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| Official name | Town of Collingwood |
|---|---|
| Blank emblem type | |
| Pushpin map | Canada Ontario |
| Pushpin mapsize | 220 |
| Pushpin map caption | Location of Collingwood in Ontario |
| Coordinates region | CA-ON |
| Subdivision type | Country |
| Subdivision type1 | Province |
| Subdivision type2 | County |
| Subdivision name | |
| Subdivision name1 | |
| Subdivision name2 | Simcoe |
| Leader title | Mayor |
| Leader name | |
| Leader title1 | Governing Body |
| Leader name1 | Town Council |
| Leader title2 | MPs |
| Leader name2 | Helena Guergis (C) |
| Leader title3 | MPPs |
| Leader name3 | Jim Wilson (PC) |
| Established title | Established |
| Established date | 1858 |
| Area total km2 | 33.46 |
| Population as of | 2006 |
| Population total | 17290 |
| Population density km2 | 516.8 |
| Timezone | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc offset | -5 |
| Timezone dst | EDT |
| Utc offset dst | -4 |
| Postal code type | Postal code span |
| Postal code | L9Y |
| Website | www.town.collingwood.on.ca |
Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario. Geographically, it is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay.
The land in the area was originally inhabited by the Iroquoian Petun nation, which built a string of villages in the vicinity of the nearby Niagara Escarpment. They were driven from the region by the Iroquois in 1650. European settlers and freed Black slaves, arrived in the area in the 1840s, bringing with them their religion and culture.
The area originally had several other names associated with it, including Hurontario (because it lies at the end of Hurontario Street which runs from Lake Huron — of which Georgian Bay is a part — south to Lake Ontario), Nottawa, and Hens-and-Chickens Harbour, because of one large and four small islands in the bay.
In 1855, the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron (later called The Northern) railway came into Collingwood, and the harbour became the shipment point for goods destined for the upper Great Lakes ports of Chicago and Port Arthur-Ft. William (now Thunder Bay). Shipping produced a need for ship repairs, so it was not long before an organized ship building business was created. On May 24, 1883, the Collingwood Shipyards, formerly known as Collingwood Dry Dock Shipbuilding and Foundry Company Limited, opened with a special ceremony. On September 12, 1901, the Huronic was launched in Collingwood, the first steel-hulled ship launched in Canada. The shipyards produced Lakers and during World War II contributed to the production of Corvettes for the Royal Canadian Navy. Shipbuilding was one of the principal industries in the town, employing as much as 10% of the total labour force. Overseas competition and over capacity in shipbuilding in Canada led to the demise of shipbuilding in Collingwood in September 1986.
The creation of government incentive programs and a fully serviced industrial park made it possible for Collingwood to attract eleven new manufacturing firms to the town by 1971. Eight additional manufacturing companies had located in the town by 1983, making Collingwood the largest industrial employer in the region.
In June 2007, Collingwood Ethanol (Now Amaizeingly Green) began production in the former Nacan facility. The company expects to produce 50 million litres of ethanol annually to satisfy regulatory requirements on ethanol content in gasoline mandated by the provincial and federal governments. Collingwood Ethanol
Collingwood has focused on establishing itself as a four-season tourist area. Located on the southern shores of Georgian Bay and located in proximity to Blue Mountain, a promontory of the Niagara Escarpment, the town has become the major recreation area for the southern part of the province. Blue Mountain itself is noted for skiing, and also for its Scenic Caves. The town is also a short distance from the popular Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, an attractive destination that received the title of Biosphere Reserve in 2004.
The Barrie-Collingwood Railway (BCRY) is a short-line railway operation involving a partnership between the City of Barrie, the Town of Collingwood, current shippers, CP Rail and the railway operator Cando Contracting Ltd. The BCRY mandate is to provide rail service to all industries in and around Barrie and Collingwood.
Local media include the Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin and Collingwood-Wasaga Connection community newspapers, and radio station CKCB-FM. The Barrie-based regional television station CKVR-TV, an A station, maintains a bureau in Collingwood, and the Owen Sound-based Bayshore Broadcasting radio group maintains an office in Collingwood. Collingwood is also known for its annual week-end Elvis Presley festival, which attracts Elvis impersonators from the world over in late July of each year. 2009 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Elvis Festival.
The town of Collingwood started a public transportation initiative in 2007.
In addition to Collingwood's position as a lake port, it is also served by Collingwood Airport (CNY3), a medium-sized airport located about 4 miles (7.4 km) south of the town.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
