|
| |
Custom Coat of Arms Flag Image= Coat Image=City of Charlottetown crestpngCoat of Arms
|
| |
CUNABULA FOEDERIS<BR><small>(Birthplace of Confederation)</small></td></tr><tr><td align = "center" colspan = "2">
|
| |
CCMapSource=coor brd1=46m1=14d2=63m2=09EP=
|
| |
49
|
| |
AST
|
| |
C1A
|
| |
City (2001)<br>Metro (2001)
|
| |
32,245<br>58,358
|
| |
7274
|
| |
1764
|
| |
4433<!--82339 Metro-->
|
| |
Clifford J Lee
|
| |
Charlottetown City Council
|
| |
Shawn Murphy
|
| |
Jamie Ballem , Richard Brown , Wayne Collins , Robert Ghiz , Chester Gillan , Wes MacAleer , Elmer MacFadyen
|
| |
http://wwwcitycharlottetownpeca
|
| |
2001
|
| |
None
|
is a
Canadian city and the provincial capital of
Prince Edward Island . The population of the city, proper in the
2001 census was 32,245 and the population of the
Census Agglomeration was 58,358. More than half of the Island's population lives within metro Charlottetown. Charlottetown was first incorporated as a town in
1855 and designated as a city in
1885 . It is also the county seat of
Queens County . Charlottetown is the wealthiest provincial capital in
Atlantic Canada .
Charlottetown is situated on its namesake
Harbour which is formed by the confluence of three rivers in the central part of the island along its south shore. The harbour itself opens onto the
Northumberland Strait . In
1995 the present city was created by amalgamating Charlottetown with the communities of
Sherwood ,
Parkdale ,
Hillsborough Park ,
Winsloe ,
West Royalty , and
East Royalty . Since amalgamation, the city occupies most of
Queens Royalty and part of the townships
Lot 33 and
Lot 34 .
Downtown Charlottetown includes the city's historic 500 lots, as surveyed by Captain
Samuel Holland , as well as the waterfront facing the harbour and the Hillsborough River. Adjacent communities to the original downtown included Brighton, Spring Park, and Parkdale. The areas to the west, north and east of downtown have been developed in recent decades with several residential and commercial/retail developments, although the outer regions of the city are still predominantly farmland, as is an area in the centre of the city where an Agriculture Canada crop research station is located.
Charlottetown's economy, as with most provincial capitals in Canada, is dominated by the public sector. The provincial, federal, and municipal levels of government are significant employers in the central part of Queens County, as well as healthcare and secondary and post-secondary education. Technology companies have also been increasing their share of the city's workforce in the past decade, however the actual numbers are quite small once call-centres are excluded. Other significant economic activities include light manufacturing such as chemicals, bio-technology, and machining.
Charlottetown is a popular destination in eastern Canada for visitors from other Maritime provinces, central Canada and the northeastern United States, as the city has a central location in the province as well as various services. The city's streetscapes with a centrally-planned downtown core containing many Victorian-era houses and buildings is an attraction, as well as a waterfront redevelopment project in recent decades which has seen walking trails and parks developed on former industrial lands. A new
Cruise Ship terminal is planned by the local port authority which proponents hope will make the city a more attractive destination for the growing number of vessels operating in Atlantic Canadian waters.
Popular attractions within the city include the provincial legislature at
Province House , which hosted the
Charlottetown Conference , as well as Founders Hall, a recently redeveloped railway maintenance building which now houses an interactive trip through history tracing the development of Canada as a nation. The
Confederation Centre Of The Arts provides live theatre, including the
Charlottetown Festival during the summer months, as well as a nationally-ranked art gallery. The Charlottetown Festival itself is headlined by Canada's most popular and longest-running musical, ''
Anne Of Green Gables - The Musical '', which is an adaptation of Island author
Lucy Maud Montgomery 's novel.
Charlottetown Airport is the city's main airport, and is served by
Air Canada Jazz ,
WestJet ,
Sunwing Vacations , and
Northwest Airlines , with flights to and from
Halifax ,
Montreal ,
Toronto , and
Detroit .
Until 2005, Charlottetown did not have a public transit system. However, in the fall of 2005 the city started its first public transit system made up of six city buses. Plans to add another six are in the works. The buses travel from as far out of the city as Winsloe, into and around the downtown core. The buses are built by Dupont Trolley and are designed to look like early 20th century
Streetcars , despite the fact that Charlottetown has never had a streetcar system. The aesthetics of these small buses has been a source of local controversy as some residents find the buses tacky and claim that the added expense of Dupont's design versus traditional transit buses is not justified.
Due to the absence of public transit for so long, the is an overwhelming amount of personal use automobiles in the city. Parking on downtown streets is a continuous problem. Despite the option of taking the bus, taxi cabs are still quite popular among residents of Charlottetown, many seniors who live within the city use taxis on a daily basis. Also, most taxi cabs in Charlottetown are not metered, and have no protective glass between the front and rear seats. It is not uncommon for taxi passengers to sit shotgun.
