic fibres, metal extrusions, steel, glass and plastics. Hawkesbury has also become the business and service centre of the county of Prescott-Russell, although recently
Rockland has become the largest community
[1]. The Grenville Canal on the Québec side of the Ottawa River opposite Hawkesbury is an important link in the river's transportation system. The only interprovincial bridge between Ottawa and Québec is located here. Part of Hawkesbury was submerged by a
Hydro-Québec dam built 1950-62. New developments today are happening due to baby boomers from Ottawa, Montreal & area purchasing some of the many new condos in towers.
According to the
2006 Statistics Canada Census:
★ Population: 10,869
★ % Change (
2001-
2006): 5.3
★ Dwellings: 4,974
★ Area (km².): 9.46
★ Density (persons per km².): 1149.3
Demographics
★ 97.4%
Caucasian
★ 0.9%
Arabic
★ 0.7%
Aboriginal
★ 0.6%
Asian
Transportation
The town is served by three small airports:
★
Hawkesbury Airport
★
Hawkesbury (East) Airport
★
Hawkesbury (Windover Field) Airport
References
1. According to [1] Rockland has a population of 12,637, while according to [2], Hawkesbury has a population of 10,314
External links
★
Official web site
★
Contesting web site
★
Future web site of citizens of Hawkesbury