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78-611: Gananoque ( / ˌ ɡ æ n ə ˈ n ɒ k w eɪ / GAN -ə- NOK -way ) is a town in the Leeds and Grenville area of Ontario , Canada. The town had a population of 5,383 year-round residents in the 2021 Canadian Census , as well as summer residents sometimes referred to as "Islanders" because of the Thousand Islands in the Saint Lawrence River , Gananoque's most important tourist attraction. The Gananoque River flows through

156-427: A one-way pairing within the latter, with westbound traffic following the adjacent Bond Street. It continued eastward through Courtice , Bowmanville and Newcastle as it drifted closer to Highway   401 and Lake Ontario; an interchange with Highway 35 / 115 was encountered immediately west of Newcastle. After passing through Newtonville , Highway   2 entered Northumberland County , passing through

234-560: A "temporary" capital at York (present day Toronto), Simcoe ordered an inland route constructed between Cootes Paradise at the tip of Lake Ontario and his proposed capital of London . By the spring of 1794, the road was extended as far as La Tranche , now the Thames River , in London. In 1795, the path was connected with York. Asa Danforth Jr. , recently immigrated from the United States,

312-517: A blind-folded woman holding the scales of justice, was carved by master carpenter William Holmes in 1844. This statue was named "Sally Grant" by Paul Glasford, the chair of the building committee, in honour of the woman who posed as the model. It was erected in 1845. However, the statue was damaged by Hurricane Hazel and by 1956, the statue was rotting. The original statue is on display at the Westport museum. A replica carved by Robert Kerr of Smiths Falls

390-546: A part of Hamilton) was not bypassed by 401 (which followed a more northerly corridor to serve Kitchener - Waterloo and Guelph ), but was ultimately bypassed by Highway 403 . As the main street in many communities Highway 2 remained busy with stop-and-go local traffic, sustaining countless shopkeepers and restaurateurs but offering little comfort to independent tourist motels. Outside urban areas, numerous former service stations were converted to other uses, demolished or abandoned. The last section from Ancaster to Brantford ,

468-522: A population density of 767.9/km (1,988.9/sq mi) in 2021. Population trend: Total private dwellings, excluding seasonal cottages: 2,404 (total: 2,516). Mother tongue: Gananoque is referred to as the "Gateway to the Thousand Islands ," which lie next to it in the St. Lawrence River. Local attractions include boat cruises through the Thousand Islands and to Boldt Castle , New York, live theatre ,

546-625: A short freeway connecting directly Highway   401). Highway   2 continued along Kingston Road as it passed under Highway   401 and then crossed the Rouge River into Pickering and Durham Region , initially alongside Highway   401 before departing farther north. It bisected Pickering Village and passed through Ajax . Entering Whitby—where it intersected Highway 12 at Brock Street—Kingston Road became Dundas Street, while in Oshawa it became King Street. Highway   2 then split into

624-524: A temporary part of Highway   401 in 1952 —and ends at the westbound Highway   401 offramp (Exit   648). The roadway continues as Leeds and Grenville County Road 2 both east and west of the remaining highway segment. Before being mostly-decommissioned as a provincial highway in the mid-1990s, Highway   2 was a continuous route from Highway 3 in Windsor to the Quebec border. Prior to

702-525: A toll swing bridge , was replaced by the La Salle Causeway that same year. In 1918, the province subsidised the county and municipal purchase of various former toll roads ( Brockville - Prescott , Paris - Brantford , Cobourg-Port Hope and Cobourg-Baltimore) to be improved and incorporated into the provincial highway system. Later acquisitions included a road from Cobourg to Grafton. As the roads became publicly owned, toll gates were removed. In 1925,

780-673: A tollgate on their road, although only just gravelled" adding a week later "On Sunday night last, the Toll House and Gate on the Port Hope Road were burned to the ground. We regret to say that there is no doubt as to its having been done designedly as a very hard feeling has grown up against the Company, from their having exacted Toll before the road was properly packed. They might have known that no community would quietly submit to drive their teams and heavy loads through six inches of gravel and pay for

858-406: Is now Exit   58. Highway   2 then travelled through Ancaster, became concurrent with Highway 8 and entered into Hamilton. Following a series of streets, the routes split, and Highway   2 travelled north, now concurrent with Highway 6 . The two routes split northeast of Burlington Bay , with Highway   2 turning northeast into Burlington, encountering an interchange with

