• Source: Chatham-Kent

Chatham-Kent (2021 population: 103,988) is a single-tier municipality in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is mostly rural, and its population centres are Chatham, Wallaceburg, Tilbury, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Wheatley and Dresden. The current Municipality of Chatham-Kent was created in 1998 by the amalgamation of Blenheim, Bothwell, Camden, the City of Chatham, the Township of Chatham, Dover, Dresden, Erie Beach, Erieau, Harwich, Highgate, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Ridgetown, Romney, Thamesville, Tilbury East, Tilbury, Wallaceburg, Wheatley and Zone.
The Chatham-Kent census division, which includes the independent Delaware Nation at Moraviantown First Nation, had a population of 104,316 in the 2021 census.




History


The area of Chatham-Kent is part of the traditional territory of the Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe and Wyandot First Nations of Canada. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763 ceded control of the area from the French to the British, it became part of the Territory of Quebec. The title to the Chatham-Kent area was surrendered to the British as part of the 1790 McKee's Purchase, (named for Alexander McKee) to provide land for settlers. McKee's Purchase was designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada in 1931. A historical plaque for the purchase is located in Blenheim Park in Blenheim. Indigenous persons remain resident in the area today at the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown and Walpole Island First Nation.
European settlement of the former city of Chatham area began with a naval dockyard in 1792, at the fork of the Thames River with McGregor's Creek. The town was named after William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. It was built as a naval dockyard, a characteristic shared by Chatham, Kent, England. In England, the name Chatham came from the British root ceto and the Old English ham thus meaning a forest settlement. Following the American Revolution and the Gnadenhutten massacre, a group of Christian Munsee settled in what is now the Moraviantown reserve. In the War of 1812, the Battle of the Thames took place between Moraviantown and Thamesville on October 5, 1813.




= Black population

=
During the 19th century, the area was the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad. As a result, Chatham-Kent is now part of the African-Canadian Heritage Tour. Josiah Henson Museum for African-Canadian History, formally known as Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site is a museum of the Dawn Settlement, established in 1841 by Josiah Henson near Dresden as refuge for the many slaves who escaped to Canada from the United States. John Brown, the abolitionist, planned his raid on the Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Chatham and recruited local men to participate in the raid. He held in Chatham a Convention of Colored Men on May 8–10, 1858. The small village of North Buxton, part of the African Canadian Heritage Tour, also played an important role in the Underground Railroad. By the 1850s, the city of Chatham was referred to as the "black mecca of Canada". A museum in the city, the Black Mecca Museum, still bears this name. Chatham was home to a number of black churches and business, with Black Canadians making up one-third of the city's population and controlling a significant portion of the city's political power. Nearby Dresden and Buxton were also home to thousands of land-owning black residents. However, after the abolition of slavery in the United States, many black families left the area. Today the city of Chatham is just 3.3% black, with Chatham-Kent as a whole being 2.1% black. Few of the black-owned institutions are still in operation.




= After slavery ended in the United States

=
In 1846, the town of Chatham had a population of about 1,500, with part of the town being called Chatham North. There were four churches, a theatre, a weekly newspaper and a cricket club. The road between London and Amherstburg was open, and transportation by stagecoach was available. A fast boat also provided transportation to Detroit and Buffalo. Chatham had many tradesman, a foundry, two banks, three schools, a tavern and a library where one could read books and newspapers. By 1869, the population was 3,000 in this industrial area with several mills, foundries, and breweries; a great deal of wood was being produced. A steamboat offered transportation to Windsor and Detroit. There was one bank office.
Between 1906 and 1909, the city was home to the Chatham Motor Car Company, and from 1919 to 1921, Denby Motor Truck Company of Canada. It was also where the Hyslop and Ronald steam fire engine manufacturer was located; the factory would be taken over by Chatham Motor Car. In addition, it hosted meat packer O'Keefe and Drew.
The Hawaiian pizza is claimed to have been invented in Chatham in 1962 at the Satellite Restaurant by Sam Panopoulos. In the U.S., former Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes proposed building a bridge across Lake Erie linking Cleveland to the southern coast of Kent County.
Before 1998, Kent County consisted of the townships of Camden, Chatham, Dover, Harwich, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Romney, Tilbury East and Zone. In some of Canada's earliest post-Confederation censuses, some residences in Kent County were incorrectly reported as being in Bothwell "County", which was a separate electoral district comprising parts of Kent and Lambton counties but not a distinct county in its own right.
In 1998, the County of Kent and the city of Chatham were amalgamated by the Province of Ontario to form the Municipality of Chatham–Kent. Most services were also combined. Since then, bus service has begun to serve all of Chatham-Kent. Starting in 2007, routes were set up to include the former towns of Wallaceburg and Dresden. Before 1998, each town had their own fire department. It then became the Chatham-Kent Fire Department upon amalgamation. The county also had separate police departments until 1998. The city of Chatham, as well as the towns of Wallaceburg, Dresden, and Tilbury, each had their own departments. The Chatham-Kent Police Service was formed on September 1, 1998. Many residents opposed amalgamation, as 18 city councillors boycotted the official vote, and the final decision to amalgamate was imposed on the County by a provincial commissioner. In a study on amalgamations in Ontario from 2003, 48% of respondents in Chatham-Kent felt the value they received as taxpayers became worse after amalgamation, and 64% of respondents still did not think of the community as "the Municipality of Chatham-Kent."
Chatham-Kent has many historic festivals throughout the year, such as the Battle of Longwoods reenactment, which takes place on Labour Day weekend at Fairfield Museum on Longwoods Road. Chatham Kent is also home to many historic buildings which are part of an annual ghost tour offered each year at Halloween. The participants go on a guided walk of downtown while the guide informs them of various ghost stories tied to the local buildings in which they pass. Chatham-Kent was a major part of the Underground Railroad and as such hosts the Buxton Homecoming each September. This celebrates the area's black culture and the roots laid by early black settlers in the Buxton area.




