“Kawartha” is an anglicization of the word Ka-wa-tha (from Ka-wa-tae-gum-maug or Gaa-waategamaag, a word coined in 1895 by aboriginal Martha Whetung of the Curve Lake First Nations – the word meant “land of reflections” in the Anishinaabe language, according to Whetung. The word was later changed by tourism promoters to Kawartha, meaning “bright waters and happy lands”
the population is approximately 76,000
there are approximately 40,000 private dwellings
it is about 3,000 square kilometres in size
currently the demographics are believed to be:
English: 45.2%
Canadian: 35.0%
Irish: 27.6%
Scottish: 20.3%
French: 10.4%
German: 9.4%
Dutch: 6.3%
First Nations: 2.9%
Welsh: 2.6%
Polish: 2.2%
Italian: 2.2%
Ukrainian: 2.2%
British Isles (other): 2.0%
Hungarian: 1.0%
White 95.5%
Native: 2.9%
Visible minority: 1.6%
6.downtown Lindsay is known for having one of the widest downtown streets in Ontario, designed to be wide enough to accommodate the turning radius of a four-horse hitch
7. the last Canadian National Railway (CN) train to run through City of Kawartha Lakes was on the Lindsay – Uxbridge line which ceased operation in 1991.
8. the last passenger train to run through the City of Kawartha Lakes was No. 189 with Budd Car VIA 6104 from Havelock to Toronto Union Station over Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) lines on January 14, 1990
9. it hosts the largest, outdoor kids’ road hockey tournament in Canada
Leslie M. Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973), Premier of Ontario from 1949 to 1961. First elected in 1937 to the Ontario legislature representing Victoria-Haliburton, he was known as “The Laird of Lindsay.” He combined small town values with progressive policies to lead the province through the economic boom of the 1950s.
Matthew Rose, swimmer, competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens
Ernest Thompson Seton (1860–1946), artist, naturalist and writer of realistic wild animal stories. The Thompson family arrived in Lindsay in 1866 from South Shields, England. They resided in the home they built on Stony Creek until 1870, when Seton’s father, Joseph Thompson, secured employment in Toronto as an accountant.
