Windsor, Ontario

city in Essex County, Ontario, Canada

Windsor is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The city is across the Detroit River from the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. It is the most southern city in Canada. In 2021, Statistics Canada said the city has 229,660 people living in it.[6] It is inside Essex County, but it is independent from the county.

Windsor
City of Windsor
From top, left to right: Downtown Windsor skyline, Ambassador Bridge, WFCU Centre, Dillon Hall at University of Windsor, and Caesars Windsor
Coat of arms of Windsor
Official logo of Windsor
Nicknames: 
Motto(s): 
The river and the land sustain us. - “The Place to Be.”
Location in the Detroit–Windsor region
Location in the Detroit–Windsor region
Windsor is located in Southern Ontario
Windsor
Windsor
Location within southern Ontario
Windsor is located in Ontario
Windsor
Windsor
Location within Ontario
Windsor is located in Canada
Windsor
Windsor
Location within Canada
Coordinates: 42°18′08″N 82°59′37″W / 42.30222°N 82.99361°W / 42.30222; -82.99361 (Windsor)[2]
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
Census divisionEssex
Settled1749
Incorporated1854
Named forWindsor, Berkshire
Government
 • TypeCouncil-Manager
 • MayorDrew Dilkens
 • Governing bodyWindsor City Council
 • MPsBrian Masse (NDP),
Irek Kusmierczyk (LPC)
 • MPPsLisa Gretzky (NDP),
Andrew Dowie (PC)
Area
 • City (single-tier)146.32 km2 (56.49 sq mi)
 • Urban
175.77 km2 (67.87 sq mi)
 • Metro
1,022.84 km2 (394.92 sq mi)
Elevation
190 m (620 ft)
Population
 (2021)
 • City (single-tier)229,660 (23rd)
 • Urban
306,519 (16th)
 • Metro
422,630 (16th)
DemonymWindsorite
Gross Metropolitan Product
 • Windsor CMACA$16.4 billion (2019)[5]
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Forward sortation area
Area codes519, 226 and 548
Websitewww.citywindsor.ca

History

change
 
Windsor as shown in an 1881 map of East and West Sandwich Township. From the Illustrated atlas of the Dominion of Canada.

The land first was from Native Americans. Then in 1749, the French got the land and made it a farm. The land was named la Petite Côte, meaning "Little Coast". It was later called La Côte de Misère, meaning "Poverty Coast" because of the sandy soil near LaSalle. In 1797, after the American Revolution, the British made the city "Sandwich". It was later renamed Windsor, after the town in Berkshire, England.

Windsor was part of a battle in the Upper Canada Rebellion. It was attacked by Detroit rebels who burned a steamboat and 2-3 houses.[7] They were kicked out by the police. Windsor was also part of the Patriot War.

In 1846, Windsor had 300 people. They had ferries that would go from Detroit to Windsor. The city being close to the US border made it a stop for slaves along the Underground Railroad.[8][9] People said there were 20,000 to 30,000 refugees in Canada.[10] Most of them stop at Essex County.[11][12][8]

Windsor was incorporated as a village in 1854,. The village was then connected to the Canadian National Railway. In 1858, it turned into a town. In 1892 when Windsor tried to become a city, they let people decide the name. Some names are South Detroit, The Ferry, Windsor, and Richmond. Windsor was chosen to promote English people in the city. It was also for Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. But, Richmond was used until World War II.

The Windsor Police Service was created on July 1, 1867.

A fire burned a lot of downtown Windsor on October 12, 1871, destroying more than 100 buildings.[13]

In 1935, the towns Sandwich, Ford City and Walkerville were merged into Windsor.

On October 25, 1960, a explosion destroyed the Metropolitan Store on Ouellette Avenue. 10 people were killed and at least 100 injured.[14] It was featured on History Television's Disasters of the Century.

In 1966, the nearby villages of Ojibway and Riverside were also merged into Windsor.[15]

Climate

change

Windsor has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa).[16][17] Windsor has the hottest climate in Ontario due to hot summers.[18] The yearly temperature is 9.9 °C (50 °F). The coldest month is January and the hottest month is July. The coldest temperature ever was −32.8 °C (−27.0 °F) on January 29, 1873,[19] and the hottest was 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) on June 25, 1988.[20]

Emergencies

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Windsor had historic flooding in 2016, 2017 and 2019. In 2016, the mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens, declared a state of emergency because of the really bad flooding that occurred.[21] In spring of 2019 Windsor asked for money following a lot of flooding.[22]

In 2013 when a fire broke out at a plastic recycling warehouse. This state of emergency was called due to bad air quality caused by the fire.[23]

In 2017, Windsor faced a storm that left 285 millimetres (11.2 in) of rain in 32 hours.[24]