Communities


The Municipality of Chatham-Kent currently consists of the following communities, listed by the Townships of the former Kent County (pre-1998 amalgamation):

Camden Township:
Dresden, Thamesville; Croton, Dawn Mills, North Thamesville; Wabash; Oakdale
Chatham Township:
Chatham, Wallaceburg; Appledore, Arkwood, Darrell, Eberts, Kent Bridge, Louisville, Oldfield, Thornecliffe, Tupperville, Turnerville, Whitebread; Ennett, Riverside
Dover Township:
Mitchell's Bay, Pain Court; Bagnall, Baldoon, Bearline, Bradley, Dover Centre, Electric, Grande Pointe, Oungah; Bass Haven
Harwich Township:
Blenheim, Erieau, Shrewsbury; Bates Subdivision, Eatonville, Erie Beach, Fargo Station, Guilds, Huffman Corners, Kent Centre, Lake Morningstar Estates, McKay's Corners, Mull, New Scotland, Northwood, Pinehurst, Raglan, Rondeau Bay Estates, Troy, Van Horne, Vosburg, Wilson's Bush; Blenheim Junction, Lynnwood Subdivision, Porkies Corners, Richardson Station, Rushton's Corners
Howard Township:
Morpeth, Ridgetown; Beechwood, Botany, Selton; Slabtown, Trinity
Orford Township:
Highgate; Clearville, Duart, Muirkirk, Palmyra, Turin; Austen's, Clachan, Henderson's, Lee's
Raleigh Township:
Charing Cross; Dealtown, Doyles, North Buxton, Ouvry, Pardoville, Prairie Siding, Rhodes, Ringold, Sleepy Hollow, South Buxton; Sandison, Southside Estates; Cedar Springs
Romney Township:
Wheatley; Coatsworth, Port Alma, Renwick; Holiday Harbour
Tilbury East Township:
Merlin, Tilbury; Fletcher, Glenwood, Jeannette, Jeannette's Creek, Port Crewe, Quinn, Stevenson, Stewart, Valetta
Zone Township:
Bothwell; Bothwell Station, Briarwood Estates; Fairfield, Zone Centre




Geography


At 2,458 square kilometres (949 sq mi), Chatham-Kent is the 9th largest municipality by area in Canada and the largest in southwestern Ontario. Over 44,000 of the 107,000 residents live in the former City of Chatham. Other population centres in the municipality include Wallaceburg, Blenheim and Tilbury, Ridgetown and Dresden.
The Lower Thames River runs through Chatham–Kent to Lake St. Clair in the west, while the Sydenham River flows through Wallaceburg and Dresden. The municipality has approximately 88 kilometres of shoreline along lake Erie and 24 kilometres along lake St. Clair.
The Indian reserve of Bkejwanong (commonly referred to as Walpole Island) borders on Chatham–Kent, whereas the Indian reserve of Moravian 47 is an enclave within the city and is part of the Chatham–Kent census agglomeration and census division.




= Climate

=
Chatham-Kent has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa), with cold, snowy winters and warm to hot, humid summers. A typical summer will feature heat waves with temperatures exceeding 30 °C (86 °F) often. Winters are cold, and feature occasional cold snaps bringing temperatures below −15 °C (5 °F), but also commonly include mild stretches of weather above freezing.




= Adjacent townships and municipalities

=
St Clair and Dawn-Euphemia (north and northwest)
Southwest Middlesex (northeast)
West Elgin (northeast and east)
Across Lake Erie: the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga, Lorain and Erie Counties, Ohio, US (south)
Lakeshore, Ontario and Leamington, Ontario (southwest and west)
Across Lake St. Clair: Macomb and St. Clair Counties, Michigan, US (west)




Demographics


In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Chatham-Kent had a population of 103,988 living in 44,028 of its 46,752 total private dwellings, a change of 2.3% from its 2016 population of 101,647. With a land area of 2,451.9 km2 (946.7 sq mi), it had a population density of 42.4/km2 (109.8/sq mi) in 2021.




= Ethnicity

=

Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.
2006 census
For all groups that comprise at least 1% of the population. Note that a person can report more than one ethnic origin.

"Canadian": 34.7%
English: 32.9%
French: 21.9%
Scottish: 20.2%
Irish: 19.1%
German: 12.2%
Dutch: 11.1%
Belgian: 5.9%
First Nations: 3.1%
Italian: 2.1%
African descent: 2.1%
Polish: 2.1%
Ukrainian: 2.0%
Welsh: 1.5%
Czech: 1.4%
Metis: 1.2%
American (modern immigrant): 1.2%
Hungarian: 1.2%
Portuguese: 1.2%
Mexican: 1.0%




= Language

=
Although most of the population of Chatham-Kent is English-speaking, a few of its communities and Catholic parishes were settled by francophone (French-speaking) farmers in the mid-nineteenth century. These include Pain Court, Tilbury and Grande Pointe, where French is still spoken by a significant percentage of the population. These communities are designated French language service areas under Ontario's French Language Services Act.
Approximately 8,500 residents of Chatham-Kent have French as a mother tongue and 1,500 have French as their home language. Essex County also has a relatively large francophone population, especially in the municipality of Lakeshore. Together, Chatham–Kent and Essex Counties make up one of the concentrations of Franco-Ontarians in the province of Ontario.
Both elementary and secondary francophone schools exist across the municipality. A French socio-cultural organization, La Girouette, which is based in Chatham, promotes French-Canadian culture and language in the area.
Knowledge of official language statistics:

