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Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part of the extended urban area in southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe. As of the 2021 census, the city's population was 147,829, while the census metropolitan area had a population of 212,856 residents.
The area was first settled during the War of 1812 as a supply depot for British forces, and Barrie was named after Sir Robert Barrie. The city has grown significantly in recent decades due to the emergence of the technology industry. It is connected to the Greater Golden Horseshoe by Ontario Highway 400 and GO Transit. Significant sectors of the city's diversified economy include education, healthcare, information technology and manufacturing.
Barrie played an integral role in the War of 1812. During the war, the city became a supply depot for British forces and, in addition, the Nine Mile Portage was adopted by the British military as a key piece of their supply line which provided a strategic path for communication, personnel and vital supplies and equipment to and from Fort Willow and Georgian Bay/Lake Huron. Today, the Nine Mile Portage is marked by signs along roads in Barrie and in Springwater Township. The scenic path from Memorial Square to Fort Willow is accessible to visitors year-round.
In 1815, Treaty 16 was signed, which transferred 250,000 acres of land from the Chippewa people to the colonial government. In 1818, Treaty 18 was signed, which resulted in the surrender of an additional 1,592,000 acres of land. The British supply depot would continue to prove useful for portaging Europeans and settlers making their way to northern and western Upper Canada.
The city was named in 1833 after Robert Barrie, who was in charge of the naval forces in Canada and frequently commanded forces through the city and along the Nine Mile Portage. Barrie was also the final destination for a branch of the Underground Railroad. In the mid-19th century, this network of secret routes allowed many American slaves to enter Barrie and the surrounding area. This contributed to the development (and name) of nearby Shanty Bay. In 1846, the population of Barrie was roughly 500, mostly from England, Ireland and Scotland. A private school, three churches, a brick courthouse and a limestone jail, (built in 1842), were in operation. Local businesses included three , six stores, three tanneries, a wagon maker, a bakery, a cabinet maker and six shoemakers, as well as a bank.
By 1869, Barrie became the county seat of Simcoe County, flourishing with a population of over 3,000 people. With this population increase came the establishment of prominent businesses and landmarks. In 1850, Edward Marks had established the Barrie Hotel (now called the Queen's Hotel), the oldest continuously running hotel in Barrie, James and Joseph Anderton established the Anderton Brewery in 1869, which would go on to be one of Barrie's largest employers for years, and Edmund Lally opened one of the Canadian Bank of Commerce's original branches in Barrie in 1867. A line of the Northern Railway was opened in 1853, connecting Barrie with Toronto and several other municipalities in Simcoe County and Muskoka. The Hamilton and North-Western Railway (H&NW) also ran through Barrie, and the two railways would eventually reorganize into the Northern and North Western Railway in June 1879. Allandale Station was the primary train station serving Barrie at the time. The Grand Trunk Railway purchased the original Northern Railway in 1888, and the line serving Barrie would become a branch of the Canadian National Railway (CNR). Throughout the latter of the 19th century, ran from Barrie to the Muskoka Territory, Orillia and other communities and stages were taking passengers to Penetanguishene. The Province of Ontario Gazetteer and Directory. H. McEvoy Editor and Compiler, Toronto : Robertson & Cook, Publishers, 1869
The period of 1870 to 1890 defined Barrie's downtown development with a series of raging fires that sequentially destroyed multiple landmarks, giving rise to the moniker that Barrie was "among the best burning towns in Canada." Many local businesses like breweries, tanneries and sawmills depended on fire to operate, endangering the ramshackle assortment of wooden homes and buildings that made up the city centre.
One of the most destructive fires came in mid-1875 when the entire section north of Dunlop Street to Collier Street, bounded by Clapperton and Owen Streets, was reduced to ash, destroying around 20 local businesses.
During the First World War, residents of Barrie helped to construct Canadian Forces Base Borden (CFB Borden) as a means of additional support and to serve as a major training centre of Canadian Expeditionary Force battalions. The base would open on July 11, 1916, and since then has become the largest Canadian Forces Base in Canada, playing an important role through the remainder of the war by training some 350,000 troops for deployment in Europe. During World War II, the Royal Canadian Navy named a .
On September 7, 1977, a private aircraft, owned by Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd, dropped altitude to in dense fog and struck CKVR's transmitter tower, killing all five people aboard the plane and destroying the tower and antenna. The station's auxiliary tower was also destroyed with damage to the main studio building. CKVR returned to the air on September 19 at a reduced power of 40,000 watts until a new tower was built in 1978.
