The Municipality of , is located in
Southwestern Ontario ,
Canada .
The former city of Chatham began as a naval dockyard in the 1790's, as it straddles the
Thames River.
In the
War Of 1812 , the
Battle Of The Thames took place between Moraviantown and Thamesville, near Chatham on
October 5 ,
1813 .
During the as refuge for the many slaves who escaped to Canada from the United States.
In
1998 the former
Chatham City government merged with that of
Kent County to form the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. In
2003 , the population within the boundaries of the former city of Chatham was 43,348.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent consists of 23 communities. The major communities include:
Chatham-Kent has an increasingly diverse economy, with a base in the
Agricultural and
Automotive sectors. Chatham's roots in the automotive sector go back to
Gray-Dort Motors Ltd. , one of Canada's earliest automobile manufacturers. The municipality and senior governments are keen to promote continuing diversification.
- In plant in Canada, and one of the largest in the world. It produces ethanol for industrial, medical, and beverage uses. In January 2005 , the plant was named as one of Canada's 50 best managed companies. There are plans to double the size of the current Chatham facility.
- Chatham is home to the headquarters of Union Gas , a natural gas utility. Union Gas is a Duke Energy company.
- Chatham is also home to a truck plant operated by Navistar International Corporation (NYSE symbol NAV)
- Olsen furnaces are made in Wallaceburg . Olsen is a division of ECR International.
- RM Classic Cars , and automobile restoration company and auction house, is located in Chatham. The nickname "The Classic Car Capital of Canada" comes from this company and numerous related community events.
Recent developments in rural Chatham-Kent include
Wind Farms and
Vineyards near the shores of
Lake Erie .
According to the
May 2001 Census , the resident population of the
Municipality of Chatham-Kent was 107,341 people, compared with a resident population in the province of
Ontario of 11,410,050 people.
In 2001, 15.1% of the resident population in Chatham-Kent were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2 % in Canada. The average age is 38.6 years of age compared to 37.6 years of age for all of
Canada . 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 5.7% of the resident population of Chatham-Kent. This compares with 5.8% in
Ontario , and almost 5.6% for
Canada overall.
Of the current population of Cbatham-Kent, 9.5% were born outside Canada, with 70 countries of origin represented. Recent immigrants are only 1.5% of the population, compared to a Canadian average of 6.2%.
In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Chatham-Kent declined by 1.8%, compared with an increase of 6.1% for
Ontario as a whole. Population density in Chatham-Kent averaged 43.7 people per square kilometre, compared with an average of 12.6, for Ontario. The loss of population in Chatham-Kent can be contributed to industry closures, university graduates not returning to their home communities, the falling profitability of farming, and a lower than average rate of immigration.
- English : 87.4%
- French : 3.4%
- French and English: 0.4%
- Other: 8.8%
- , 1986 . In 2002 , CKSY swapped broadcasting frequencies with CKUE.
- , 1999 . In 2002 , CKUE swapped broadcasting frequencies with CKSY.
- CFCO 92.9FM and 630AM: a news, sports, and oldies music station. The original AM broadcasting station was launched in 1926.
- CBEE 88.1FM: the radio rebroadcast station for CBC Radio One (CBE) out of Windsor, Ontario.
CKSY, CFCO and CKUE are owned by
Blackburn Radio .
''Chatham This Week'' was briefly re-brandly as the ''Chatham Sun Weekly Edition'' in October 2005, after the launch of the daily Chatham Sun. The experiement lasted only a few weeks before the original title was reinstated in response to some confusion among readers.
There are two main school boards in Chatham-Kent. These are the Lambton-Kent District School Board and the St. Clair Catholic District School Board. The LKDSB is a public school board, and consists of 7 secondary and 21 elementary schools. The St. Clair Catholic board consists of two secondary schools, one french and one english and 16 elementary schools. There are also private schools, such as Chatham Christian Schools, an elementary and high school in the same building.
Chatham-Kent is the home of two colleges -
St. Clair College and Ridgetown College.
There are two campuses for St. Clair College located in the municipality - Thames Campus (located in the former city of Chatham) and the Wallaceburg Campus (located in the town of Wallaceburg). There are over 5,000 full time and 12,000 part time students that attend the college each year.
Ridgetown College is actually a campus of the
University Of Guelph , and offers diplomas in
Agriculture ,
Horticulture , and
Veterinary Technology .
St. Clair College - Thames Campus is a satillite of St. Clair College of Windsor.
Chatham has a team in the
OHA Western Junior B league:
There are also four teams in the
Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League
Chatham-Kent is situated on
Highway 401 (the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway), connecting
Montreal ,
Toronto ,
Kitchener-Waterloo ,
London , and
Windsor, Ontario ; and
Detroit, Michigan via the
Ambassador Bridge . Blenhiem, Chatham and Wallaceburg are linked with
Sarnia, Ontario and the
Blue Water Bridge to the United States by
Highway 40 .
The sections of
Highway 2 and
Highway 3
(the
Talbot Trail ) in Chatham-Kent were downloaded by the province in 1998, becoming local roads 2 and 3, but they remain siginificant through routes and are still locally known by their old names.
Chatham is served by
VIA Rail passenger services between Toronto and Windsor, part of the
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor , and is served by both the
Canadian National Railway and the
Canadian Pacific Railway for freight transportation.
There are four local bus routes within the city of Chatham, providing services every 30 minutes Monday through Saturday. There are no services between Chatham and other towns in the municipality, however.
Chatham-Kent also has intercity
Bus services, with
Greyhound Canada services to and from Windsor, London and Toronto, and through
Detroit, Michigan to
Chicago, Illinois . These services stop at
Thamesville , Chatham and
Tilbury .
The
Indian Reserves of
Moravian 47 and
Bkejwanong (commonly referred to as Walpole Island) border Chatham-Kent.
There are two
Provincial Parks in Chatham-Kent,
Rondeau Provincial Park and
Wheatley Provincial Park , and
Point Pelee National Park is nearby. There are also numerous local conservation areas.
The local military regiment, The Essex and Kent Scottish, has in the past years, sent over 15 people to serve in NATO and UN operations around the world. Currently there are 3 from Chatham operating in Afganistan.
