Carleton Place is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in Lanark County, about west of downtown Ottawa.
The town is situated on the edge of a large limestone plain, just south of the edge of the Canadian Shield in the deciduous forest ecoregion of North America.[Keddy, P.A. 2008. Earth, Water, Fire: An Ecological Profile of Lanark County. General Store Publishing House, Arnprior.]
History
Carleton Place was first settled by Europeans when British authorities prompted immigration to Lanark County in the early 19th century.
[Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth Century Glimpses of on Ontario County. Corporation of the County of Lanark, Perth, Ontario and General Store Publishing House, Renfrew Ontario.] The Morphy and Moore families were among the first to arrive. Edmond Morphy chose the site in 1819 when he realized there was potential in the area's waterfall. He built a mill there and was the first of many such textile and lumber industries to locate in the area. The settlement was then known as Morphy's Falls.
In 1829, the area was renamed Carleton Place (a name by local merchant Alexander Morris), after a street in Glasgow, Scotland, when a post office was constructed. In November 1870, it separated from Beckwith Township and became an incorporated village, and a town in 1890.[Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth Century Glimpses of on Ontario County. Corporation of the County of Lanark, Perth, Ontario and General Store Publishing House, Renfrew, Ontario. p. 220-222.]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Carleton Place had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . Statistics Canada cited Carleton Place as the fastest growing municipality in Canada in 2021. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Economy
The logging industry stimulated economic development in the 19th century, with white pine logs exported to Europe.
[Hughson, J.W. and C.C. J. Bond. 1965. Hurling Down the Pine. The Historical Society of the Gatineau, Old Chelsea, Quebec. First edition 1964, Revised second edition 1965.] Local forests were depleted of hemlock to provide bark for the leather tanning industry.
[Keddy, C.J. 1993. Forest History of Eastern Ontario. Prepared for the Eastern Ontario Model Forest Group, Kemptville.] Both textile and lumber mills flourished,
but none still operates. "The Findlay
Foundry", founded by David Findlay in 1862,
[Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth Century Glimpses of on Ontario County. Corporation of the County of Lanark, Perth, Ontario and General Store Publishing House, Renfrew Ontario. p. 150.] operated until 1974, making cast-iron cookware and woodstoves. Some of the designs created by this company are still being made by another company. Today, the remaining mill buildings house condominiums and high-tech industry. The "Crash Position Indicator" (CPI) was manufactured and marketed in Carleton Place by Leigh Instruments Ltd.
[ IEEE Canada – The Crash Position Indicator. Ieee.ca. Retrieved on 2011-05-13.]
Education
The Upper Canada District School Board manages public education in Carleton Place and Lanark County, while the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario is in charge of schools teaching the Catholic curriculum. Schools in the Carleton Place area include:
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Carleton Place High School
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Notre Dame Catholic High School
Notable residents
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Roy Brown, RAF pilot credited with shooting down the Red Baron
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D'Alton Corry Coleman, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway
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David Cooney, Juno Award-winning folk-rock musician, a founding member of the band Waltons
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Ryan Cuthbert, sprint kayaker, 2 time Olympian (2004 Sydney Olympics(k-4 1000m), 2008 Beijing Olympics(k-2 1000m))
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Shean Donovan, professional ice hockey player (retired), who last played for the Ottawa Senators.
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John Edwards, sprint canoer, Olympian (1972 Munich Olympics), (1976 Montreal Olympics)
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Jill Heinerth, cave diver and explorer
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Eddie MacCabe, sports editor of the Ottawa Journal and the Ottawa Citizen
[; ]
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Leslie McFarlane, wrote many of the original Hardy Boys books under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon
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Jordan McIntosh, pop-country musician, 2014 Country Music Association of Ontario Rising Star Award Recipient and 2015 Canadian Country Music Association Rising Star Award Nominee
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Bat Phillips, professional ice hockey player for the Montreal Maroons
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Andrew Willows, sprint kayaker, 2 time Olympian (2004 Athens Olympics(k-4 1000m), 2008 Beijing Olympics(k-2 500m))
Sister cities
Carleton Place is an active participant in the
Sister Cities program and has a relationship with the following municipalities:
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Franklin, Tennessee, United States (2008)
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Comrie, Scotland, United Kingdom
See also
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Carleton Place Airport
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List of francophone communities in Ontario
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List of towns in Ontario
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List of population centres in Ontario
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Carleton Place Canadians
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Carleton Place Jr. Canadians
Sources
External links