English only: 92.2%
French only: <0.1%
English and French: 7.2%
Neither English nor French: 0.5%




Economy and industry


A breakdown of the total labour force in Chatham-Kent shows the leading industries (NAICS) are manufacturing, health care, and retail:

Manufacturing: 12.9%
Health care and social assistance: 12.3%
Retail trade: 11.2%
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting: 7.5%
Accommodation and food services: 6.7%
Construction: 6.5%
Educational services: 5.9%
Transportation and warehousing: 5.0%
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services: 5.0%
Public administration: 4.4%




= Agribusiness and chemical

=
At the outskirts of Chatham is the headquarters for Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited (a division of DuPont), a major agricultural seed breeding and biotechnology company.
GreenField Specialty Alcohols Inc.'s Commercial Alcohols division, Canada's largest ethanol plant and one of the world's largest, opened in Chatham in 1996. The plant produces ethanol for industrial, medical, and beverage uses.
There are a number of vineyards in the municipality.




= Automotive

=

Chatham's roots in the automotive sector go back to Gray-Dort Motors Ltd., one of Canada's earliest automobile manufacturers. In the 21st century, auto industry plants in the municipality include Autoliv Canada in Tilbury (airbags), Mahle in Tilbury (emissions controls and plastics), in Ridgetown (automotive electronic pedal assembly and sensors), Dana Canada in Chatham (heat shields for thermal and acoustic management of exhaust manifolds, catalytic converters, and turbochargers), and Vitesco Technologies (Powertrain Canada ULC) in Chatham (design, development, and testing of Actuators for clean, efficient vehicles).
Chatham-Kent also is home to RM Auctions, a vintage automobile auction house, and RM Restorations, a vintage automobile restoration company. The nickname "The Classic Car Capital of Canada" comes from the abundance of classic car events in the community.




= Energy

=
Chatham is home to a major corporate office of Enbridge Gas Inc., a natural gas utility and Enbridge company. Other energy related companies include wind farms near the shores of Lake Erie.




= Public sector

=
The Canadian Federal government is one of the largest employers in the Chatham-Kent area with over 450 employees in several departments in the area.
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability Unit is housed in the Judy Lamarsh (see Notable Residents) Building in downtown Chatham. This federal office is the single largest disability processing centre in Canada, processing 50% of all CPP Disability benefits. The office also processes Old Age Security benefit claims.




= Retail hub

=
Chatham serves as a retail centre for the municipality and surrounding area. This includes the large big-box stores in Super Centre on St. Clair Street and arguably the north end of Communication Road in Blenheim.




Attractions



The long, white sandy beaches, fishing, hiking trails and conservation areas make Erieau a popular vacation spot.
There are two Provincial Parks in Chatham-Kent: Rondeau Provincial Park and Wheatley Provincial Park,
There are also numerous local conservation areas.
Downtown Chatham is home to the annual "Retrofest" organized by the Historic Downtown Chatham BIA, in partnership with the Kent Historic Auto Club. Hundreds of classic car enthusiasts travel to downtown Chatham to showcase their classic cars and vintage vehicles.
Downtown Chatham is also home to the Chatham Capitol Theatre, a theatre that, when it opened in 1930, was the largest in the region. The theatre is run by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and hosts shows and entertainers.
Chatham was home to the Wheels Inn, a family resort for four decades until its closure in 2010. In 2011, the Chatham-Kent John D. Bradley Convention Centre was constructed on the site of the Wheels Inn. In July 2019, a new Cascades casino was opened in Chatham, close to the Convention Centre on Richmond Street.




Arts and culture


The Thames Art Gallery and ARTspace, located in the historic downtown, feature exhibitions showcasing local artists from the Chatham-Kent area, while also housing other Canadian and international works.




Health care


Chatham-Kent is served by the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. The Public General Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital in Chatham were moved to a single campus in 2004, while the former Sydenham District Hospital remains in Wallaceburg. The eastern portion of the municipality is served by the Four Counties Health Services in Newbury in nearby Middlesex County.
Research published in 2002 by the Heart and Stroke Foundation cited Chatham-Kent as a hotspot for heart disease in Ontario. Further research is underway to determine the reasons for this and other hotspots. The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit launched a campaign in fall 2007 to tackle other ailments prevalent throughout the community, including asthma, chronic allergies, sinus problems, many types of cancer, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, alcoholism, and obesity.
In October 2008, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine.
Chatham-Kent features one of the 14 provincial Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN). The Erie St. Clair (ESC) LHIN services the Chatham-Kent Community as well as Sarnia/Lambton and Windsor/Essex. The ESC LHIN is located in the town of Chatham.




Media






= Television stations

=

Chatham-Kent is also served by stations coming from Windsor, London, Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland.




= Radio broadcast stations

=




= Print media

=
The Chatham Daily News is the only daily newspaper in Chatham-Kent. There are several weeklies located in Chatham and the various communities in the municipality, including the Chatham Voice, Wallaceburg Courier Press, the Blenheim News Tribune, Chatham-Kent This Week, Ridgetown Independent News, Tilbury Times, and the Wheatley Journal.
The Chatham Daily News, Chatham-Kent This Week, and Wallaceburg Courier Press are all owned by Postmedia.




