Thomas Mears and David Pattee, two Americans, entered into a partnership in 1805, in order to harness the power of the lower Ottawa River and built the first sawmill on the Upper Canada side of the river. The town of Hawkesbury developed around this mill.[6] Mears also built the Union, the Ottawa River's first steamer. Demand for timber during the Napoleonic Wars created a boom. The mill complex continued to grow for at least the next half century, and by 1870 it included 145 different saws and created over 35 million board feet of lumber per year.[7]
Hamilton Sawmill, Hawkesbury, around 1859.
Workers holding measuring sticks at the Hawkesbury Mills, around 1895.
Timber and pulp-and-paper industries have been supplanted by textiles, synthetic fibres, metal extrusions, steel, glass and plastics. Hawkesbury has also become the business and service centre of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. The Grenville Canal on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River opposite Hawkesbury was an important link in the river's transportation system.
Part of Hawkesbury was submerged by the CarillonHydro-Québec dam built between 1950 and 1962, which called for the demolition of over 300 houses in and around Hawkesbury.[8] New developments today are happening due to baby boomers from Ottawa, Montreal and area purchasing some of the many new condos in town.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Hawkesbury had a population of 10,194 living in 5,080 of its 5,308 total private dwellings, a change of -0.7% from its 2016 population of 10,263. With a land area of 10.1 km2 (3.9 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,009.3/km2 (2,614.1/sq mi) in 2021.[9]
The 2006 census found that French was the native language of 77% of the population, while English was the mother tongue of 16%. A very high percentage (2.7%) claim both French and English as their mother tongues. In 2006, this was the highest proportion in Canada.[15][16]
According to the 2011 census, the percentage of the population declaring solely French as a mother tongue grew to 78.6% while the proportion of the population declaring solely English as a mother tongue declined to 15.3%. The percentage claiming both French and English as their mother tongues declined below 2.00% by 2011.[17]
In parallel to the responses to the census question about ethnocultural ancestries, which are shown below, 1.0% of the population also reported having an Aboriginal identity, while 3.1% reported having a visible minority status (including 2.0% who identified as South Asian).[18]
Single responses: 42.4% of respondents gave a single response of 'Canadian', while a further 25.3% identified with both 'Canadian', and one or more other ancestries. 13.4% of respondents gave a single response of French, 1.9% gave a single response of Irish, 1.9% gave a single response of English and 1.1% gave a single response of North American Indian.
Multiple responses: Counting both single and multiple responses, the most commonly identified ethnocultural ancestries were:
Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the total number of respondents and may total more than 100% due to dual responses. All ethnocultural ancestries of more than 1% are listed in the table above according to the exact terminology used by Statistics Canada.[19]
Transportation
Main Street (Westerly direction)
Hawkesbury is located along Prescott and Russell County Road 17, a former routing of Highway 17 and the Trans-Canada Highway which connects with Highway 417 eastwards to Montreal. Hawkesbury also connects to Highway 417 westward to Ottawa through a 17 kilometres (11 mi) spur of Highway 34.
Hawkesbury and area are served primarily by local media, media from Montreal and by media from Ottawa. The town does, however, have four radio stations which broadcast at least partially from local studios in Hawkesbury.
Newspaper
Le Régional is a bilingual independent newspaper that covers the Prescott-Russell region and the municipalities of Grenville and Grenville-sur-la-Rouge in Québec.
Le Carillon, a French-language newspaper, and its bilingual supplement The Tribune Express that cover Hawkesbury and the Prescott-Russell region and are published by the Edition André Paquette Group.
The Review is an English-language weekly newspaper that covers the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell area, which includes Hawkesbury.
^"Hawkesbury, T (Ont)". Population by mother tongue and age groups, percentage distribution (2006), for Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities) with 5,000-plus population. Statistics Canada. 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
^"Hawkesbury, T". Detailed Mother Tongue (103), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data. Statistics Canada. 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
^"Hawkesbury, T". Ethnic Origin (247), Generation Status (4), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population 15 Years and Over of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data. Statistics Canada. 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
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