Southampton, Ontario

Southampton
View of 201 High Street, the traditional Town Hall.
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Bruce
Town	Saugeen Shores
Government
• Type	Municipal
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-)
Area code(s)	519

Southampton is a community of 3083 people on the shores of Lake Huron in Bruce County, and close to Port Elgin Ontario, Canada, located at the mouth of the Saugeen River.

Although the community still has its own post office, it became part of the municipality of Saugeen Shores in the 1990s. Saugeen Shores is made up of Southampton, Port Elgin, and the former Township of Saugeen. The community of Southampton continues to expand. It has become a bedroom community and a retirement destination, as well as a tourist destination. It is within 40 kilometers of Bruce Power nuclear power station.

The community was originally known as Saugeen by the early inhabitants, the Canadian Post Office and Custom House Departments. However, the Crown Land Departments labelled the village as Southampton and the name stuck as the town was incorporated, named after Southampton, the English sea port. The first European settlers of the area were Captain John Spence and William Kennedy, who wanted to establish a fishing company. While it proved unfruitful, Spence became a sailor and Kennedy joined a search for the Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin. Nevertheless, in 1851 there were at least a dozen families living in the community. In the same year, the Post Office was established, the first and only in Bruce County for several years. Three years later, a Bank of Upper Canada was built.

The pioneers of Southampton wanted the village to become the county town or county seat, as the village held the only Crown Land Department and Post Office in the county. However, the town of Kincardine had a larger population and seemed the strongest rival. Furthermore, Southampton did not have enough population to meet the requirements for incorporation. The town petitioned the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the elective officials passed an exceptional Act of Incorporation on July 24, 1858 to allow the community to be considered for the county seat. Despite their efforts, Walkerton eventually won the battle.