The 1980s and 1990s was a period of substantial growth for Barrie, with the population tripling in the span of 25 years. In 1981, the city had a population of 38,423; in 2006, Barrie had 128,430 residents living within city limits. The first larger scale developments would begin during this time, including high-density waterfront condos and the new Barrie City Hall which started construction in October 1985.
On May 31, 1985, Barrie was struck by a devastating F4 tornado that killed eight people. Over 600 homes were damaged or destroyed by the tornado, and of those roughly one-third were rendered uninhabitable. About 155 people were also injured during the storm, and the tornado remains today one of the most destructive and violent in Canadian history. The tornado caused $150 million (1985 Canadian dollar), equivalent to $326 million CAD as of 2022.
Between June 12–13, 1987, a sculpture called Spirit Catcher by Ron Baird was moved to Barrie from Vancouver, British Columbia, where it had been exhibited as part of Expo '86. The sculpture was permanently erected at the foot of Maple Avenue on the shore of Kempenfelt Bay and has since become a major Barrie landmark and tourist attraction. However, with the re-development along the waterfront and Lakeshore Drive, the city is considering moving the Spirit Catcher to a gravel outcropping at the foot of Bayfield Street.
Barrie's Park Place (formerly Molson Park) was chosen to host Live 8 Canada on July 2, 2005. The overall success of the concert helped support a plan to convert the former Molson Park lands into a commercial district. Construction of Park Place began in 2008 but was temporarily interrupted by the Great Recession and an Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) appeal that proposed a rezoning of the Park Place lands that was initially denied by the City of Barrie. Construction resumed in 2010.
An explosion in the Royal Thai restaurant, housed in the landmark Wellington Hotel at the "Five Points" intersection in downtown Barrie, occurred at 11:20pm on December 6, 2007. The fire quickly spread to several neighbouring buildings and firefighters battled the blaze well into the following morning, requiring assistance from other Simcoe County fire services. Officials estimated the damages to be in the millions. The 100-year-old Wellington Hotel building collapsed later in the morning. On February 17, 2008, two people were charged in connection with the fire after the Ontario Fire Marshal's office concluded the explosion and subsequent fire were the result of arson.
In 2013, Barrie was Sister city with the English town of Harrogate as a result of Sir Robert Barrie's close connection to it.
On July 15, 2021, a tornado struck neighbourhoods in south Barrie, leaving several people injured and causing serious damage to property. Environment Canada categorized it as an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
Barrie's historic downtown area is situated in a distinct curved or wrapped valley, surrounding the western edge of Kempenfelt Bay. Terrain is generally flat near the city's centre. Moving up the valley slopes toward the city's north and south ends, the terrain can be rather steep in some areas. The minimum elevation of Barrie is around the shores of Kempenfelt Bay and the maximum elevation is northwest of the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport.
Barrie falls into Plant Hardiness Zone 5b. The city does not have any major rivers within its limits but does have numerous creeks and streams, most of which empty into Kempenfelt Bay.
Winters are cold with frequent snowfall, the January average high temperature being , with a mean temperature of . Barrie is located in a snowbelt, a region that experiences regular lake-effect snow every year. Snow squalls are a common occurrence between November and January when the water temperature is often higher than the cold air passing over Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. The city averages of snow annually, the brunt of which coming from lake-effect snow events. and also generate ample snowfall in the region. Snow cover begins to build by the end of November, accumulating through December, and then lies through the end of February. March sees the spring thaw commence, with the snow cover being essentially gone by the beginning of April. Temperatures commonly drop to and occasionally drop to on the coldest nights of the year.
Summers in Barrie are warm with sometimes short stretches of hot, humid conditions. The average temperature in July is .Thunderstorms are very common in the summer months in Barrie due to the city being in a Great Lakes breeze convergence zone. Also a result, there storms are occasionally severe, bringing with them torrential rain, very strong winds and hail. Tornadoes are generally rare in the city however the deadly F4 rated Tornado did strike Barrie. In July 2021, an EF2 Tornado also hit the city. Barrie's average frost-free period is from May 26 to September 16, allowing a growing season of 113 days.
Precipitation falls year round but is typically heaviest in the summer months due to thunderstorm activity. The driest months are February through April, receiving around of precipitation each month per annum. The wettest months are August and September, seeing upwards of of precipitation each month. November is also a wet month, receiving of precipitation in the form of both rain and snow. October remains relatively dry in comparison to the months preceding and succeeding it. Despite this however, October has the most precipitation days and rainy days out of every month with 15.6 and 15.5 respectively.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Barrie was on January 8, 1886. The hottest temperature ever recorded was on July 5, 1911.
