Kincardine, Ont, Township, pop 11 029 (2001c), 11 908 A (1996c), area 578.38 km2, inc 1999, is located along the shore of Lake Huron, about 225 km NW of Toronto and 80 km SW of Owen Sound. In the earliest settled part of Bruce County, the community was first named Penetangore (1848). It was subsequently named (1851) for the Earl of ELGIN and Kincardine, governor general of N America 1847-54.
By 1867 it had 5 hotels and numerous services and small industries, including cabinet shops, 4 carriage and wagon shops, water-powered grist mills and sawmills, 2 foundries, pearl-ash factories, woollen factories, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, tanneries, harness and saddlery shops, a bakery and confectionery, and a brewery.
Until the mid-1960s the town still had some notable furniture factories, but today it depends on summer tourists and particularly on the Bruce Nuclear Power Development about 16 km N. In 1999 the town of Kincardine (inc 1875) was merged with the townships of Bruce and Kincardine to form one municipality.