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936-463: Is now maintained by the various counties, regions, and cities through which it passes. The various sections have the following designations, from west to east: Highway 2 was the first roadway assumed under the maintenance of the Department of Public Highways (today's Ministry of Transportation of Ontario). The 73.5-kilometre (45.7 mi) section from the Rouge River to Smith's Creek, now Port Hope,

1014-603: Is the third in Ontario, the twelfth in Canada, and one of over 400 around the world, and is part of UNESCO ’s program on Man and the Biosphere. Gananoque lies directly on three of Canada's busiest transportation routes: the four-lane Highway 401 , the double-track Canadian National Railway main line, and the St. Lawrence Seaway . It is also home to a rich provincial highway heritage, being home to

1092-472: The 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville had a population of 104,070 living in 44,618 of its 49,557 total private dwellings, a change of 3.5% from its 2016 population of 100,527 . With a land area of 3,355.61 km (1,295.61 sq mi), it had a population density of 31.0/km (80.3/sq mi) in 2021. William Buell granted

1170-652: The Bank of Montreal , established 1817 with branches in Quebec, Montreal, Kingston and Toronto. The original coaches left Montreal every Monday and Thursday, arriving in Kingston two days later; the full Montreal-York run took a week. As with earlier routes (such as the Danforth Road ), coaching inns prospered in every wayside village as the stagecoaches made frequent stops for water, food or fresh horses . The original York Road (from Kingston) aka Kingston Road (from York)

1248-613: The Galipeault Bridge and Taschereau Bridge , both adjacent to 1854 Grand Trunk Railway bridges which were the first fixed mainland links to Montreal, brought Route 2 onto Montreal Island. Ontario has published an official highway map since at least 1923, an era when many provincial highways were still gravel or unimproved road. To accommodate the passenger cars of the Roaring Twenties , efforts to pave Ontario's roads had begun in earnest. The 1926 Official Road Map of Ontario boasted

1326-697: The Gananoque River 's watershed had been an important water transportation corridor, extending north to the Rideau River watershed and playing a key role in the town's early history and economic importance. In 1830, water was diverted near Newboro to the Cataraqui River as part of the Rideau Canal , sending this traffic instead to Kingston. A four-mile short line railroad once linked the main CN Rail tracks to

1404-692: The Highland Creek ravine in 1936, east of Morningside, the Department of Highways began construction on a second bridge over the large valley (the original having been constructed as a bypass of the former alignment through West Hill in 1919). From here the highway was constructed on a new alignment to Oshawa, avoiding construction on the congested Highway 2. As grading and bridge construction neared completion between Highland Creek and Ritson Road in September 1939, World War II broke out and gradually money

1482-656: The Queen Elizabeth Way at North Shore Boulevard. North Shore becomes Lakeshore Road, which the highway followed through Oakville and Mississauga along the shore of Lake Ontario towards Toronto. At the Etobicoke Creek , Highway   2 entered Etobicoke , one of the six municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto that amalgamated to form the present City of Toronto in 1998. At that point Lakeshore Road also transitioned to Lake Shore Boulevard. It intersected

1560-511: The State of New York . The county seat is Brockville . The county was formed by the union of the historical counties of Leeds and Grenville in 1850. There are 10 municipalities in Leeds and Grenville (in order of population): The city of Brockville and towns of Gananoque and Prescott are part of the Leeds and Grenville census division but are independent of the county. As a census division in

1638-525: The Thousand Islands Parkway does not have a complete interchange with Highway 401, meaning that some drivers must use the Highway 2 interchange to transfer between the two roads. The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 2. Based on the c.  1998 routing but using present-day roadway designations. While the route remains drivable for its entire length, officially only

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1716-530: The Veterans Memorial Parkway . While the route was south of the Thames River between Delaware and London, it continued east along Dundas Street between the two branches of the river between London and Woodstock, intersecting Highway 19 between the two in the community of Thamesford . At Woodstock, Highway   2 intersected Highway 59 and met Highway   401 at an interchange near

1794-486: The "Highway from Windsor to the Quebec border, via London will all be paved at the end of the present year" and "a person will then be able to travel over 700 miles of pavement without a detour". Twenty-five years after the first provincial road improvement efforts, Ontario maps boastfully listed fifteen king's highways (numbered 2-17, as 1 and 13 were never assigned) and a growing network of county roads. While thousands of miles of dirt and gravel road still remained throughout