Main routes in and out of the city include University Avenue, North River Road, Grafton Street & St Peters Road. Charlottetown has a convenient perimeter highway. The "Charlottetown By-pass" is a four lane(in places), undivided, controlled access highway, which along with the "Hillsborough Bridge" and "North River Causeway" is most used by residents of the city's suburbs commuting to work and school. University Avenue, named because it passes by the province's only University, is what most would consider Charlottetown's "Main Drag" The avenue is as wide as 4 lanes in places, and is busy at any given time of the day. Morning, Noon, and Evening rush hours create lengthly traffic backups, and navigating University Avenue at these times of day can be quite difficult, and frustrating.
The first Europeans in the area, then known as ''Île Saint-Jean'', were the
French , whereby personnel from
Fortress Louisbourg founded a settlement in
1720 named ''Port La Joye'' on the southwestern part of the harbour opposite the present-day city. This settlement was led by Michel Hache-Gallant, who used his sloop to ferry Acadians from Fort Louisbourg. In
August 1758 , at the height of the
Seven Years' War , a
British fleet took control of the settlement (and the entire island) and promptly deported those French settlers that they could find, this being fully three years after the original
Acadian Expulsion in
Nova Scotia . British forces built ''Fort Amherst'' near the site of the abandoned ''Port La Joye'' settlement to protect the entrance to the harbour.
Charlottetown was selected as the site for the county seat of
Queens County in the colonial survey of
1764 by
Captain Samuel Holland of the Royal Engineers. A year later, Charlottetown was made the colonial capital of Prince Edward Island. Further surveys conducted between
1768 -
1771 established the street grid and public squares which can be seen in the city's historic district. The town was named in honour of Queen
Charlotte Of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , consort of King
George III Of The United Kingdom .
On
November 17 ,
1775 the colony's new capital was ransacked by
Massachusetts -based privateers during the
American Revolutionary War , during which the colonial seal, along with prisoners were taken.
In
1793 land had been set aside by Governor Fanning on the western limits of the community for use by the "Administrator of Government" (the Governor), and as such it became known informally as "Fanning's Bank" or just "Fanning Bank".
In
1805 , the local British garrison constructed another harbour defence at ''Fort Edward'' to the west of the capital's waterfront. The ''Prince Edward Battery'' was then relocated to this facility.
In
1835 , "Government House" was constructed at Fanning Bank, intended as a residence for the colony's Governor. This building is now used as the official residence for the
Lieutenant Governor ).
Between
1843 and
1847 , a new legislature building was constructed in the community. Named "
Province House ", the completion of this structure was an important milestone in the history of the capital and it is still in use today as the provincial legislature and is currently the second-oldest legislative seat in Canada.
On
April 17 ,
1855 , Charlottetown was incorporated as a town, holding its first council meeting on
August 11 that year. The community had 6,500 residents at the time of incorporation.
Between
September 1 -
7 ,
1864 , Charlottetown hosted what is now termed the
Charlottetown Conference . Although many of the meetings and negotiations which would lead to
Canadian Confederation were held in Province House, various social events spilled over into the surrounding community.
Prince Edward Island entered Confederation on
July 1 ,
1873 . This same day, the "Government House Farm" at Fanning Bank was designated a municipal park, named "Victoria Park" in honour of Queen
Victoria Of The United Kingdom .
Aside from being the seat of colonial government, the community came to be noted during the early
19th Century for
Shipbuilding and its lumber industry as well as being a fishing port.
The decline of shipbuilding was superseded in
August 1874 when the
Prince Edward Island Railway opened its main line between Charlottetown and
Summerside . The railway, along with the shipping industry, would continue to drive industrial development on the waterfront for several decades to come.
In
1885 the municipality saw its status upgraded to become a city.
Religion played a central role in the development of Charlottetown's institutions with
Protestant and
Roman Catholic schools (Queen Charlotte High School vs. Birchwood High School), hospitals (Prince Edward Island Hospital vs. Charlottetown Hospital), and post-secondary institutions (
Prince Of Wales College vs.
St. Dunstan's University ) respectively. St. Dunstan's was originally developed as a seminary for training priests and the
Maritime Christian College was founded in 1960 to train preachers for the
Independent Christian Churches/Churches Of Christ in
Prince Edward Island and the
Maritime Provinces .
As with most communities in North America, the
Automobile shaped Charlottetown's development in the latter half of the
20th Century , when outlying farms in rural areas of Brighton, Spring Park, and Parkdale saw increased housing developments. The Charlottetown airfield in the nearby rural community of
Sherwood was upgraded as part of the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and operated for the duration of World War II as
RCAF Station Charlottetown , in conjunction with
RCAF Station Mount Pleasant and
RCAF Station Summerside . After the
War the airfield was designated
Charlottetown Airport . Further post-war development saw residential properties continue to expand in adjacent outlying areas, particularly in the neighbouring farming communities of Sherwood, West Royalty, and East Royalty.
To commemorate the centennial of the
Charlottetown Conference , the 10 provinces and federal government contributed to a national monument to the "Fathers of Confederation." The
Confederation Centre Of The Arts , which opened in
1964 , is a gift to the residents of Prince Edward Island, and contains a public library, nationally-renowned art gallery, and a
Mainstage Theatre which has played to the
Charlottetown Festival every summer since.