At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Barrie CMA had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
| + Panethnicity groups in the City of Barrie (2001−2021) ! rowspan="2" | Panethnicity group ! colspan="2" | 2021 ! colspan="2" | 2016 ! colspan="2" | 2011 ! colspan="2" | 2006 ! colspan="2" | 2001 | ||||
| European | 115,215 | 119,535 | 119,705 | 115,650 | 95,865 | |||||
| South Asian | 6,435 | 3,035 | 1,760 | 1,590 | 990 | |||||
| African-Canadian | 5,670 | 3,695 | 2,525 | 1,880 | 1,185 | |||||
| Indigenous | 5,320 | 5,255 | 3,440 | 2,660 | 1,520 | |||||
| East Asian | 3,255 | 2,450 | 1,790 | 1,600 | 1,195 | |||||
| Southeast Asian | 3,035 | 1,885 | 1,455 | 1,275 | 555 | |||||
| Latin American | 2,910 | 1,465 | 1,105 | 1,020 | 540 | |||||
| Middle Eastern | 1,875 | 720 | 450 | 555 | 320 | |||||
| Other | 1,660 | 1,020 | 1,015 | 585 | 180 | |||||
Notwithstanding these major employers, Barrie has increasingly been perceived as a bedroom community for the City of Toronto, which is approximately south of Barrie. In recent decades however Barrie's economy has diversified, and the local population's reliance on commuting to Toronto has decreased. The city's economy is rooted in retail, education, healthcare, services, manufacturing and technology. Major employers in the city include the Simcoe County District School Board with 6,000 employees along with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board with 3,400 employees, Georgian College with 2,500 employees and the Royal Victoria Hospital with 2,465 employees.
Barrie has emerged as a growing tech-hub with several companies such as IBM and BMO constructing data centres in the city. Although not as prominent as cities like Markham or Waterloo in the tech industry, Barrie is considered one of the best high-tech centres in the country for small markets.
In the summer months, the city has several beaches including Minet's Point Beach, Johnsons Beach, The Gables, Tyndale Beach, and Centennial Beach. Boating is also popular in Kempenfelt Bay and Lake Simcoe as it connects to the Trent Severn Waterway. In 2011, Barrie's waterfront was under redevelopment, with the relocation of several roadways to provide more greenspace and parkland along the lakeshore. There are a number of winter recreation activities and facilities in the surrounding area, including skiing, snow tubing and snowboarding resorts, snowmobile, snowshoe and Nordic skiing trails, and ice fishing. Recreational activities include skiing at nearby Horseshoe Resort, Snow Valley, Mount St. Louis Moonstone, Blue Mountain and Hardwood Ski and Bike.
The Georgian Theatre is a professional performing arts facility located in Barrie's north end on the campus of Georgian College. The theatre features a proscenium stage, sound, lights, fly gallery and seating for 427 on the main level, with three pods that can be used to increase the seating capacity to 690. The Theatre is used both for theatrical and non-theatrical activity, including conferences and seminars.
Barrie is also home to many independent galleries and studios. A concentration of independent galleries, studios and boutiques is located in Lakeshore Mews. This area is located behind the downtown's Dunlop Street. Lakeshore Mews artists also organize the annual "Arts ce Soir"; an all-night contemporary art event in celebration of visual, musical, theatrical and literary art.
In addition, a studio tour in the Barrie/Orillia area takes place on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend every year. It is called the Images Studio Tour and has over 25 artists on average. Pottery, Jewellery, Painting, Textile arts and make up a few of the disciplines of the talents on display.
Since 2021, Barrie has held Open Air Dunlop, in which Dunlop Street downtown is temporarily pedestrianized to attract visitors to the downtown area.
| Simcoe County Rovers | Soccer | League1 Ontario | Georgian College | 2022 | 1 |
| Georgian College | |||||
| Barrie Colts | 1 | ||||
| 0 | |||||
| Barrie Baycats | 7 | ||||
| Barrie Rugby | 0 |
Barrie is also home to the Mariposa School of Skating, which has trained many world-class figure skaters, including Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko and Jeffrey Buttle.