= Online media

=
The Chatham Daily News, Chatham-Kent This Week, Wallaceburg Courier Press, Chatham Voice and CKReview are daily online news media in Chatham-Kent with coverage of local news, sports, entertainment, and cultural events as well as a number of regular contributing columnists. The Chatham-Kent Sports Network is an online source covering local sports news, scores, and highlights from each of Chatham-Kent's communities. CKSN also follows Chatham-Kent athletes who have progressed to the Junior, College, International, or Professional ranks.




Education






= Elementary and secondary

=

There are two anglophone school boards and one francophone school board in Chatham–Kent. These are the Lambton Kent District School Board (headquartered in both Chatham and Sarnia), the St. Clair Catholic District School Board (headquartered in Wallaceburg) and the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence (CSC Providence). The LKDSB is a public school board, and consists of 13 secondary and 53 elementary schools. Chatham-Kent Secondary School is the largest public high school in Lambton-Kent. The St. Clair Catholic board consists of two secondary schools (one in Chatham and one in Sarnia) and 26 elementary schools. There are also independent schools, such as Wallaceburg Christian School and Chatham Christian Schools—an elementary and secondary school in the same building.
The French Catholic board, headquartered in Windsor, has its Chatham-Kent regional office in Pain Court and consists of four elementary schools and one high school.




= Post-secondary

=
Chatham–Kent is the home of two colleges – St. Clair College and University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, popularly known as Ridgetown College.
St. Clair College is a satellite of St. Clair College of Windsor. There are two campuses located in the municipality – Thames Campus (located in Chatham) and the Wallaceburg Campus (located in Wallaceburg). More than 5,000 full-time and 12,000 part-time students attend the college each year.
The Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph offers diplomas in agriculture, horticulture, and veterinary technology. It is part of the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College, and formerly known as Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology.




Sports






= Hockey

=
The Chatham Maroons are a team in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
There are also four teams in the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League

Blenheim Blades
Dresden Jr. Kings
Wheatley Sharks
Wallaceburg Lakers
Other teams in Chatham-Kent include CK CRUSH (Chatham Girls Minor Hockey Association), the Chatham AAA Cyclones and the A Kent Cobras.




= Rugby Union football

=
Founded in 2001, the Chatham-Kent Havoc rugby team plays in the Southwest Rugby Union.




Transportation






= Road

=
Chatham-Kent is situated just off Highway 401, connecting Montreal, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, and Windsor, Ontario; and Detroit, Michigan via the Ambassador Bridge. Blenheim, Chatham and Wallaceburg are linked with Sarnia, Ontario and the Blue Water Bridge to the United States by Highway 40.
The sections of Highway 2 and Highway 3
(the Talbot Trail) in Chatham–Kent were downloaded by the province in 1998, becoming local roads 2 and 3, but they remain significant through routes and are still locally known by their old names.
The first gas station in Canada to sell E85 fuel to the public is located on Park Avenue East in Chatham.




= Rail

=
Chatham station is served by Via Rail passenger services between Toronto and Windsor, part of the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor with four trips in each direction daily, and the community is served by both the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway for freight transportation.




= Bus

=

Within Chatham public bus services are provided by CK Transit. Chatham-Kent has an intercity bus service, also provided by CK Transit, between all communities in the municipality except Wheatley.




= Air

=
There is a municipal airport located 14 km south east of Chatham featuring a 1500m paved, lighted runway, with refuelling facilities, tie-down services, pilot training and chartered flights. The nearest airports served by regional carriers are Windsor and London.




Notable people



Sally Ainse – Oneida diplomat and fur trader
Chris Allen – former NHL player with the Florida Panthers
Doug Anakin – won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in the bobsled
Bill Atkinson – former Major League Baseball relief pitcher
Courtney Babcock – Olympic distance runner
Shae-Lynn Bourne – championship figure skater
T. J. Brodie – NHL hockey player with the Chicago Blackhawks
Ernest Burgess – 24th President of the American Sociological Association, author and urban sociologist who is known for his groundbreaking social ecology research
June Callwood – prominent magazine writer in the 1950s who became an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1986
Joseph Caron – former High Commissioner to India and former Canadian ambassador to China and Japan
Bridget Carleton – WNBA player for the Minnesota Lynx
Chandra K. Clarke – entrepreneur, published author, and humour columnist
James Couzens – U.S. Senator, Mayor of Detroit, industrialist, philanthropist, and vice president and general manager of the Ford Motor Company
Robertson Davies – novelist, playwright
Kenne Duncan – western/action movie actor
Andy Fantuz – former CIS offensive MVP, former slotback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL
Wally Floody – the "Tunnel King" from The Great Escape
Dave Gagner – retired NHL hockey player; brother-in-law of Diane Gagner; former Chatham–Kent mayor
W. B. George (1899–1972), president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and agriculturalist at Kemptville Agricultural School, was born in Highgate
Ashley Goure – Paralympic sledge hockey player
Lee Giffin – professional ice hockey player
Frank Gross, philanthropist; awarded the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship in 2006
Ken Houston (born September 15, 1953) – former NHL player
Tracey Hoyt – actress, Aurora Farqueson on the CBC Television series The Tournament
Jeff Jackson – NHL hockey player
Ferguson Jenkins – Baseball Hall of Famer
Anna H. Jones – teacher, speaker at the First Pan-African Conference in 1900
Ryan Jones – former finalist of 2008 Hobey Baker Award and former member of the Edmonton Oilers; currently playing in the DEL for the Cologne Sharks
Judy LaMarsh – former Canadian Minister of Health
Archibald Lampman – one of Canada's finest 19th-century Romantic poets, born Morpeth, Kent County, 1861
Bobbi Lancaster, a medical doctor and trans woman noted for playing in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament in 2013
Lori Lansens – author of Rush Home Road and The Girls
Chad Laprise – UFC fighter
John B. Lee – author, poet and current Poet Laureate of Brantford, Ontario
Doug Melvin – general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers
Harry Garnet Bedford Miner – Victoria Cross winner during World War I, born in Cedar Springs
Dave Nichol – award-winning product marketing expert and former president of Loblaw's
Geoffrey O'Hara – early 20th-century composer, singer and music professor who was the writer of such popular songs as the 1918 hit "K-K-K-Katy"
Sam Panopoulos – inventor of the Hawaiian pizza
Ron Pardo – comic-impressionist; actor for History Bites and voice actor on animated shows like PAW Patrol and World of Quest; from Pardoville
Ray Robertson – novelist
Brooklyn Roebuck – 2012 The Next Star; under licence with Sony Music Canada
Doug Shedden – professional ice hockey coach and former player
Glen Skov – National Hockey League (NHL) hockey player
Ron Sparks – award-winning comedian, actor, writer and producer (Video on Trial)
Joseph Storey – architect, designer of many local landmarks in the 1950s and 1960s
Shaun Suisham – Pittsburgh Steelers kicker (formerly with Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins)
Sylvia Tyson – singer-songwriter, broadcaster, and guitarist who found early fame with her then-husband Ian Tyson in their folk duo Ian and Sylvia
Todd Warriner – former NHL hockey player picked 4th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Quebec Nordiques
Derek Whitson – Paralympic sledge hockey player
Brian Wiseman – 1999 IHL MVP Houston Aeros
Michelle Wright – country music singer




