Esquesing Township, Ontario
Esquesing Township was a municipality within the historic Halton County in Ontario, Canada. It is today a geographic township in the town of Halton Hills in the Regional Municipality of Halton.
The township of Esquesing was surveyed in 1818 and opened to settlement the following year (area 66,700 acres (270 km2)). The first town meeting was held in 1821 when the population was 424. The name Esquesing was said to come from a First Nations word meaning "the land of the tall pine(s)", but is more likely to come from the Mississauga Indian word ishkwessin, meaning "that which lies at the end", which was the original name for Bronte Creek. The grid pattern of lines and sideroads that define the landscape of the township to this day, is often interrupted by the rugged cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, the deep Credit River valley or the headwaters of Sixteen Mile Creek. It was this natural beauty that drew the Hurons first and then the Mississauga Natives to hunt, fish and live in this area.
The Township was organized into a corporation with its “capital” at the village of Stewarttown. The principal road to the lake was Trafalgar Road so development of several villages began along this route first. A more direct route to the capital was established by the York to Guelph Road, now Highway Seven. In pioneer times, these little hamlets provided the essential services for pioneers and travelers. It was the arrival of the Railway in 1856 that changed the landscape and provided the stimulus for Georgetown and Acton to grow into villages.
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