| Andrea Khanjin | June 7, 2018 | present | Barrie—Innisfil | |
| Doug Downey | June 7, 2018 | present | Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte |
| John Brassard | October 19, 2015 | present | Barrie—Innisfil | Doug Shipley | October 21, 2019 | present | Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte |
In 1885, four companies from the 35th Simcoe Foresters, including those from Barrie, along with four companies from the 12th York Battalion came together to form the York-Simcoe Battalion. This specially raised battalion served in Western Canada during the North-West Rebellion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel W.E. O'Brien of Shanty Bay, Ontario. For its efforts, The Simcoe Foresters received its first Battle Honour "North West Canada 1885". Citizens of Barrie would next volunteer for military service during the Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. It was during this conflict that at the Battle of Paardeberg, the citizens of Barrie and The Simcoe Foresters suffered their first fatal casualty, Private James Halkett Findlay. Private Findlay was killed-in-action on February 18, 1900, while serving with C Company of the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry.
In 1914, the First World War broke out and many citizens of Barrie were quick to volunteer for service overseas with The Simcoe Foresters. Late the following year, the Regiment was tasked with raising two overseas battalions, the 157th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters), CEF and the 177th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters), CEF. In the spring of 1916, the Barrie and Collingwood companies of the 157th Battalion began clearing the land for the construction of a new military camp on the Simcoe Pines Plain — Camp Borden (now CFB Borden). This began Barrie's long friendship with the Base, hence the reason CFB Borden was used for Canada's Worst Driver 2 and Canada's Worst Driver 5.
With a re-organization of the Canadian Militia between the two world wars, The Simcoe Foresters, headquartered in Barrie, were amalgamated in 1936 with the Grey Regiment, headquartered at Owen Sound, Ontario. This event created the present-day regiment of The Grey and Simcoe Foresters, which is headquartered at the Armoury in Queen's Park, downtown Barrie. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, citizens of Barrie volunteered for service overseas with The Grey and Simcoe Foresters, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. The City of Barrie sponsored a ship in the Royal Canadian Navy, HMCS Barrie, a Flower-class corvette.
The portion of Highway 11 through Barrie is known as Yonge Street, though it is actually part of the Penetanguishene Road. Major arterial roads within the city include Mapleview Drive, Ferndale Drive, 10th Line, Big Bay Point Road, Essa Road, Huronia Road, Bayfield Street, Cundles Road, Anne Street, Dunlop Street, Livingstone Street, Duckworth Street, Wellington Street and St. Vincent Street.
Barrie once had been served by various private interurban bus lines such as Penetang-Midland Coach Lines and Greyhound Canada, which ran buses between Barrie and Toronto's Yorkdale Bus Terminal. Greyhound operated QuickLink commuter service from Barrie to Toronto seven days a week. In the past Gray Coach offered service from Toronto to Barrie; the route was later acquired by Greyhound. Greyhound Canada ended all service in Ontario on May 13, 2021.
Barrie is also served by Simcoe County LINX, which provides services between municipalities within Simcoe County, including Orillia, Midland and Penetanguishine.
| FM Broadcasting 93.1 | CHAY-FM | Fresh Radio | Hot adult contemporary/Top 40 | Corus Entertainment | |
| FM Broadcasting 95.7 | CFJB-FM | Rock 95 | active rock | Central Ontario Broadcasting (Rock 95 Broadcasting (Barrie-Orillia) Ltd.) | |
| FM Broadcasting 98.5 | CKEY-FM | tourist information | Douglas George Edwards | CKEY-FM, Tourist, Barrie - Canadian Communications Foundation CKEY-FM Barrie, ON - fccdata.org | |
| FM Broadcasting 100.3 | CJLF-FM | Life 100.3 | Christian radio | Trust Communications Ministries, Inc. | |
| FM Broadcasting 101.1 | CIQB-FM | Big FM | Classic Hits | Corus Entertainment | |
| FM Broadcasting 106.7 | CFRH-FM | Community radio (French language) | Radio-Huronie(La Clé d'la Baie en Huronie, Association Culturelle Francophone) | Rebroadcaster of CFRH-FM Penetanguishene | |
| FM Broadcasting 107.5 | CKMB-FM | Kool FM | Hot adult contemporary | Central Ontario Broadcasting (Rock 95 Broadcasting (Barrie-Orillia) Ltd.) |
Other radio stations from Orillia, Midland, Newmarket, Toronto and the surrounding areas can also be heard in Barrie.
Television stations and rebroadcasters based in the vicinity of Barrie Region are:
| 3.1 | UHF | 10 | CKVR-DT | CTV 2 | |
| 7.1 | 7 | 3 | CIII-DT | Global Television Network | |
| – | – | 10 | – | Rogers TV | Community channel for Rogers Cable subscribers |
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