See also


List of townships in Ontario
List of municipalities in Ontario




Notes






References






External links



Official website
• Source: Chatham, Kent

Chatham ( CHAT-əm) is a town within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. In 2020 it had a population of 80,596.
The town developed around Chatham Dockyard and several army barracks, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard. The Corps of Royal Engineers is still based in Chatham at Brompton Barracks.
The dockyard closed in 1984, but the remaining naval buildings are an attraction for a flourishing tourist industry. Following closure, part of the site was developed as a commercial port, other parts were redeveloped for business and residential use, and part was used as the Chatham Historic Dockyard museum. Its attractions include the submarine HMS Ocelot.
The town has important road links and the railway and bus stations are the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters of Medway unitary authority, as well as its principal shopping centre.




Toponymy


The name Chatham is first attested in a charter of 880 (surviving in a twelfth-century manuscript); it appears again in a charter of 975 as Cætham, and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ceteham. The first element of the name comes from the Common Brittonic word that survives in modern Welsh as coed ("woodland"). The second element is the Old English word hām ("settlement"). At the point when the current name was coined, then, it meant "settlement at Chat". The Old English term for the settlement's inhabitants is also reconstructable from a twelfth-century copy of a charter of 995, as *Cēthǣmas.: 316 




History


The A2 road passes by Chatham along the line of the ancient Celtic route. It was paved by the Romans, and named Watling Street by the Anglo-Saxons. Among archaeological finds here have been the remains of a Roman-era cemetery.
Chatham was long a small village on the banks of the river. By the 16th century, warships were being moored at Jillingham water (Gillingham), because of its strategic sheltered location between London and the Continent. It was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I in 1568, and most of the dockyard lies within Gillingham. Initially a refitting base, it became a shipbuilding yard; from then until the late 19th century, further expansion of the yard took place. In its time, many thousands of men were employed at the dockyard, and many hundreds of vessels were launched there, including HMS Victory, which was built there in the 1760s. After World War I, many submarines were also built in Chatham Dockyard.

In addition to the dockyard, defensive fortifications were built to protect it from attack. Upnor Castle had been built in 1567, but had proved ineffectual; the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667 showed that more defences were required. The fortifications, which became more elaborate as the threat of invasion grew, were begun in 1756 as a complex across the neck of the peninsula formed by the bend in the River Medway, and included Fort Amherst. The threat of a land-based attack from the south during the 19th century led to the construction of more forts.
The second phase of fort-building (1806-19) included Fort Pitt (later used as a hospital and the site of the first Army Medical School). The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom ordered, inter alia, a third outer ring of forts: these included Fort Luton, Fort Bridgewoods, and Fort Borstal.
These fortifications all required military personnel to man them and Army barracks to house those men. These included Kitchener Barracks (c 1750-80), the Royal Marine Barracks (c 1780), Brompton Artillery Barracks (1806) and Melville Barracks (opened 1820 as a Naval hospital, RM barracks from 1905). HMS Collingwood and HMS Pembroke were both naval barracks.
In response to the huge manpower needs, the village of Chatham and other nearby villages and towns grew commensurately. Trams, and later buses, linked those places to bring in the workforce. The area between the High Street and Luton village illustrates part of that growth, with its many streets of Victorian terraces.
The importance of Chatham Dockyard gradually declined as Britain's naval resources were reduced or moved to other locations, and eventually, on 31 March 1984, it shut. The dockyard buildings were preserved as the historic site Chatham Historic Dockyard (operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust), which was under consideration as a World Heritage Site the site is being used for other purposes. Part of the St Mary's Island section is now used as a marina, and the remainder is being developed for housing, commercial and other uses, branded as "Chatham Maritime".




