The Trenton area is part of the traditional area of the Mississauga and other Indigenous First Nations. The first known expedition by Europeans in the area was one by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, which followed the Trent passing through Trenton in 1615. The Trent River is known to the Mississauga as Sangichiwigewonk, or 'fast flowing.' Settlers gave it the name 'Trent', after the River Trent in England.
The area around the mouth of the Trent River was first settled by Europeans in the 1780s, after the area was ceded to the British in 1783 as part of the Crawford Purchase. United Empire Loyalists first settled in Trenton in 1792. First named Trent Port, it was renamed Trent Town and later became Trenton. Assorted settlements and town plots in the area went under a number of names, until the Village of Trenton was incorporated in 1853. Trenton grew thanks to its port location and the area's lumber industry. During the First World War, the town was home to a major munitions plant owned by the British Chemical Company. This facility was built in 1915 to manufacture artillery, rifle, and small arms ammunition. Three weeks before the Armistice, an explosion levelled the plant. Remains of the old plant can still be found today.
Trenton was also an important film production centre. In 1917, a film studio was built in the town and a number of productions were filmed there.[2] In 1923, the Trenton Film Plant was purchased by the Ontario government to house the studio and laboratory of the Ontario Motion Picture Bureau.[2] The advent of talkies and 16mm film made the equipment at the film plant obsolete and the facility closed in 1934.[2]
Trenton was incorporated as a city in 1980. On January 1, 1998, Trenton was amalgamated with the Village of Frankford and the Townships of Murray and Sidney to form Quinte West. Home to nearly half the population of Quinte West, Trenton is the largest community within the municipality, and is one of Ontario's largest unincorporated settlements.
Economy
Canadian Forces Base Trenton/8 Wing, located on the east side of the town, is an important facility for the Royal Canadian Air Force's transport and search and rescue operations, and is Trenton's main employer.
Other large employers include Trenton Cold Storage,[3]Norampac, Kruger, Mapco, Citipack, Jobsters, Pentair Thermal Controls, Nestlé, ElectroCables, Domtech, Global Med Inc., Mckesson Canada and DECA Cables.
Tourism also plays an important role in the economy, given Trenton's location as the southern entry point for the Trent–Severn Waterway.
From 1917 to 1920, The Parker Bros. Textile Mill was a movie studio, which dubbed Trenton "Hollywood North".[2]
Transportation
Lock One on the Trent-Severn Waterway at Trenton
Highway 401 crosses the Trent River on the north side of the town. Hastings County Road 2 (formerly Ontario Highway 2) is the main east–west route through town, leading towards Brighton in the west and to Belleville in the east. The main north–south route is Hastings County Road 33 (formerly Ontario Highway 33), leading towards Picton to the south and Stirling to the north.
Trenton Airport is co-located with CFB Trenton on the east side of town.
Trenton is the starting point for the Trent–Severn Waterway and two locks (Lock 1 and Lock 2) are located in the community.[4]
Trenton also has a local public transit system, run by Quinte Access. It runs an hourly schedule Monday to Friday and limited service on Saturday (no Sunday Service, check for holidays) with Chevrolet Arboc specialized buses with ramps for wheelchairs. Several private firms also provide dispatched taxi services.
Trenton is located on the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail. Surrounding Trenton, there are numerous conservation areas, a YMCA, campsites, picnic grounds, and marinas. The area has nine golf courses, three ice hockeyrinks, numerous soccer fields, bowling, many kilometres of walking trails, a dog park, curling rinks and baseball diamonds, amongst many other recreational activities. Trenton also serves as a gateway to Prince Edward County, south of the Bay of Quinte. This area is becoming increasingly well known for its vineyards, camping, beaches and boating.
Trenton is the site of the National Air Force Museum of Canada. It features an original RAF Halifax Bomber, the 75th RCAF time capsule, a Lockheed CC-130E Hercules, and many other aircraft and exhibits. The museum is presently restoring an Avro Lancaster bomber.
Every summer CFB Trenton also is home to over one thousand Royal Canadian Air Cadets who attend two-week Familiarization Courses, three-week Introductory Specialty Courses, and six-week Advanced Specialty Courses, and has special staff positions for more senior cadets. These summer courses introduce the cadets to a military learning environment. Most camps here also go on trips to the airport, the Air Museum, and other relevant places.
Trenton is a hot spot for sport fishing. Popular freshwater fish in the Bay of Quinte and the Trent River include walleye (pickerel), bass, pike, perch, and mudcat. During particular times of the year, salmon and rainbow trout can be caught in the Trent River and in cold-water streams in the area. Each year in May, the Kiwanis Club of Trenton holds the Annual Live Release Fishing Derby, attracting thousands of sport fishermen from around North America with major prizes for tagged fish and heaviest weighed walleye and Northern pike.
In 1990, Canadian poet Al Purdy (who received the Order of Canada and the Governor General's award) published his only novel A Splinter In The Heart. It takes place entirely in Trenton and provides a historical look at the town. It mentions many of the landmarks in the city (Mount Pelion, The Bridges, Trent River, etc.) and documents the period of the town directly before and after the huge munitions plant explosion of 1918. Purdy also wrote a poem entitled "At the Quinte Hotel" about the strip club in Trenton called The Sherwood Forest Inn.[6]
Another thing that Trenton is known for is its great swimming, fishing and boating. In addition it is known for being the capital of walleye fishing.
The Bay of Quinte is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is located about 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Toronto and 350 kilometres (220 mi) west of Montreal.
