Belleville, Ontario

Front Street, 1900

Front Street, 1972

Belleville Armoury is a recognized Federal Heritage building, listed in 1992 on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings.[5]

Flowerbed beside Highway 401 near Belleville

The settlement was first called Singleton's Creek after an early settler, George Singleton. Next it was called Meyer’s Creek, after prominent settler and industrialist John Walden Meyers (1745–1821), one of the founders of Belleville. He built a sawmill and grist mill.[6][7] After an 1816 visit to the settlement by colonial administrator Sir Francis Gore and his wife, Lady Annabella Gore, it was renamed as Belleville in her honour.[8]

Henry Corby, who arrived in 1832 with his new wife Alma Williams (they had married before immigrating), settled in Belleville. He was a merchant, setting up a grocery store and other businesses. He founded the H. Corby Distillery, and promoted the municipality. He also represented it in Parliament.

Their son Henry Corby Jr. (Harry) took over the family business and continued to support the town: he donated funding to create the public library, helped develop the park at Massassaga Point, established the Corby Charitable Fund, helped raise funds to build the first bridge across the Bay of Quinte[9] and donated the land and development of Corby Park.[10]

In 1836 Belleville became an incorporated village.[11] By 1846, it had a population of 2040. Several stone buildings were soon constructed, including a jail and court house, as well as some of the seven churches. Transportation to other communities was by stagecoach and, in summer, by steamboat along the lake. Two weekly newspapers were published. The post office received mail daily. Several court and government offices were located here. In addition to tradesmen, there was some small industry, three cloth factories, a paper mill, two grist mills, three tanneries and two breweries. The seventeen taverns outnumbered the churches and most businesses.[12] The oldest surviving residence within the original boundaries, 67 South Front Street, was built by Alexander Oliphant Petrie in 1814.[13]

With the completion of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1856, Belleville became an important railway junction. Added to a booming trade in lumber and successful farming in the area, the railway helped increase the commercial and industrial growth. Belleville was incorporated as a town in 1850.[14]

In 1858 the iron bridge was completed over the Moira River at Bridge Street; it was the first iron bridge in Hastings County. By 1865, the population reached 6,000.[11] Telephone service to 29 subscribers was in place by 1883; electricity became available in 1885 and in 1886, the town began to offer municipal water service. In 1870, Ontario's first school for the deaf was established in Belleville. Under Dr. Charles B. Coughlin, the school was recognized as making a significant contribution to special education. Originally called the Ontario Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, the facility was renamed as Ontario School for the Deaf. In 1974, it was renamed as the Sir James Whitney School.[15]

Belleville's city hall operates in a building first constructed in 1873 to house the public market and administrative offices. It was designed in the High Victorian Gothic style and retains much of its original appearance.[16][17] In 1877, Belleville was legally incorporated as a city.[14]

In 1998, the city was amalgamated with the surrounding Township of Thurlow to form an expanded City of Belleville as part of Ontario-wide municipal restructuring. The city also annexed portions of Quinte West to the west.

Late-20th-century franchises founded here include the Dixie Lee Fried Chicken chain in 1964 and, in 1978, Journey's End Corporation's economy, limited-service hotel chain.

Belleville is located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in southeastern Ontario between the cities of Quinte West to the west and Napanee to the east. These cities are connected by both Ontario's Highway 2 and the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway 401); The city is also served by Highway 37, running north–south from Belleville towards Tweed to the east of the Moira River; and Highway 62 (once Highway 14 south of 401), northwards towards Madoc, and southward to Prince Edward County over the Bay Bridge.

Belleville is located in a transitional zone which may be considered part of either the Central Ontario or Eastern Ontario regions by different sources. Officially, Belleville is properly considered part of the Central Ontario region as it is located west of the St. Lawrence River's starting point, but the city is popularly considered part of Eastern Ontario as it shares the eastern region's area code 613 and K postal code.

