Tweed, Ontario

This page is about the Municipality of Tweed, for the village see Tweed, Ontario (village).

Tweed
—  Township  —
Main street in Tweed
Tweed
Coordinates: 44°36′N 77°20′W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Hastings
Settled
Incorporated	1998
Government
• Type	Municipality
• Reeve	Jo-Anne Albert
• Federal riding	Prince Edward—Hastings
• Prov. riding	Prince Edward—Hastings
Area
• Land	896.98 km2 (346.33 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	5,614
• Density	6.3/km2 (16/sq mi)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Postal Code	K0K
Area code(s)	613
Website	twp.tweed.on.ca

Tweed is a municipality and a village located in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, in Hastings County.

The Municipality of Tweed is an amalgamated municipality comprising the former Village of Tweed and the former Townships of Hungerford and Elzevir & Grimsthorpe. The Municipality was officially incorporated on January 1, 1998, as a lower tier municipality within the County of Hastings two tier governing system.

As of 2004, the total land area was approximately 230,000 acres (930 km²), 30% of which was Crown land. Lakes, rivers and streams account for approximately 4,650 acres (18 km²). There are approximately 600 kilometres (370 mi) of roads throughout the Municipality. The total 2004 property assessment for the Municipality of Tweed was $309,000,000. Its composition was 84% residential, 7% farm, 6% commercial and industrial, and 3% other categories.

Lake Stoco, which borders the town of Tweed, is home to a popular and uncommon sport-fish, the muskellunge or Muskie (Esox masquinongy). The Black River joins the Moira River near the Village of Tweed.

Demographics

Population trend:

• Population in 2006: 5614 (2001 to 2006 population change: 0.0 %)
• Population in 2001: 5612
• Population in 1996:
  • Elzevir and Grimsthorpe township: 854
  • Hungerford township: 3280
  • Tweed village: 1572
• Population in 1991:
  • Elzevir and Grimsthorpe township: 781
  • Hungerford township: 3085
  • Tweed village: 1626

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 2283 (total dwellings: 2709)

Mother tongue:

• English as first language: 95.8 %
• French as first language: 0.8 %
• English and French as first language: 0.4 %
• Other as first language: 3.0 %

Forest fire protection history

See also: Wildfire suppression

The Tweed Forest Fire District was founded by the former Ontario Department of Lands and Forests (now the MNR) in 1922 as one of 17 districts to help protect Ontario's forests from fire by early detection from fire towers. The headquarters for the district were housed at Hungerford Road in town. It was the central headquarters for 21 fire lookout towers. When a fire was spotted in the forest a towerman would get the degree bearings from his respective tower and radio back the information to headquarters. When one or more towermen from other towers in the area would also call in their bearings, the forest rangers at headquarters could get a 'triangulation' read and plot the exact location of the fire on their map. This way a team of forest firefighters could be dispatched as soon as possible to get the fire under control. In 1958 the 100-foot (30 m)-tall Hungerford firetower was erected beside the station. However, in the 1970s all the towers had been decommissioned as aerial fire fighting techniques were employed. The Hungerford tower was disassembled in 1996 and placed behind the Tweed Heritage Centre.

Notable stories

• Tweed made national news in 2009 when Colonel Russell Williams, a resident of Tweed, was arrested and accused of the murders of Jessica Llyod and Corporal Marie-France Comeau. Williams was charged in 2010 with two life-sentences of first degree murder. Williams is presently serving time in Kingston, Ontario.

• One of Tweed's former claims to fame was that it had the smallest jailhouse in the province. Although its jail (4.9 metres x 6.1 metres) is indeed one of the smallest, other towns in the province have come forward with similar or smaller dimension jails. These include: Berens River, Providence Bay, Ontario, Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Rodney, Ontario, Coboconk and Creemore, Ontario. Today, the Tweed jail has been converted into a community police station.

• In 1996 the town made news when it applied for a CFL team, in an attempt to become the Green Bay of Canada. Had the attempt been successful, the team would have been known as the Tweed Muskies.

• In 1989 the Ottawa branch of the Elvis Sighting Society declared Elvis was alive and well and living in Tweed. For several years after that an Elvis is Alive festival was held in July. More recently Tweed and Elvis made the headlines when a reporter from the Toronto Sun came to investigate if there was truth to the rumours. The only evidence that remains now that Elvis may have ever been in the community is a very short road now called Elvis Lane. Oddly enough not far from the proposed site of the Tweed Muskies stadium.

• Tweed is the home of IANA Theatre Company, a critically acclaimed producer of original Canadian Musical Theatre. Founded in 2007, IANA has produced three very successful seasons in Tweed. Their upcoming 2012 Season consists of an original musical 'STALKYARD HURTS: The 2012 End of the World Reunion Tour', 'GODSPELL' the classic broadway musical, and a provincial tour of their smash hit from last season 'ALECK BELL: A Canadian Pop Rock Musical'. IANA's musical 'TWEED: A New Canadian Musical' is currently nominated for 20 BroadwayWorld.com awards for their 2011 production in Toronto. IANA operates out of the Marble Church Arts Centre in Actinolite, a builidng owned and operated by the Tweed and Area Arts Council. IANA is a professional musical theatre company whose past performers have included Melissa O'Neil (Canadian Idol), David Light (Billy Elliot: National Tour), and Loretta Bailey (Original Canadian Cast of Les Mis) to name a few. Artistic Director Tim Porter is currently nominated for the Premiere's awards of Ontario for his work with IANA.

Communities

• Actinolite
• Bogart
• Buller
• Chapman
• Cosy Cove
• Coulters Hill
• Duff Corners
• East Hungerford 44.502°N 77.151°W / 44.502; -77.151
• Elzevir
• Farrell Corners 44.452°N 77.134°W / 44.452; -77.134
• Hungerford
• Larkins
• Lime Lake
• Lodgeroom Corners
• Lost Channel 44.419°N 77.316°W / 44.419; -77.316
• Marlbank
• Moneymore
• Otter Creek
• Queensborough
• Stoco
• Sulphide
• Thomasburg 44.388961°N 77.345896°W / 44.388961; -77.345896
• Tweed

Approximately 30% of the population resides the Village of Tweed, the only urban centre. The remainder of the Municipality consists of five hamlets (Actinolite, Marlbank, Queensborough, Stoco, and Thomasburg) and a large rural area which reaches from Wadsworth Lake in the north to Roslin in the south. The residents of the hamlets and the rural area comprise the other 70% of the population. As of 2004, there were approximately 2870 households.

External links

• Municipality of Tweed
• Tweed Chamber of Commerce
• The Tweed News
• Tweed Heritage Centre
• Tweed Public Library
• IANA Theatre Company