Lindsay is a community of 22,367 people on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 43 km (27 mi) west of Peterborough. It is the seat of the City of Kawartha Lakes, and the hub for business and commerce in the region.
The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386-kilometre-long (240 mi) canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. Its major natural waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, Kawartha Lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and Severn River. Its scenic, meandering route has been called "one of the finest interconnected systems of navigation in the world".
Quinte West is a city, geographically located in but administratively separated from Hastings County, in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is on the western end of the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. The Lake Ontario terminus of the Trent–Severn Waterway is in the municipality.
Central Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario that lies between Georgian Bay and the eastern end of Lake Ontario.
The Trent River is a river in southeastern Ontario which flows from Rice Lake to empty into the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. This river is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway which leads to Georgian Bay. The river is 90 kilometres (56 mi) long. The Trent drains a large portion of south-central Ontario, including most of the Kawartha Lakes and their supplying watersheds.
Rice Lake is a lake located in Northumberland and Peterborough counties in south-eastern Ontario. The lake is located south of the city of Peterborough, and the Kawartha Lakes and north of Cobourg. It is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway, which flows into the lake by the Otonabee and out via the Trent. The lake is 28 kilometres (17 mi) long and 5 km wide. Its maximum depth is 10m, with a surface water level at 187 m above sea level, raised to its present height by the Hastings Dam, built in the 19th century as part of the Trent-Severn canal system. Natives called it Pemadashdakota or "lake of the burning plains".
Lake Scugog is an artificially flooded lake in Scugog, Regional Municipality of Durham and the unitary city of Kawartha Lakes in central Ontario, Canada. It lies between the communities of Port Perry and Lindsay. The lake has been raised and lowered several times over its history. Though not technically part of the Kawartha lakes due to its shallow depths, it is often geographically linked to them. Its sole outflow, the Scugog River, connects to Sturgeon Lake. Lake Scugog is in the Great Lakes Basin and forms part of the Trent–Severn Waterway.
Fenelon Falls is a village in Ontario, Canada, part of the city of Kawartha Lakes. Nicknamed the "Jewel of the Kawarthas," it has a population of 2,500 permanent inhabitants, which swells in the summer due to tourism and holiday cottages. Fenelon Falls is home to lock 34 on the Trent-Severn Waterway between Sturgeon Lake and Cameron Lake. It is primarily a tourist town and therefore is most active during the summer season. The main street of Fenelon Falls is called Colborne Street.
The Crowe River is a river in the counties of Haliburton, Hastings, Northumberland and Peterborough in southern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Lake Ontario drainage basin and is a tributary of the Trent River.
The Burnt River is a river which flows from its source at Miskwabi Lake in Highlands East, Haliburton County south into the Kawartha Lakes region. It empties into Cameron Lake in the city of Kawartha Lakes, part of the Trent–Severn Waterway. The town of Burnt River is located near its southern end.
Bobcaygeon is a community on the Trent–Severn Waterway in the City of Kawartha Lakes, east-central Ontario, Canada.
Balsam Lake is a lake in the City of Kawartha Lakes in Central Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin, is one of the lakes of the Kawartha Lakes, and is at the summit of the Trent–Severn Waterway.
Sparrow Lake is a lake in the Great Lakes Basin in Central Ontario, Canada. It is situated north-west of the town of Orillia and south of the town of Gravenhurst, Ontario and approximately 150 kilometres and a 1.5 hour drive north of the Greater Toronto Area. Sparrow Lake is the most southerly lake in the popular Muskoka tourist region.
Hastings is a community within the municipality of Trent Hills, Northumberland County, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Trans Canada Trail in what is considered to be Ontario's "cottage country". It can be reached from Highway 401 by exiting at exit 474 at Cobourg and going north on County Road 45. It can be reached from Highway 7 at the Norwood exit going south.
Jack Lake is a lake and reservoir in the municipalities of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen and North Kawartha, Peterborough County in Central Ontario, Canada, about 100 mi (160 km) directly northeast of Toronto and at the edge of the Canadian Shield in the northeastern portion of the Kawartha lakes region. The lake is in the Great Lakes Basin, and serves as a small headwater pond for the Trent-Severn Waterway. The Dispersed rural community of Jack Lake is on the northwest shore of the lake, reached by Peterborough County Road 52 / Jack Lake Road from the community of Apsley, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the north on Ontario Highway 28.
Stony Lake is a lake in Peterborough County in central Ontario, Canada. There are three interconnected lakes which together are known as Stony or Stoney Lake. Stoney Lake forms the eastern end of the Kawartha Lakes region. It is primarily a summer cottage area but there are many permanent residences on the lakes.
The Gull River is a river in Algonquin Highlands and Dysart et al, Haliburton County and the single-tier municipality of Kawartha Lakes in south-central Ontario, Canada. It is in the Trent River and Lake Ontario drainage basins, and flows from southern Algonquin Provincial Park to Balsam Lake on the Trent–Severn Waterway.
Pigeon Lake is a lake in Central Ontario, Canada. It is one of a group of lakes called the Kawartha Lakes, which are the namesake of the city of Kawartha Lakes, and part of the Trent–Severn Waterway, thus in the Lake Ontario drainage basin. Pigeon Lake is 27 km long and up to 3 km wide.
Silver Lake is a small lake in the city of Kawartha Lakes in Central Ontario, Canada. Located near the community of Coboconk, it is the lowest lake on the Gull River, a drainage basin that supplies water at its mouth to Balsam Lake at the top of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Like many other lakes in the Kawarthas, Silver Lake lies in a depression formed between the Precambrian granite to the north, and the Ordovician limestone to the south.
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