Windsor had a lot of tornadoes. The worst tornado to touch down Windsor was an F4 in 1946.[25]

Demographics

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In the 2021 Census of Population by Statistics Canada, Windsor had 233,763 living in 94,273 of its 99,803 total houses in the city.[26]

At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Windsor CMA had a population of 422,630 living in 165,665 of its 174,072 total houses, a change of 6% from its 2016 population of 398,718. With a land area of 1,803.17 km2 (696.21 sq mi), it had a population density of 234.4/km2 (607/sq mi) in 2021.[27]

Windsor has a lot of immigrants. In 2016, 17.7% of the people are foreign-born in the metropolitan area, 22.9% of the population was foreign-born. Visible minorities make up 25.7% of the people, making it the most diverse city in Ontario outside of the Greater Toronto Area.[28][29]

Twin towns

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Windsor has 12 twin towns:[30]

References

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  1. "History of Windsor". uwindsor.ca. University of Windsor Department of History. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  2. "Windsor". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  3. "Windsor (city) community profile". 2011 Census data. Statistics Canada. February 8, 2012. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  4. "Windsor (census metropolitan area) community profile". 2006 Census data. Statistics Canada. March 13, 2007. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  5. "Table 36-10-0468-01 Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by census metropolitan area (CMA) (x 1,000,000)". Statistics Canada. January 27, 2017. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  6. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-02-09). "2021 Census of Population geographic summary: Windsor, City (CY) [Census subdivision], Ontario". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  7. Smith, Wm. H. (1846). Smith's Canadian Gazetteer - Statistical and General Information Respecting All Parts of the Upper Province, or Canada West. Toronto: H. & W. Rowsell. p. 221.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Chadwick, Bruce (1999). Traveling the underground railroad: a visitor's guide to more than 300 sites. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group. p. 272. ISBN 0806520930.
  9. Woodford, Arthur M. (2001). This is Detroit 1701–2001. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2914-4.
  10. Underground Railroad. US Department of Interior. September 1995. p. 168. ISBN 9780788146572. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  11. Hill, Daniel G. (1981). The freedom-seekers: Blacks in early Canada. Agincourt, Canada: Book Society of Canada. p. 48. ISBN 0772552835. OCLC 8114887.
  12. Switala, William (2006). Underground railroad in New Jersey and New York. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 144. ISBN 9780811746298.
  13. "The Timeline: Fire of 1871". Settling Canada's South: How Windsor Was Made. Windsor Public Library. 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  14. "1960 Explosion Remembered". Windsor Fire and Rescue Services. March 22, 2007. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  15. "History of Windsor". Citywindsor.ca. City of Windsor. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  16. Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification" (PDF). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  17. "Living in Windsor". University of Windsor. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  18. "Climate". City of Windsor. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  19. "Windsor Riverside". Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010. Environment Canada. Retrieved 7 June 2016. [permanent dead link]
  20. "Windsor A, Ontario". Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000. Environment Canada. October 31, 2011. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  21. "'Never seen anything that intense': Storms lead to state of emergency in Windsor, Tecumseh, Ont". CBC News. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  22. Trevor Wilhelm (2019-07-30). "Windsor to apply for disaster funding after recent flooding". Windsor Star. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  23. "Windsor, Tecumseh declare states of emergency due to flooding". Toronto Sun. 2016-09-30. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
  24. "Windsor flooding makes list of Top 10 weather events in 2017". Windsor Star. 2017-12-21. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
  25. "Deadly skies: Canada's most destructive tornadoes". CBC Digital Archives. 2014. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  26. "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Ontario". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  27. "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  28. "Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada – Data table". 2.statcan.ca. 2010-10-06. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  29. "Visible Minorities and Ethnicity in Ontario". Fin.gov.on.ca. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  30. "Our Twin Cities". citywindsor.ca. City of Windsor. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  31. Changchun City, China website Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  32. Griffin, Mary (2011-08-02). "Coventry's twin towns". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  33. Hook, Alison. "Windsor, Ontario, Canada". Coventry.gov.uk. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  34. L'Association socioculturelle Granby et ses villes jumelées Archived May 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  35. Gunsan City Worldwide Sisterhood Cities. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  36. "Miasta Partnerskie Lublina" [Lublin - Partnership Cities] (in Polish). City of Lublin. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  37. Lublin's Partner and Friend Cities Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  38. "Partner und Freundesstädte". Stadt Mannheim (in German). Archived from the original on November 8, 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-26.
  39. City of Windsor, Our Twin Cities (Las Vueltas) Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
  40. "Saltillo tiene pacto de hermanamiento con 15 ciudades... solo con Austin mantiene contacto". Vangaurdia (in Spanish). 26 October 2019. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  41. Città gemellate (Windsor) Archived January 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Comune.udine.it, Retrieved October 10, 2014.