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Muskoka Lakes

Field	Value
name	Muskoka Lakes
official_name	Township of Muskoka Lakes
settlement_type	Township (lower-tier)
native_name
image_skyline	3 Mile Lake.jpg
image_caption	3 Mile Lake: typical lake scene in Muskoka Lakes
pushpin_map	Canada Southern Ontario
coordinates
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name
subdivision_type1	Province
subdivision_name1
subdivision_type2	Regional Municipality
subdivision_name2	Muskoka
government_type	Township
leader_title	Mayor
leader_name	Peter Kelley
leader_title1	Governing Body
leader_name1	Muskoka Lakes Township Council
leader_title2	MP
leader_name2	Scott Aitchison
leader_title3	MPP
leader_name3	Norm Miller (OPC)
established_title	Settled
established_date	1870s
established_title2	Incorporated
established_date2	January 1, 1971
unit_pref
area_footnotes
area_land_km2	774.46
population_as_of	2021
population_footnotes
population_total	7652
population_density_km2	9.9
timezone	EST
utc_offset	-5
timezone_DST	EDT
utc_offset_DST	-4
elevation_footnotes
postal_code_type	Postal code FSA
postal_code	P0B
area_codes	705, 249
website

The Township of Muskoka Lakes is a municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. It has a year-round population of 7,652.

The municipal offices are located in Port Carling.

History

The area now covered by the township was opened for settlement and organized in 1870 into the following geographic (and sometime municipal) townships of Watt, Cardwell, Humphrey, Christie, Medora and Wood.

On January 1, 1971, the municipality was established when Cardwell Township, Watt Township, parts of Medora and Wood Townships, and part of Monck Township were merged, along with Town of Bala, Village of Port Carling, and the Village of Windermere, as part of the district's reorganization.

Geography

The township is located on the Canadian Shield and the area is marked by outcrops of igneous rock and evergreen trees. Although inland from both Lake Huron's Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, the township contains the Muskoka Lakes consisting of Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau and Lake Joseph, along with many other smaller lakes.

Protected areas in Muskoka Lakes include Hardy Lake Provincial Park and Torrance Barrens Conservation Area.

Communities

The township contains the communities of:

Bala
Bala Park
Bardsville
Barlochan
Baysville
Bear Cave
Beatrice
Beaumaris
Bent River
Brackenrig
Cedar Village
Dee Bank
Dixon's Corners
Dudley
Duffy
Echo Beach
Ferndale
Foot's Bay
Glen Orchard
Gregory
Gull Rock
Hekkla
Inverness Lodge
Juddhaven
Mendora
Milford Bay
Minett
Morinus
Mortimers Point
Park Beach
Port Carling
Port Keewaydin
Port Sandfield
Raymond
Redwood
Roderick
Rossclair
Rosseau Falls
Rostrevor
Shannon Hall
Sunset Beach
Thorel House
Tomelin Bluffs
Torrance
Ufford
Ullswater
Valley Green Beach
Walkers Point
Whiteside
Willow Beach
Windermere
Woodington
Woodward Station
Ziska

Climate

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190725142720/http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_1981_2010_e.html?searchType=stnProv&lstProvince=ON&txtCentralLatMin=0&txtCentralLatSec=0&txtCentralLongMin=0&txtCentralLongSec=0&stnID=4410&dispBack=0 | archive-date = July 25, 2019

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Muskoka Lakes had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 774.46 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

| 1971 |4170 | 1976 |4813 | 1981 |4968 | 1986 |4948 | 1991 |5498 | 1996 |6061 | 2001 |6042 | 2006 |6467 | 2011 |6707 | 2016 |6588 | 2021 |7652

Economy

Timber was initially the greatest economic attraction for the region. The soil is poor and rocky and consequently is not especially suited to agriculture.

As the resource industries dried up, the area soon embraced tourism as its economic base because of its proximity to Toronto and the rest of Southern Ontario. For many Ontarians, this is the centre of cottage country.

The Muskoka Lakes Township Public Libraries offers research, literature, and cultural resources to local residents. The libraries consist of the Norma and Miller Alloway Muskoka Lakes Library main branch in the town of Port Carling, and three small branches housed in the community centres of Bala, Milford Bay, and Walker's Point.

Government

Muskoka is governed by an elected Town Council consisting of a Mayor, District Councillors and Councillors representing each of the town's three wards. In addition, three Regional Councillors each represent a ward each. The Mayor and Councillors sit on the Muskoka County Council.

Notable people

James Bartleman, politician and diplomat
Viola R. MacMillan, prospector and miner
John Wilson McConnell, sugar refiner, newspaper publisher, humanitarian and philanthropist

References

Tatley, Richard. Steamboating in Muskoka. Bracebridge, Ontario : Muskoka Litho, 1972.

References

"Certificate of Election Results". Township of Muskoka Lakes.
(July 1973). "1971 Census of Canada - Population Census Subdivisions (Historical)". Statistics Canada.
{{SCref. (2021)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

township-municipalities-in-ontario lower-tier-municipalities-in-ontario municipalities-in-the-district-municipality-of-muskoka

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