1872-425: The 1837–38 Patriot War when there were fears American militia forces were planning to attack. The Gananoque Blockhouse stood until 1852. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Gananoque had a population of 5,383 living in 2,562 of its 2,767 total private dwellings, a change of 4.3% from its 2016 population of 5,159 . With a land area of 7.01 km (2.71 sq mi), it had

1950-457: The 20th century and the invention of the motorcar quickly made evident a need for better roads in the young but growing Dominion. The macadamised Lake Shore Road between Toronto and Hamilton, in poor condition with ongoing erosion , was the first section to be upgraded with concrete. The Toronto–Hamilton Highway, proposed in 1914, was opened along the lakeshore in November 1917. The Cataraqui Bridge,

2028-442: The 401 provided a continuous Toronto Bypass from Weston to Oshawa . A portion of the highway in the area of Morrisburg was permanently submerged by the creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1958. The highway was rebuilt along a Canadian National Railway right-of-way in the area to bypass the flooded region. The town of Iroquois was also flooded, but was relocated 1.5 kilometres north rather than abandoned. This event led to

2106-636: The Apple Route between Trenton and Brighton , the Arts Route in Hastings County , and the Chemin du Roy (The King's Way, now Route 138 ) between Montreal and Quebec City . Within Ontario and prior to 1997, Highway   2 began in Windsor at the interchange between the E. C. Row Expressway and Highway   3 ( Huron Church Road ), where it also met the northern terminus of Highway 18 . It followed

2184-590: The Gananoque Police Service continues to grow. Leeds and Grenville United Counties The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville , commonly known as Leeds and Grenville , is a county and census division in Ontario , Canada, in the Eastern Ontario subregion of Southern Ontario . It fronts on the St. Lawrence River and the international boundary between Canada and the United States , opposite of

2262-539: The Gardiner around Humber Bay and then through Downtown Toronto on the Gardiner's elevated section. Beyond the Don Valley Parkway interchange, the Gardiner descended to ground level and ended, so Highway   2 rejoined Lakeshore Boulevard near Leslie Street . Highway   2 continued east, splitting into two routes; one continuing along Lake Shore until it curved north as it transitioned into Woodbine Avenue and

2340-565: The Ontario and Quebec governments designated Highway/Route   2 from Windsor to Rivière-du-Loup as the Heritage Highway (Route des Pionniers), a tourist route which continued eastward to the Gaspé Peninsula on what is now Quebec Route 132 . This tourist route included various side trips, such as highways to Ottawa and Niagara Falls . While this signage is maintained in some counties, others have promoted local tours, including

2418-493: The Thames River. Within Delaware, the highway intersected Highway 81 and turned east. At Lambeth it met Highway 4 and the two highways travelled concurrent northeast into London. In downtown London, Highway   2 and Highway   4 parted at the intersection of York Street and Richmond Street, with Highway   2 continuing east along the former. It intersected the northern end of Highway   100, now known as

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2496-657: The arrival of Highway   401 in the 1950s and early 1960s, Highway   2 was the primary east–west route across the southern portion of Ontario. At one time it connected with Quebec Route 2 , which was renumbered in 1966 as multiple highways, and onwards to New Brunswick Route 2 and Nova Scotia Trunk 2 to end in Halifax . New Brunswick reassigned Route   2 to a new freeway running between Fredericton and Moncton in 2007, while Nova Scotia kept its portion of Highway   2 intact, numbering its bypass as Highway 102 and Highway 104 . In 1972,

2574-400: The arrival of the railroad in the mid-19th century diminished the importance of the route, the advent of the bicycle and later the automobile renewed interest in roadbuilding. A 73.7-kilometre (45.8 mi) segment of Highway   2 between Pickering and Port Hope was the first section of roadway assumed by the newly-formed Department of Public Highways (DPHO) on August   21, 1917. By

2652-473: The city of Belleville , where it intersected both Highway 62 and Highway 37 . After passing through the communities of Shannonville and Marysville , it turned south and bisected the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory . Highway   2 turned east at an intersection with Highway 49 and travelled through Deseronto , after which it entered Lennox and Addington County . At Napanee ,

2730-435: The communities of Morrish and Welcome before turning southeast and crossing Highway   401 into Port Hope and intersecting the southern end of Highway 28 . It continued near the shoreline of Lake Ontario through the town of Cobourg , where it intersected the southern end of Highway 45 , as well as the communities of Grafton , Wicklow , Colborne and Salem . At the town of Brighton , where it intersected

