Settlement wasn’t progressing well in the northern part of Peterborough County in the late 1850s and early 1860s.
It was hard to get people to move to the area, and that is how the story of Haliburton County came to be.
The Canadian Land and Emigration Company, in London, England, purchased nine townships from the Crown in 1861 in what is today’s Municipality of Dysart et al. Access to these lands for settlers was a difficult and arduous task, involving strenuous travel over rough trails and waterways.
If you bought land directly from the company, they would guarantee you had certain amenities to survive, such as a school, a church, a doctor, and merchant mills. By forming their own County, it gave newcomers the legal right to seek funds, and other necessities for life.
On June 18, 1874, the first Haliburton County council meeting was held. A couple of weeks later, it met to discuss railway matters. Since settlement was still slow due to isolated towns, they started building the Victoria Railway, between Lindsay and Haliburton, in August 1874.
The Provisional County of Haliburton became the County of Haliburton in 1983.
The centennial was in 1974. Bill Gliddon, a resident of Haliburton, composed a theme song, dedicated to members of the Centennial choir and to every person proud to call Haliburton County home.
Some of its verses include “Haliburton County, happy home of those who love your hills and shores, your flaming hills of autumn hue, your laughing streams and lakes so blue” and “O may our County ever be a home of hospitality, where all are welcome, all are free to share the beauty that we see.”
Steve Hill, a local historian and former curator with the Haliburton Highlands Museum, said “it was a big treat for people in Haliburton to be able to afford a ticket to Lindsay on the train. It was not an easy life here, trying to farm out of the wilderness. You look at the soil and the rocks and everything, and it was tough going, but people that stayed behind here, they dug their heels in and refused to be quitters.”
The County council and the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce, which was incorporated in 1964, organized a Haliburton County Day at Ontario Place in Toronto. Approximately 1,800 Haliburtonians went to Ontario Place on May 25 and were entertained for eight hours in the Forum by County talent. It was also heard across the province on a two-hour CBC radio show. Over 30 buses were hired to take entertainers, their families, and many others to Ontario Place. Many local organizations contributed financially to lower the cost of transportation, such as the Haliburton and Minden Rotary clubs, Minden Kinsmen, the Royal Canadian Legion, board of education, Wilberforce firemen, Chamber of Commerce and others.
150th celebrations
Angelica Ingram, the County’s tourism manager, said there won’t be a single event to help celebrate the 150th, but rather, a series of smaller events.
“We’re just going to have a bunch of smaller, different events and activities happening throughout the year,” Ingram said.
She added, “Hike Haliburton is one of the events that we organize; a fall edition is coming in September, and we’re hoping to have a little bit of a historical twist to that event this year.
“We have a ‘then and now’ photo contest happening throughout the County with some historical landmark photos, and we’re hoping people will enter that contest. We have someone giving out swag at events. We have tote bags and sweatshirts; we’re giving them out at various community events.”
Ingram went on to say there will be more things coming up, such as banners in the downtown, and historical guided tours at the Haliburton Museum.
