Heritage Planning

A Brief History of King Township

Heritage Building image

The Township was surveyed in 1800 under John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (now southern Ontario). Named King Township by Simcoe in honour of Major John King, English Under-Secretary of State, the area remained sparsely settled until the building of roads in the 1820's improved travel. Many of the earliest land grants of 200 acre lots were to Quakers from Pennsylvania and other United Empire Loyalists.

Settlement first started along Yonge Street then pushed west where mills were built along the fast flowing streams of the Oak Ridges Moraine. As settlements grew, the services and trades quickly followed, including blacksmiths, coopers, corwainers, as well as general stores, hotels, inns, taverns, churches, and schools. The population of 20 residents in 1800 grew to 160 in 1809, 394 in 1823, and 5,574 by 1850. By the 1971 census there were 7482 residents, and by 2005, it had reached 19,500. 

King Heritage Award

King Heritage Award 2024