2808-553: The core. The northernmost route ran along Queen Street until Kingston Road. Another route split from Queen on both ends and ran along the entire length of King Street . The southernmost route consisted of streets which are now partially or wholly absorbed into Lake Shore: Fleet, Cherry, and Keating Streets; as well as short sections of Leslie Street and Eastern Avenue until meeting with the Queen Street route at Kingston Road. All three routes rejoined at and followed Kingston Road along

2886-450: The end of 1920, the department had taken over roads connecting Windsor with the Quebec boundary at Rivière-Beaudette , which it would number as Provincial Highway   2 in the summer of 1925. In 1930, the DPHO was renamed the Department of Highways (DHO), and provincial highways became King's Highways. By this time, it was one of the dominant transportation arteries across southern Ontario and

2964-431: The end of Highway   403 at Cainsville ; Highway 54 branched south from there. Before 1997, Highway   403 was discontinuous between Cainsville and Ancaster , intersecting and merging into Highway   2 at both locations. The combined Highway   2/53 travelled east through Alberton , before splitting at Duff's Corners . Highway   2 split to the northeast, and Highway   403 resumed at what

3042-458: The expressway east through Windsor, with the divided highway transitioning to an urban arterial road near Lesperance Road. It travelled nearby the south shoreline of Lake St. Clair as it bisected Emeryville and Belle River before curving south briefly. It then turned east and travelled through a rural setting to Tilbury , where it met Highway   401 at two interchanges (Exit   56 and 63). Crossing from Essex County to Kent County ,

3120-527: The flow of British supplies between Kingston and Montreal . The raiders seized the supplies they found and burned the depot. Within a month of the raid, construction of the Gananoque Blockhouse was started, with completion in 1813. It had an octagonal log parapet containing five guns. The blockhouse was abandoned after the War of 1812 and given to a private landowner. The blockhouse was quickly repaired in

3198-559: The former roadway exist near Port Hope and Cobourg , as well as within Grafton . Otherwise the two roads more or less overlap until they reach the Trent River; beyond this point Danforth's road is continued (1802) on a more southern route to reach the Bay of Quinte at Stone Mills (now Glenora ). As the route straying through Scarborough avoided many of the settlers who had taken up residence near

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3276-402: The growing number of travellers. Increased traffic initially led to a construction boom, but soon the most congested sections were among the first candidates to be bypassed by freeway . By 1955, businesspeople along the north shore of Lake Erie were organising efforts to promote tourism on Highways 2 and 3 , both of which stood to lose traffic upon the construction of Highway 401 . In 1956,

3354-533: The heart of the village; the Thousand Islands Railway terminated near the town hall. Gananoque Police Service is a small law enforcement agency in the Eastern Ontario community of Gananoque. The current Chief of Police is Scott Gee. Unlike other Towns and Villages of Ontario which have disbanded their municipal police forces in favour of contracting with the Ontario Provincial Police ,

3432-567: The highway curved northeast and passed through Chatham—where it intersected Highway 40 — Louisville and Thamesville —where it intersected Highway 21 —before entering Middlesex County near Bothwell —where it met Highway 79 . Between Chatham and Delaware , Highway   2 travelled roughly parallel to and north of the Thames River . It passed through the communities of Wardsville , Strathburn —intersecting Highway 76 and Highway 80 —and Melbourne before encountering an interchange with Highway 402 and crossing

3510-496: The highway met the southern terminus of Highway 41 then travelled through the communities of Morven , Odessa and Westbrook before entering Kingston. Within Kingston, Highway   2 followed Princess Street and intersected Highway 38 and Highway   33, crossed the Cataraqui River and Rideau Canal on the La Salle Causeway , then intersected the southern end of Highway 15 near CFB Kingston . For

3588-411: The lake, Danforth's road was bypassed by 1814 by William Cornell and Levi Annis. The Cornell Road (as it was known for a short time) shortened the journey from Victoria Park to West Hill, but remained mostly impassible like Danforth's route to the north. Finally succumbing to increasing pressures, the government raised funds to straighten the road and extend it through Belleville to Kingston . The work

3666-569: The land for construction of the courthouse. It is set atop a hill rising from the Saint Lawrence River. A broad boulevard extends to the main street. The Brockville Courthouse, one of the oldest in Ontario, was erected in 1842. The original plan had been to build a courthouse in the township of Johnstown but the land there was too swampy for construction. Instead, the Courthouse was built in the township of Elizabethtown. The figure of Justice ,