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Belleville had a population of 55,071 living in 23,536 of its 24,582 total private dwellings, a change of 8.6% from its 2016 population of 50,716. With a land area of 247.15 km² (95.43 sq mi), it had a population density of 222.8/km² (577.1/sq mi) in 2021.[22]

At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Belleville - Quinte West CMA had a population of 111,184 living in 46,213 of its 48,274 total private dwellings, a change of 7.5% from its 2016 population of 103,401. With a land area of 1,337.5 km² (516.4 sq mi), it had a population density of 83.1/km² (215.3/sq mi) in 2021.[23]

Belleville's population is mostly of European descent. The racial make up of Belleville is as of 2021 is 85.1% White, 5.6% Indigenous and 9.3% visible minorities.[24] The largest visible minority groups in Belleville are South Asian (3.9%), Black (1.3%), Filipino (0.9%) and Chinese (0.8%) .

89.7% of residents speak English as their mother tongue. Other common first languages are French (1.5%), Gujarati (0.7%), Punjabi (0.6%), Spanish (0.5%), and Chinese (0.5%). 1.1% list both English and a non-official language as mother tongues, while 0.4% list both English and French.

As of 2021, 53.4% of residents are Christian, down from 67.1% in 2011.[25] 22.7% are Protestant, 19.8% are Catholic, 6.0% are Christian n.o.s. 4.9% are members of other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. 42.1% are non-religious or secular, up from 30.3% in 2011. The remaining 4.5% affiliate with another religion, up from 2.6% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religions are Hinduism (1.4%), Sikhism (1.0%) and Islam (0.8%).

Bridge Street United Church

Procter & Gamble, Kellogg's, Bardon Supplies Limited, Redpath, W.T. Hawkins Ltd, Sigma Stretch Film Canada, Hexo Cannabis, Autosystems Manufacturing (Magna International), Amer Sports Canada, and Avaya (formerly Nortel) are corporations operating in Belleville. Many other manufacturing sector companies operate within the City of Belleville, including Bioniche Life Sciences, Sprague Foods, Airborne Systems Canada Ltd, Berry Plastics Canada, CPK Interior Products, Hanon (formerly Halla) Climate Control Canada, Reid's Dairy, Parmalat Canada – Black Diamond Cheese Division and Norampac Inc.

Belleville is home to two shopping malls: The Bay View Mall in east-end Belleville and the Quinte Mall along Bell Boulevard (south of Highway 401) in North Belleville. In January 2017 a Shorelines Casino opened on Bell Boulevard.

The Belleville Senators play in the American Hockey League (AHL) and began play in the 2017–18 season as the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators.[26] They play at the CAA Arena, formally Yardmen Arena, located on 265 Cannifton Road.

Belleville Bulls played in the Ontario Hockey League from 1981 to 2015. The team was then sold and relocated to Hamilton, Ontario. Belleville was also previously home to two senior hockey teams, the Belleville Macs and the Belleville McFarlands. Belleville is also home the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, which challenged for the America's Cup in 1881. Belleville also sports minor hockey league teams such as the Belleville Bearcats (female) and the Belleville Jr. Bulls (male).

The Belleville McFarlands were a men's senior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association Senior division from 1956 to 1961. The McFarlands were Allan Cup champions in 1958, defeating the Kelowna Packers four games to three, and the World Championship in 1959. The team name was revived by a later team in the Eastern Ontario Senior Hockey League from 2003 to 2006, known as the Belleville Macs.

Shannonville Motorsport Park has hosted rounds of the Canadian Touring Car Championship, the Canadian Superbike Championship and the CASC Ontario Region championships.

Belleville City Hall, built in 1873

Local government is represented by Belleville City Council with a mayor and eight councillors. There are two city wards with Ward 1 (Belleville) represented by six councillors and Ward 2 (Thurlow) by two councillors. Ward 1 consists of the historic city and Ward 2 was created in 1998 with the amalgamation of Township of Thurlow. City Council sits at Belleville City Hall.

The City of Belleville has three sister city arrangements with communities outside of Canada which include:[31]

• Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, Germany – established in 1971
• Gunpo, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea – established in 1996
• Zhucheng, Shandong, People's Republic of China – established in 1996

• Belleville Cemetery
• Belleville Transit
• Foxboro

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belleville, Ontario.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Belleville, Ontario.

• Official website