In the
1960s new public schools were constructed in the community and in
1969 the city became home to the amalgamated
University Of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), located on the campus of the former
St. Dunstan's University . Together with the federal
Department Of Agriculture And Agri-Food 's Charlottetown Experimental Farm (also known as ''Ravenwood Farm''), these properties comprise a large green space surrounded by the city. The
Prince Of Wales College downtown campus became part of a new provincial community college system named
Holland College , in honour of the island's famous surveyor.
In
1982 the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, named after Queen
Elizabeth II Of Canada , was opened, followed in
1983 when the national headquarters of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs was moved to Charlottetown as part of a nation-wide federal government decentralization programme. In
1986 , UPEI saw further expansion with the opening of the
Atlantic Veterinary College .
Throughout the
1970s and
1980s Charlottetown witnessed increased commercial office and retail development which saw a waterfront hotel and numerous apartment complexes as well as shopping centres being built. In the
1990s , abandoned railway and industrial lands on the waterfront were transformed into parks and cultural attractions.
In keeping with its heritage cityscape, and due to the lack of adequate
Bedrock in the area, Charlottetown limits buildings to a maximum height of six storeys.
''For detailed information, consult
Neighbourhoods Of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island .''
Charlottetown is comprised of the following neighbourhoods which were one-time independent municipalities:
- Charlottetown (original municipality)
- Brighton
- Spring Park
- Parkdale
- Sherwood
- East Roylty
- West Royalty
- Winsloe
The original municipal boundary between Charlottetown and the common area of the township of
Queens Royalty was the northern edge of the original 500 lots along present-day Euston Street. This boundary was extended north to Allen Street and Kirkwood Drive during the early
20th Century , taking in part of the rural community of Brighton west of the downtown. The village of Spring Park was amalgamated into the city in
1959 , extending the city's boundary north to Hermitage Creek, which also formed the southern boundary of the village of West Royalty. Development filled in most vacant land in the Brighton and Spring Park neighbourhoods by the
1980s .
Municipal amalgamation in 1996 saw the outlying independent municipalities of Parkdale (town), Sherwood, East Royalty, West Royalty and Winsloe (villages) merged into a larger city of Charlottetown at the same time as rural communities east and west of the city were amalgamated to form the towns of Stratford and Cornwall respectively.
A
Green Belt is in place around the northern fringe of the municipal boundary, although it is poorly enforced by the provincial government, leading to
Urban Sprawl .
According to the 2001 census, the City of Charlottetown had 32,245 residents of whom 45.8% were male and 54.2% were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 4.9% of the resident population of Charlottetown. This compares with 5.6% in
Prince Edward Island , and 5.6% for
Canada overall.
The median income for a household in the city is $52,996, and the median income for a family is $77,008. Males have a median income of $42,519 versus $28,136 for females. The per capita income for the town is $29,710. 12.2% of the population and 8.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 9.6% of those under the age of 18 and 10.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
In 2001, 16.4% of the resident population in Charlottetown were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2% in Canada; therefore, the median age is 38.8 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.
In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Charlottetown fell by 0.9%, compared with an increase of 0.5% for
Prince Edward Island as a whole. Population density of Charlottetown averaged 727.3 people per square kilometre, compared with a provincial average of 23.8 for
Prince Edward Island .
The Charlottetown
Census Agglomeration area (CA) is comprised of Charlottetown and the neighbouring towns of
Stratford and
Cornwall , as well as adjoining rural areas of central-eastern
Queens County , namely
Lots 31 ,
34 ,
35 ,
36 ,
48 ,
49 and
65 . At the time of the census in May 2001, the estimated resident population for the CA was 58,358 people over an area measuring 823.39 square kilometres, compared with a resident population in the province of
Prince Edward Island of 135,294 people. The
July 1 ,
2005 population estimate for the CA is 60,321 and the
2010 projected population is estimated to be 61,210.
The community is also home to a (proportionately) large Assyrian/Lebanese community.
According to the 2001
Statistics Canada , more than nine out of ten inhabitants of the Charlottetown metropolitan self-identified as Christian. This breaks down to 91.7%
Christian (46.0%
Roman Catholic , 42.6%
Protestant , and 3.0% other Christian mostly Orthodox), 7.3% stating no religion, and minor religions that comprise less than 1.0% includes Muslim, Buddhist, and
Jewish .
Cable service is provided by
Eastlink .
- ''The Northern Star'' (North Shore community newspaper)
- ''The Buzz'' (independent arts/entertainment)
- ''The Cadre'' (UPEI student paper)
- ''The Guardian'' (Charlottetown based - "Covers PEI Like The Dew")
- ''The Surveyor'' (Holland College student paper)
- ''The Journal Pioneer'' (Summerside Based)
The city's municipal government is structured around a council comprised of a
Mayor and 10
Councillor s elected using the
Ward system; there is currently a discussion about electing councillors at large. Charlottetown is also quite safe with very little serious crime due to its over policing. Impaired driving is a highly prevalent offence with little police combat to prevent occurances.