Governance



Chatham lost its independence as a borough under the Local Government Act 1972, by which, on 1 April 1974, it became part of the Borough of Medway, a non-metropolitan district of the county of Kent; under subsequent renaming the borough became the Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway (1979); and, from 1982, the City of Rochester-upon-Medway. Under the most recent change, in 1998, and with the addition of the Borough of Gillingham, the Borough of Medway became a unitary authority area, administratively separate from Kent. It remains part of the county of Kent for ceremonial purposes.
Medway Council has recently moved its main administration building to Gun Wharf, the site of the earliest part of the dockyard, a former Lloyd's office building. It was built between 1976 and 1978 and is Grade II listed.
Chatham is part of the parliamentary constituency of Chatham and Aylesford. Before 1997, Chatham had been included in the constituencies of Mid Kent, Rochester and Chatham and Chatham.
Chatham has proven to be a marginal parliamentary seat. Since 1945, the members of parliament for Chatham have been as follows:




Geography



Chatham is situated where the lower part of the dip slope of the North Downs meets the River Medway which at this point is flowing in a south–north direction. This gives the right bank, where the town stands, considerable advantages from the point of view of river use. Compared with opposite bank, the river is fast-flowing and deep; the illustration (1), an early print of the settlement, is taken from the point where Fort Pitt now stands. The town lies below at river level, curving round to occupy a south-easterly trending valley (The Brook), in which lies the High Street. Beyond the Chatham Dockyard was marshy land, now called St Mary's Island, and has several new developments of housing estates. The New Road crosses the scene below the vantage point of the illustration.
Illustration (2) is taken from the opposite side of the valley: the Pentagon Shopping Centre is to the right, with the building on the ridge left of centre, Fort Pitt and Rochester lies beyond that ridge; and Frindsbury is on the rising ground in the right distance.
The valley continues southeastwards as the Luton Valley, in which is the erstwhile village of that name; and Capstone Valley. The Darland Banks, the northern slopes of the Luton Valley above these valleys, are unimproved chalk grassland. The photograph (3), taken from the Banks and looking south, shows the village in the centre, with the rows of Victorian terraced housing, which unusually follow the contour lines. The opposite slopes are the ‘'Daisy Banks'’ and ‘'Coney Banks'’, along which some of the defensive forts were built (including Fort Luton, in the trees to the left)
Until the start of the 20th century, most of the south part of the borough was entirely rural, with a number of farms and large tracts of woodland. The beginning of what is now Walderslade was when a speculative builder began to build the core of the village in Walderslade Bottoms.




Demography


Chatham became a market town in its own right in the 19th century, and a municipal borough in 1890. By 1831 its population had reached more than 16,000. By 1961 it had reached 48,800.




Economy


The closure of the Royal Navy Dockyard on 31 March 1984 had the effect of changing the employment statistics of the town. About 7,000 people lost their jobs. The unemployment rate went up to 23.5%. From early April 1984 to December 1985, and onwards, the Medway Towns began to have an increase in alcohol and drug-related, antisocial behaviour, which many residents then realized had largely been caused by the closure of the dockyard in 1984, and the resulting mass redundancies. There has been a concerted effort to revitalise the Thames Gateway area and one of the largest employers in Chatham is now Vanquis Bank Ltd, a subsidiary of Vanquis Banking Group.




Landmarks


The Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates the 18,500 officers, ranks and ratings of the Royal Navy who were lost or buried at sea in World War I and World War II. The Chatham Naval Memorial was constructed from March 1924 to October 1924. The addition of the obelisk and Portland stone plaque walls and surroundings were constructed between June 1952 to October 1952. It stands on the Great Lines, the escarpment ridge between Chatham and Gillingham.
The Grade II listed building Chatham Town Hall was built in January 1900; it stands in The Brook, and is of a unique architectural design. With Chatham being part of the Medway Towns, it took on a new role as the Medway Arts Centre in April 1987, with the promotional motto "Putting The Arts Back into The Medway". There were many events held within the Medway Arts Centre, including many stage plays, themed nights and snooker tournaments. Likewise during May 1990, the Medway Arts Centre organised a large parade, composed of dancers, musicians, artists and sculptors, who stood upon theatrical lorry floats. The vehicles were initially parked up next to the entrance into the Theatre Royal Cafe, a popular restaurant in the Chatham Town Hall, on Whiffens Avenue, and then started to travel into Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Frindsbury, where sweets, chocolate, posters, badges, leaflets, stickers and T-shirts were handed out to the crowds, to promote the Medway Arts Centre. In April 1997, the Medway Arts Centre became the Brook Theatre.
The Pentagon Shopping Centre stands in the town centre and serviced the old Pentagon Bus Station that was closed in September 2011. Chatham Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011, replacing the town's previous Pentagon Bus Station which was opened in 1970, before the Pentagon Shopping Centre was opened in 1975, and was considered an unwelcoming environment for passengers. This was because of the diesel fumes from the buses, coaches and minibuses, and because the waiting areas would sometimes become very crowded, whenever large groups of customers from the Pentagon Shopping Centre used the stairs and escalators, to get on board the green buses, coaches and minibuses that were managed by Maidstone & District Motor Services.




