09/19/2026
The Municipality of Smith now Smith Ward in Selwyn Township is older than Peterborough County
A bit about Smith
For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples lived, travelled, harvested and maintained relationships with the lands and waterways of what we now call the Kawarthas and Peterborough County. The waterways that later brought European settlers into Smith Township were already established Indigenous travel routes and part of a much older cultural landscape.
In 1818, representatives of the Crown and Anishinaabe peoples entered into Treaty 20, the Rice Lake Purchase, covering territory that includes present-day Peterborough and surrounding areas. The Province notes that this treaty was part of a series of agreements that enabled the northward expansion of European settlement in Upper Canada.
That same year, Smith became the first township in what would become Peterborough County to be surveyed, with the survey completed by Samuel Wilmot and Richard Birdsall. English settlers from Cumberland then travelled north through Rice Lake and up the Otonabee River, arriving in a landscape without settler roads and relying heavily on the waterways for transportation.
Smith became an important starting point for European settlement in the region. In 1827, a government saw and grist mill was constructed on the Otonabee River, and improved roads and later steamship transportation accelerated settlement. The lumber industry helped shape communities including Bridgenorth, Young's Point and Lakefield, while Selwyn developed as an important commercial stop on the route north to the timber limits.
By 1840, Smith Township had 1,286 residents in 204 households. By 1861, its population had grown to 3,426.
Peterborough County itself emerged later: the area became the District of Colborne in 1838 and the County of Peterborough in 1850.
Over time the municipal boundaries and names changed, but Smith's identity endured. Smith Township eventually joined Ennismore, and later Lakefield, as part of the municipality we now know as Selwyn Township.
Today, Smith Ward carries that historic name forward.
A trusted colleague and mentor recently gifted me this old Township of Smith pin from a time when they had served on Smith Council. It's a small object, but it represents more than two centuries of recorded township history — and a much longer Indigenous history that came before it.
Knowing where we came from helps us better understand the community we call home today.