3744-489: The newest pre-1998 alignment. , although after the construction of Lake Shore, the aforementioned later branches along Coxwell and Woodbine Avenues were created. After crossing the Highland Creek valley, Highway   2 and Kingston Road followed an off-ramp at the Highland Creek Overpass since the main road defaulted to Highway 2A , travelling parallel to and north of Highway 2A (the latter route being

3822-601: The nickname of The Lost Villages for a number of communities in the area. Countless roadside motels from Windsor to Montreal were bypassed in the 1960s, with the 401 freeway completed in 1968. Growing hotel chains built new facilities near the 401 offramps, saturating the market in some areas. By the 1980s, Toronto's portion of the Kingston Road was in steep decline. Some motels were used to shelter homeless or refugee populations, others were simply demolished. The section of Highway 2 between Woodstock and Ancaster (today

3900-433: The parallel freeways of Highway   401, the Queen Elizabeth Way , and finally Highway   403, the province gradually transferred sections of the route back to the municipal, county and regional governments that it passed through, a process known as downloading . In 1997 and 1998, the province downloaded 391.6 kilometres (243.3 mi) of Highway   2 and rescinded dozens of Connecting Link agreements, reducing

3978-657: The position of this place, however, as at the head of the Montreal boat-navigation , and at the foot of the sloop and steam navigation from the lakes , it must soon increase in extent, as it will rise in importance. The creation of a post road extended year-round communication which had already existed on the Chemin du Roy from Quebec City - Montreal westward, with the first stagecoaches reaching York ( Toronto ) in January 1817. This link proved economically vital to enterprises such as

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4056-523: The privilege. But we would not be understood to sanction the lawless proceeding which has taken place." Despite these issues, this road would remain the principal means of winter travel until the Grand Trunk Railway connected Montreal and Toronto in 1856. As intercity traffic formerly carried by the various stagecoach operators migrated to the iron horse, stagecoach roads faded to primarily local importance, carrying regional traffic. This changed as

4134-464: The province insisted otherwise and only four settlers took up residence along the road between Toronto and Port Hope; like many other paths of the day, it became a quagmire . Danforth's road did not always follow the same path as today's Kingston Road. Beginning near Victoria Park Avenue and Queen Street East , the road can be traced along Clonmore Drive, Danforth Road , Painted Post Drive, Military Trail and Colonel Danforth Trail. Other sections of

4212-508: The remainder of its length, the highway followed close to or along the northern shoreline of the St. Lawrence River . Travelling northeast from Kingston, Highway   2 passed through the communities of Barriefield , Ravensview and Pitts Ferry before reaching Gananoque and intersected the southern terminus of Highway 32 . By 1997, the portion of Highway   2 between the interchanges at Exit   648 east of Gananoque and Exit   687 west of Brockville along Highway   401

4290-568: The remaining stretch of Highway 2 . It is the western terminus of the Thousand Islands Parkway , and a short drive from the Thousand Islands Bridge , which crosses into the United States as Interstate 81 . Via Rail inter-city passenger trains bound for Toronto and Ottawa stop at the unstaffed Gananoque station to the north of downtown. Gananoque is also served by the Gananoque Airport for general aviation . Historically,

4368-404: The road "good" for use in the dead of winter, but "impassible" during the wet summers, when the path turned to a bottomless mud pit. He went on to suggest that rather than setting aside land for government officials which would never be occupied, the land be divided into 200 acres (81 ha) lots for settlers who could then be tasked with statute labour to maintain the path. Danforth agreed, but

4446-533: The route to its current length. Since 1998, Highway   2 has remained in the provincial highway system solely as a connection between westbound Thousand Islands Parkway and eastbound Highway   401. Highway   2 begins at the eastern town limits of Gananoque, and travels east a short distance before gently curving northward. It meets an interchange with the Thousand Islands Parkway—once referred to as Highway   2S, prior to becoming

4524-400: The second via Coxwell Avenue and a short stretch of Queen Street to then follow Kingston Road . The two routes then rejoined at Woodbine and Kingston, following the latter northeast into Scarborough . Prior to the construction of the Gardiner and Lakeshore Boulevard, the original alignment of Highway 2 through Downtown Toronto split into three separate routes to disperse traffic through