Transport



The Medway, apart from Chatham Dockyard, has always had an important role in communication: historically it provided a means for the transport of goods to and from the interior of Kent. Stone, timber and iron from the Weald for shipbuilding and agricultural produce were among the cargoes. Sun Pier in Chatham was one of many such along the river. By 1740, barges of forty tons could navigate as far upstream as Tonbridge. Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on the river itself.
The position of the road network in Chatham began with the building of the Roman road (Watling Street, which passed through the town. Turnpike trusts were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to Canterbury was turnpiked in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone road (now the A230) was also turnpiked before 1750. The High Street was bypassed in 1769, by the New Road (see illustration (1)) leading from the top of Star Hill Rochester, to the bottom of Chatham Hill at Luton Arches. This also became inadequate for the London cross-channel traffic and the Medway Towns Bypass, the M2 motorway, was constructed to divert through traffic south of the Medway Towns.
Chatham is the hub of the Medway Towns. This fact means that the existing road system has always proved inadequate for the amount of traffic it has to handle, and various schemes have been tried by Rochester-Upon-Medway City Council, to alleviate the congestion. The High Street itself is traffic free, so all traffic on Best Street and Railway Street has to skirt around it. The basic west–east routes are The Brook to the north and New Road to the south, but the additional problems caused by the situation of the Pentagon Bus Station meant that conflicting traffic flows were the result, from 1975 and onward. From April 1986 and onward until October 1987, the town centre remodelling of Chatham began, and Railway Street was realigned into becoming part of an inner ring road, that became a one-way system. This redevelopment included the demolition of the House of Holland department store in January 1987, and the construction of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover in Chatham, that was opened in February 1989, so the traffic could be carried from south to north over the High Street.
In September 2006, the one-way system was abandoned and two-way traffic reintroduced on most of the ring-road system. Further work on the road system commenced early in 2009, and as of early 2010, the demolition of the Sir John Hawkins Flyover has been completed. It was replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station. The new Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011.

Chatham railway station, opened in 1858, serves both the North Kent and the Chatham Main Lines, and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are three trains an hour to London Victoria, two trains an hour to London Charing Cross, two trains an hour to Luton (via London Bridge, St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway) and two services an hour to St Pancras via High Speed 1. The former services run to Dover and Ramsgate; the Charing Cross services terminate at Gillingham and the High Speed services terminate at Faversham.
Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society.
Buses are operated by Arriva Southern Counties and Nu-Venture to various destinations. They serve other towns in Medway including Gillingham, Grain, Strood and Rochester and also to other towns in Kent including Maidstone, Gravesend, Blue Bell Hill and Sittingbourne. There is also an express bus via Strood and Rochester and A2 to Bluewater in Greenhithe.




Religion


In the 19th century the ecclesiastical parish of Chatham included Luton and Brompton and also Chatham Intra (land on the river that was administered by the City of Rochester).
Chatham's parish church, St Marys, which stood on Dock Road, was rebuilt in 1788. St John's was a Waterloo church built in 1821 by Robert Smirke, and restructured in 1869 by Gordon Macdonald Hills; it ceased being an active church in 1964, and is currently used as an art project. St Paul's New Road was built in 1854; declared redundant in 1974, it has been demolished. St Peter's Troy Town was built in 1860. Christchurch Luton was built in 1843, replaced in 1884. The Royal Dockyard church (1806) was declared redundant in 1981.
St Michael's is a Roman Catholic church, that was built in 1863. There is a Unitarian Chapel built in 1861.
Chatham is reputed to be the home of the first Baptist chapel in north Kent, the Zion Baptist Chapel in Clover Street. The first known pastor was Edward Morecock who settled there in the 1660s. During Cromwell's time Morecock had been a sea-captain and had been injured in battle. His knowledge of the River Medway is reputed to have preserved him from persecution in the reign of King Charles II. A second Baptist chapel was founded about 1700. The Ebenezer Chapel dates from 1662.
Chatham Memorial Synagogue was built by Simon Magnus in 1867 on the Chatham end of Rochester High Street in Rochester.




Education


For a full list of schools serving Chatham visit List of schools in Medway




Sports


The town's Association Football club, Chatham Town F.C., plays in the Premier Division of the Isthmian League having gained two successive promotions in the 21/22 and 22/23 seasons. Lordswood F.C. plays in the Southern Counties East Football League. The defunct Chatham Excelsior F.C. were one of the early pioneers of football in Southern England.
Football league side Gillingham F.C. are seen to represent Medway as a whole.
Holcombe Hockey Club is one of the largest in the country, and are based in Chatham. The men's 1st XI are part of the England Hockey League.
Kite Flying is possible, especially power kiting on the Great Lines Heritage Park (between Gillingham and Chatham) and at Capstone Farm Country Park.
Skiing is also possible near Capstone Farm Country Park at Capstone Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre.




Popular culture



On a cultural level, Chatham gave birth to several movements in literature, art and music. In the period from 1977 until 1982 the Medway Delta Sound emerged. The term was coined as a joke by the Chatham-born writer, painter and musician Billy Childish after Russ Wilkins's Medway-based record label, Empire Records, used the phrase "From The Medway Delta". Several Medway Delta bands gained international recognition, including The Milkshakes, The Prisoners (see also James Taylor Quartet) and The Dentists.
Out of the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD), now the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) came the band known as Wang Chung. The vocalist and guitarist with Wang Chung, Jeremy Ryder, who is better known as Jack Hues attended KIAD. Alongside such individuals was Alan Denman, who became a well established lecturer at KIAD, and who founded The Flying Circuits in 1984, which became an urban theatre movement in the Medway Towns. Many students from KIAD played various acting roles within The Flying Circuits, in Chatham, Gillingham and London. The scenes performed by The Flying Circuits were entirely based upon excerpts from the Electronic Town, a screenplay written by Alan Denman between January and October 1984, which concerned a futuristic science fiction dystopia. Denman also helped to form The Medway Poets with Billy Childish, Robert Earl, Bill Lewis, Sexton Ming and Charles Thomson. The Medway Poets met regularly at the York Tavern & Railway Inn, in Ordnance Street, Chatham, from 1974 to 1985, near KIAD at Fort Pitt in Rochester, and Chatham railway station. Chatham has always had a strong musical and creative arts heritage that has remained centred on local groups, many of whom were also part of the KIAD. Charles Thomson and Billy Childish went on to create the artistic movement known as Stuckism in 1999.
There was a resurgence in the live music scene in early 2001, with an initial focus on the Tap 'n' Tin venue in Chatham. The essence of the original greatness of the Medway Delta Sound was revived by music and poetry evenings promoted by David Wise's Urban Fox Press, which also published several books by Medway poets and artists. In 2008. the independent arts organisation Medway Eyes was founded, specialising in music and photography. It had promoted several arts exhibitions and gigs at The Barge, at 63 Layfield Road, in Gillingham (now closed) and the Nag's Head at 292 Rochester High Street, but disbanded in 2013.
The Medway Poets were formed in 1975 and disbanded in 1982 having performed at the Kent Literature Festival and many others in South East England and on TV and Radio. They became a major influence to writers in the Medway Towns. From the core of this group the anti conceptual/pro painting movement of Remodernism came into being.
Recent Medway artists of note include Kid Harpoon, Crybaby Special and The Monsters, Red Light, Underground Heroes, Tyrannosaurus Alan, Pete Molinari, Lupen Crook, Brigadier Ambrose, Stuart Turner and Theatre Royal.
The term 'Chav', research suggests, does not derive from Chatham's name ("Chatham Average"), but is derived from the Romany word for 'youngster'. Before the Chatham Dockyard was closed down on 31 March 1984, the cultural idea of the Chav did not exist in the Medway Towns.




