Your favorite Ont. town/city with a population of 20,000

[softee]

Brockville is very impressive for its size. A solid heritage downtown with some imposing old buildings, nice residential stock, and there's even a new 20 storey condo on the waterfront.

https://goo.gl/maps/shqeR2awqx12

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Peterborough is definitely out of range, being over 100k; Stratford, however, is only around 30K and is actually smaller than Owen Sound, which the OP provided as an example of the types of cities they were considering.

Stratford as a stand-alone city is larger than Owen Sound by a fair margin. 30,000 compared to 20,000.

Owen Sound as a "metro" bumps it passed Stratford but I find that a little ridiculous. Owen Sounds CA is 628 sq km whereas Stratford is 27 sq km.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Stratford as a stand-alone city is larger than Owen Sound by a fair margin. 30,000 compared to 20,000.

Owen Sound as a "metro" bumps it passed Stratford but I find that a little ridiculous. Owen Sounds CA is 628 sq km whereas Stratford is 27 sq km.

It's a fair comparison. The only significant population centre in Georgian Bluffs is the part immediately adjacent to Owen Sound. In other words, it's the classic example of a suburb. Yes, there's a larger township attached to it, but there is comparatively very little population there, so it doesn't really have a substantial effect on the CA population; I'd estimate less than 2,000.

[TownGuy]

Owen Sound is picking up 10,000 people from somewhere within its large CA. The town itself is just over 22,000 the CA is over 32,000.

Consequently Stratford would be significantly larger if it had an equally sized CA as Owen Sound.

It's funny how we can bicker about these little CAs in the same manner as the large CMAs but on a much smaller scale.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Owen Sound is picking up 10,000 people from somewhere within its large CA. The town itself is just over 22,000 the CA is over 32,000.

Consequently Stratford would be significantly larger if it had an equally sized CA as Owen Sound.

It's funny how we can bicker about these little CAs in the same manner as the large CMAs but on a much smaller scale.

If you look at Owen Sound's borders, you'll see that a huge chunk of it's west end is actually in the neighbouring municipality, Georgian Bluffs. That's the primary reason that it's core municipality is so much smaller than Stratford.

[Docere]

How far does Owen Sound's west end extend into Georgian Bluffs Township and what is the approximate population?

[Docere]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

It's a fair comparison. The only significant population centre in Georgian Bluffs is the part immediately adjacent to Owen Sound. In other words, it's the classic example of a suburb. Yes, there's a larger township attached to it, but there is comparatively very little population there, so it doesn't really have a substantial effect on the CA population; I'd estimate less than 2,000.

Nevermind. That answers my question.

[lrt's friend]

I have always liked Brockville, an excellent example of a Loyalist town with a nice waterfront.

I am going to put a plug in here for Pembroke, not because it is tremendously beautiful (it does have its charm), but because it is probably a good place to experience traditional Ottawa Valley culture. On the other hand, it has a nice situation along the Ottawa River and overlooking the Quebec highlands. There are some interesting old buildings, a new college and rejuvenated river front. Its historic downtown needs some investment and hopefully that will come as the economy is doing pretty good due to the neighbouring Petawawa military base.

As a juxtaposition to Pembroke, Rockland is a good example of a town of similar size based on Eastern Ontario Francophone Roman Catholic culture. Of course, in recent years it has become increasingly an Ottawa bedroom community.

[HillStreetBlues]

Someone mentioned Elora, but no one yet has mentioned its arch-rival, Fergus. Fergus is almost exactly 20,000; Elora is a fraction of that.

They draw different crowds, but Fergus is unique in the resilient vestiges of its Scottish heritage (not least of which is the Highland Games event). I really think it's given short shrift because of the artsy appeal of its neighbour: if it were located in, say, Haldimand County, I think more credit would be given to it for preserving a fairly vibrant downtown. That's not too common for an Ontario city of its size.

The downtown buildings are constructed of stone quarried from the Grand, and it has a unique feel with the river running right through.

In short, a really pleasant small city.

[ScreamingViking]

Agree! Fergus is very noteworthy.

[c@taract_soulj@h]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Agree! Fergus is very noteworthy.

Development in the south end of Fergus over the last decade, has blossomed like a case of hemorrhoids lol.

Once you throw in a WalMart..it's pretty easy to work from there.

[c@taract_soulj@h]

I've always liked the size of Owen Sound..you could almost call it a regional centre since it doesn't rival any other large area within 3 counties (maybe except Barrie but even that's a ways away)

It's picturesque, has a decent radio market for what it serves, functional downtown and still the capability to maintain an OHL team.

[TownGuy]

Agreed. Perhaps Southern Ontario's smallest regional anchor community?

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by c@taract_soulj@h

Development in the south end of Fergus over the last decade, has blossomed like a case of hemorrhoids lol.

Once you throw in a WalMart..it's pretty easy to work from there.

Some of that new development is pretty grim. But "Old Fergus" is very nice, and unique. The Highland Games are something very unique.

I agree with you on Owen Sound's attributes. I think it can be termed a regional centre- its region is just not particularly populous.