Port Hope, Ontario


Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto and west of Kingston. It is at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. The private Trinity College School opened here in 1865.
WWW Official Site

History

The Cayuga people inhabited the area in the early 17th century, and there was a Mississauga village named Cochingomink also in the 17th century.
In 1778, a fur trade post was established and the settlement was known as Smith's Creek.
In 1793, Loyalists from the northern colonies became the first permanent settlers of European heritage in the area, as the Crown granted them land as compensation for being forced to leave the colonies and as payment for military service. John Graves Simcoe, then lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, established the Township of Hope in the early 1790s, named after Colonel Henry Hope, lieutenant governor of the Province of Quebec.
From 1817 to 1819, the area was known as Toronto or "Toronto at Smith's Creek".
In 1819, the village and township were united and named Port Hope. In 1834 Port Hope was incorporated as a town.
Relatively slow growth from 1881 to 1951 resulted in much of the town's 19th-century architecture surviving. Port Hope's downtown is celebrated as Ontario's best-preserved 19th-century streetscape. The town's chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and the Heritage Port Hope Advisory Committee are very active and advise on the restoration and preservation of architecturally or historically significant buildings. With over 270 heritage-designated buildings, Port Hope has a higher per capita rate of preservation than any other town or city in Canada.
In 1978, eight members of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club were charged with a murder that occurred at Port Hope's Queen's Hotel. The trial and conviction of some members—the Port Hope 8 case—has been described as a miscarriage of justice.
In 2001, the original town amalgamated with Hope Township to form the Municipality of Port Hope and Hope, which was renamed to its current name in November of that year. At the time of amalgamation, the census listed the town's population as 11,718 and the township's as 3,887.
The 2017 supernatural horror film It, its 2019 sequel It Chapter Two, and its prequel television series It: Welcome to Derry were all filmed in Port Hope, which portrayed the fictional town of Derry, Maine.

Radiation and cleanup

Port Hope is known for having the largest volume of historic low-level radioactive wastes in Canada. The waste was created by Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited and its private sector predecessors, resulting from the refining of radium from pitchblende. Radium was used in radioluminescent paint and in early cancer treatments.
During World War II, the Eldorado plant produced exponentially more uranium oxides, which the United States used in the Manhattan Project to make nuclear weapons. This plant, now under the ownership of Cameco, continues to produce uranium fuel for nuclear power plants.
In 2002, a large amount of contaminated soil was removed from beachfront areas. More recently, testing of over 5,000 properties began, with a plan to remove and store contaminated soil that had been used as landfill. Over $1 billion is expected to be spent on the soil remediation project, the largest such cleanup in Canadian history.

Geography

Communities

Besides the town proper of Port Hope, the municipality of Port Hope comprises a number of villages and hamlets, including Campbellcroft, Canton, Dale, Davidson's Corners, Decker Hollow, Elizabethville, Garden Hill, Knoxville, Morrish, Osaca, Perrytown, Port Britain, Rossmount, Tinkerville, Thomstown, Welcome, Wesleyville, and Zion.

Climate

Port Hope has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Port Hope 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.
Mother tongue :
  • English as first language: 93.5%
  • French as first language: 1.1%
  • English and French as first language: 0.4%
  • Other as first language: 4.3%

Economy

Downtown Port Hope offers shopping and a historic main street. Port Hope is served by a Via Rail station. It has a medical centre, and a community health centre. It has had a daily newspaper since 1878, the Port Hope Evening Guide. Until 2007, this was part of the Osprey Media chain and subsequently a part of the Sun Media organization. In 2009 the newspaper was amalgamated with the Cobourg Daily Star and renamed as Northumberland Today.com. In November 2017 the newspaper was included in the large-scale closing of many local community newspapers throughout the province of Ontario.
Port Hope's Economic Development Strategic Plan aims to increase job growth at least as fast as population growth. The town has a variety of industries.
In January 2025, the Ontario Government announced plans for a new nuclear generating station to be built at Wesleyville.

Arts and culture

The Ganaraska River, is well known to area anglers for annual salmon and trout runs. It has caused many historic floods, the most recent having occurred on March 21–22, 1980. Every April since until 2020, Port Hope has commemorated the flood with "Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny" ten kilometre boat race. "Participants range from serious paddlers navigating the cold, fast-moving water in kayaks and canoes, to the very entertaining 'crazy craft' paddlers, floating any combination of materials down the river in an attempt to reach the finish line." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, the first time in its history for such action.

Attractions

The Capitol Theatre is Canada's last functioning atmospheric theatre. The theatre's main auditorium is styled after an outdoor medieval courtyard and rolling clouds are projected onto the ceiling. The town spent in excess of three million dollars renovating and upgrading the theatre in 2004–2005. It is also used for live events by Port Hope Festival Theatre.
The Municipality of Port Hope is home to many heritage and cultural attractions, and events, including:
  • Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny—a water race commemorating the 1980 flood of the Ganaraska River
  • Ganaraska Forest Centre
  • Canadian Firefighters Museum
  • Port Hope Yacht Club
  • Port Hope Festival Theatre at the Capitol Theatre
  • La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra
  • Port Hope and District Agricultural Fall Fair
  • The All Canadian Jazz Festival
  • Port Hope Farmers' Market
  • Port Hope Christmas and Santa Claus Parade
  • Port Hope Drive-In
  • Architectural Conservancy of Ontario Annual House Tour, Garden Tour, and Antiques and Artifacts Auction
  • Port Hope and District Historical Society Dorothy's House Museum
  • Port Hope Archives
  • Friends of Wesleyville Village
  • Beaches:
  • * West Beach
  • * East Beach
  • Port Hope Waterfront Trail
  • Port Hope Golf and Country Club

Infrastructure

Transportation

Highway 401 runs through the north end of Port Hope, with exits at County Road 2/Toronto Road and Highway 28/Ontario Street.
Port Hope Transit provides local bus service, and VIA Rail provides passenger service from the Port Hope railway station along the Toronto-Montreal corridor. The station was built in 1856 for the Grand Trunk Railway and later CN Rail. It was restored in 1985.
Pleasure boats dock at the foot of John Street at Hayward Street and share the facilities with Cameco, which has berths for freighters servicing their manufacturing facilities at the mouth of the Ganaraska River.

Education

Public education in Port Hope is under the management of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, and Catholic education is by the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.

Elementary schools

  • St. Anthony's Elementary School, Catholic JK–8
  • Ganaraska Trail Public School, Public JK–6
  • North Hope Central School, Public JK–6
  • Beatrice Strong Public School, Public JK–6

High schools

Notable people