Local media






= Newspapers

=
Local newspapers for Chatham include Medway News and Medway Standard, both published by Kent Regional News and Media; and the Medway Messenger, published by the KM Group. The town also has free newspapers in the Medway Extra (KM Group) and yourmedway (KOS Media).




= Radio

=
The local commercial radio station for Chatham is KMFM Medway, owned by the KM Group. Medway is also served by community radio station Radio Sunlightbased in Richmond road between the high street and the River Medway. The area can also receive the county wide stations BBC Radio Kent, Heart and Gold, as well as many radio stations in Essex and Greater London.




= Television

=
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian from the Bluebell Hill TV transmitter, supplemented by a low power relay transmitter in the town centre.




Notable people



Charles Dickens lived in the town as a boy, both in 'The Brook, Chatham' and in Ordnance Terrace before Chatham railway station was built just opposite. He subsequently described it as the happiest period of his childhood, and eventually returned to the area in adulthood when he bought a house in nearby Gad's Hill. Medway features in his novels. He then moved to Rochester, a nearby town, also part of the Medway Towns.
Others who were born or who lived or live in Chatham:

Sir Jacob Ackworth (1668–1748) shipbuilder
Asquith Xavier, ended a colour bar at British Railways in London by fighting to become the first non-white train guard at Euston railway station.
Percy Whitlock, organist and post-romantic composer
Kid Harpoon, singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and lived in Chatham. Working with award-winning artists including Jessie Ware, Shawn Mendes, Harry Styles, Florence & the Machine, Haim and Years & Years.
Richard Dadd, Victorian era painter and patricide
William Coles Finch, author and historian, lived at Luton, Chatham.
Elizabeth Benger, biographer, novelist and poet, was brought up here between 1782 and 1797.
Billy Childish, artist, poet, and musician
Tracey Emin, artist and member of the Young British Artists
Zandra Rhodes, designer
Bill Lewis, poet, painter, storyteller and mythographer
William Ridsdel, The Salvation Army Commissioner, lived in the town from 1877 to 1878.
William Cuffay, Chartist leader and tailor, born in Chatham in 1788
Gemma Lavender, astronomer, journalist and author, born in Chatham in 1986
Thomas Hodgskin, an early socialist, was born and raised in Chatham. His work would go on to influence Karl Marx.
Joe Machine, artist and poet




= Entertainers

=
Tommy Knight, actor
Stel Pavlou, author and screenwriter, attended the Chatham Grammar School for Boys
Lee Ryan, boy-band singer, also attended the Chatham Grammar School for Boys
Ben Mills, singer and X-Factor contestant
Anne Dudley, composer, pop musician and member of The Art of Noise
Kevin Eldon, stand-up comedian
Glenn Shorrock, entertainer, birthplace (Little River Band founder, lead singer)
River Medway (drag queen), entertainer (RuPaul's Drag Race UK)




= Sportsmen

=
Dave Whitcombe, twice BDO World Darts Championship Finalist.
Kevin Hunt, former captain of the Bohemians, a League of Ireland club
Ashley Jackson, England international hockey player
Keith Donohue, Devon cricketer
Chris Smalling, England international footballer, attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys.
Andrew Crofts, professional footballer, who played for Newport County.
Neil Shipperley, professional footballer, formerly of Crystal Palace FC and Wimbledon FC.
George Boyd, professional footballer, who played for Peterborough United and was born in Chatham
Lee Minshull, professional footballer, AFC Wimbledon and was born in Chatham.
Johnny Armour, professional boxer, British Commonwealth, European and World Boxing Union bantamweight champion was born and resides in Chatham.
George Thorne, professional footballer, was born in Chatham.
Ryan Richards, professional basketball player, drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2010 NBA draft




Twin towns


Chatham is twinned with Valenciennes, France.




See also


Chatham, Massachusetts, a city often twinned with Chatham




References






Bibliography


Hughes, David (2004), Chatham Naval Dockyard and Barracks, The History Press ISBN 0-7524-3248-6




External links


Media related to Chatham at Wikimedia Commons
Chatham travel guide from Wikivoyage
"Chatham (England)" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911.
Archive Images
The Chatham News Index (1899–1965)

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)
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• Chatham-Kent
• Chatham, Kent
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• Chatham Town F.C.
• Chatham Dockyard
• Chatham railway station (Kent)
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