Orillia, Ont, City, pop 29 121 (2001c), 27 846 (1996c), 25 925 (1991c), 24 141 A (1986c), area 28.61 km2, inc 1867 (village), 1875 (town), 1969 (city), is located on the shores of lakes SIMCOE and Couchiching in central Ontario. "Orillia" means riverbank in Spanish; the name was applied by Sir Peregrine MAITLAND, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (1818-28), who had served in Spain.
The site was a Huron settlement. For hundreds of years they trapped fish at The Narrows. After the Huron were wiped out by famine and disease, the area was settled by Ojibwa under the leadership of Chief William YELLOWHEAD. The Ojibwa farmed the area until they had to relinquish their lands to European settlers and were relocated to the nearby Rama Reserve (1838-39).
The fur trade was the first industry, followed by logging and farming. At the end of the 19th century Orillia developed into a summer resort area, stimulated in part by the building of the TRENT-SEVERN WATERWAY. In 1902 Orillia established the first municipally owned hydroelectric generating station in Canada, on the nearby Severn River. Although tourism is a significant sector of the city's economy, a wide range of industrial, manufacturing and engineering firms dealing with the automotive, petrochemical, aeronautics and plastics industries are important contributors to the tax base.
Orillia served as the model for "Mariposa" in humorist Stephen LEACOCK's satire on small-town Ontario life, SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN (1912). The manuscript of Sunshine Sketches and a collection of Leacock's papers are held in his summer home - now the Stephen Leacock Museum, a national historic site (designated 1994) - at nearby Old Brewery Bay, where he wrote many of his books. Other famous Orillians include: Franklin CARMICHAEL (Group of Seven), Elizabeth WYN WOOD (sculptor), Sam STEELE (North-West Mounted Police), Leslie M. FROST (premier of Ontario) and James K. BARTLEMAN (lieutenant governor of Ontario). Other city features include the Champlain Monument (erected 1925) commemorating the 300th anniversary of Samuel de CHAMPLAIN's visit, the Opera House (1895) as well as several other heritage buildings, many of them located in the picturesque downtown.