Area Description

Uxbridge is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, in the Regional Municipality of Durham, in the Greater Toronto Area.

The main centre in the township is the namesake community of Uxbridge. Other communities within the township include Coppins Corners, Goodwood, Leaskdale, Sandford, Siloam, Victoria's Corner, and Zephyr.

It was named for Uxbridge, England, of which the name is derived from "Wixan's Bridge". The Wixan were a 7th-century Saxon tribe from Lincolnshire who also began to settle in what became Middlesex. Anglo-Saxons began to settle and farm in the area of Uxbridge, England in the 5th century, clearing the dense woodland and remaining there for around 500 years. Uxbridge, UK became part of the Elthorne Hundred with other villages in the area. The town later appears in records from 1107 as "Woxbrigge".

The first settlers in the area were Quakers who started arriving in 1806 from the Catawissa area of Pennsylvania. The community's oldest building, the Uxbridge Friends Meeting House, was built in 1820 and overlooks the town from Quaker Hill, a kilometre to the west.

The township was incorporated as a municipality in 1850 and became part of the newly formed Ontario County two years later.

The first passenger carrying narrow gauge railway in North America, the Toronto and Nipissing Railway arrived in Uxbridge in June 1871, and for over a decade Uxbridge was the headquarters of the railway. In 1872, the Village of Uxbridge was separated from the Township and incorporated as a separate entity.

With the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1974, Uxbridge Township was amalgamated with the Town of Uxbridge and Scott Township to create an expanded Township of Uxbridge.

According to the 2011 Census, the township has a population of 20,623 over an area of 420.65 km-¦. The population has increased 7.6% since 2006 and has a density of 49.0 people per square kilometre.

The urban centre of Uxbridge has a population of 11,531 as of 2011, up from 10,175 in 2006. This is a growth rate of 13.3%.

Major hurdles must be jumped if the town wishes to continue on this level of growth. Uxbridge's sewage system is reaching its maximum capacity, and with the exception of a couple small developments, the system must be expanded if the town wishes to continue to grow.

English is the mother tongue of 91.7% of the population, whereas French, the other official language, of 1.0%. German is the mother tongue of 1.4% of the residents of Uxbridge, while native speakers of Italian make up exactly 1.0% of the population.