Land development in a rural community

Land development in a rural community

Bremner, Trevor

Gooderham Community Action Group
Host contact: Bates, Elva

Brunger, Alan
Department: Geography

TP-475

2004

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Gooderham

Development and economy of Gooderham

When considering how land has been developed in rural communities of Southern Ontario it is important to consider all of the different social and economic factors that have led to the unique growth each area. The research within this report highlights there factors and is specific to one small hamlet in Haliburton County. The hamlet in the study is Gooderham, which, like many other small rural hamlets, originally developed because of the resource industry. The extraction of resources created a need for services because of the large number of people the industry employed. The services tended to develop in areas that had the most appropriate physical features and in areas that were close to the resource extraction sites. Gooderham developed in Glamorgan township along the Monck road towards the end of the 19th century. It grew just south of Pine Lake because of a great location for a water powered mill. The research examines how Gooderham has changed to a service based economy from it's early days as a resources based economy. Gooderham provided many services during the resources extraction time period but the services that developed were geared towards a resource based economy. Today, the residents of Gooderham no longer rely on the same services. Today, cottagers, commuters, and retirees make up the population of Gooderham and modern services include home renovation, communications (phone, internet), road works, plumbing, electrical, heating, contracted service work, home building companies, etc. Many of these services are non-local but still contribute a great deal to the economy of Gooderham. When examining this report the reader will be taken through a detailed history of the area with an emphasis on how, where, and why the land was developed the way that it did in the hamlet of Gooderham.

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