4602-602: The southern end of Highway 27 and travelled through the community of New Toronto , where numerous motels flourished during the golden age of the automobile which have since given way to condominium development. Approaching the west bank of the Humber River which was the eastern terminus of the Queen Elizabeth Way until 1998, the Highway   2 route merged onto the Gardiner Expressway via an on-ramp from Lake Shore Boulevard. Highway   2 proceeded to follow

4680-477: The southern end of Highway 30 , the highway entered Hastings County and moved inland from Lake Ontario. In Trenton , the route crossed the Trent–Severn Waterway , intersected Highway 33 , and began to travel along the northern shoreline of the Bay of Quinte . Continuing northeast, Highway   2 passed south of CFB Trenton and through the community of Bayside before travelling through

4758-405: The southern terminus of Highway 138 and continued northeast through the communities of Glen Walter and Summerstown . At Lancaster —the final notable community along Highway   2—the route met Highway 34 , and shortly thereafter crossed into Quebec. Despite being decommissioned as a provincial highway in the 1990s, almost the entirety of the former highway remains driveable, and

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4836-651: The split with Highway   403. It then continued east, becoming parallel with the latter towards Hamilton. It intersected with Highway 53 at Eastwood and passed through the communities of Creditville , Gobles and Falkland before entering Paris . Within Paris, the highway intersected Highway 24A and met the western terminus of Highway 5 , with which it remained within 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) through to Toronto. Highway   2 branched southeast through Brantford, where it intersected Highway 24 and became concurrent with Highway   53 before meeting

4914-744: The summer theatre festival of The Thousand Islands Playhouse , the Arthur Child Heritage Museum of the 1000 Islands , Thousand Islands Boat Museum, and the Shorelines Casino Thousand Islands . The theatre company in Gananoque is The Thousand Islands Playhouse which operates two theatre spaces: The Springer Theatre, and the Firehall Theatre, attracting international attention since 1982. The Thousand Islands – Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve , designated in November 2002,

4992-615: The system, the steel rails which crossed the region now had a credible rival in southern Ontario. Beginning in 1935, Highway Minister Thomas McQuesten applied the concept of a second roadway to several projects along Highway 2: a 4 mi (6.4 km) stretch west of Brockville, a 4.5 km (2.8 mi) stretch from Woodstock eastward, and a section between Birchmount Road to east of Morningside Avenue in Scarborough Township . When widening in Scarborough reached

5070-523: The town and the St. Lawrence River serves as the southern boundary of the town. The town's name is an Indigenous name which means "town on two rivers". The town's name rhymes with the place name Cataraqui , which appears in the Cataraqui River , the Little Cataraqui Creek , and the Cataraqui Cemetery in nearby Kingston, Ontario . One way to remember its pronunciation is "The right way,

5148-520: The wrong way, and the Gananoque". In eastern Ontario speech, the town name is often abbreviated to Gan . Colonel Joel Stone , who served with Loyalist militia during the American Revolutionary War , established a settlement on this site in 1789. Land was granted to Col. Stone for use as a mill site. During the War of 1812 , American forces raided the government depot in the town to disrupt

5226-477: Was 878.2-kilometre (545.7 mi) long. The section of Highway   2 between Hamilton and Toronto along Lakeshore Road became the first paved intercity road in Ontario in 1914. Beginning in the mid-1930s, the DHO began reconstructing several portions of the highway into the new German-inspired "dual highway", including east from Scarborough along Kingston Road. This would be the progenitor to Highway   401, which

5304-537: Was awarded the task, for which he would be compensated $ 90 per mile. Beginning on June 5, 1799, the road was extended eastwards. Danforth was hired once more, and tasked with clearing a 10-metre (33 ft) road east from York through the bush, with 5 metres (16 ft) (preferably in the centre) cut to the ground. It was carved as far as Port Hope by December, and to the Trent River soon after. Danforth's inspector and acting surveyor general William Chewett declared

5382-546: Was built in a patchwork fashion across Southern Ontario throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, often as bypass of and parallel to Highway   2 (except between Woodstock and Toronto). Conversely, the importance of Highway   2 for long-distance travel was all but eliminated, and coupled with the increasing suburbanization of the Greater Toronto Area , it became simply a series of urban arterials street between Hamilton and Oshawa. Having been replaced in importance by

5460-644: Was bypassed on August 15, 1997. On January 1, 1998, most of the former length of Highway 2 was downloaded , transferring the highway from provincial responsibility to local counties or municipalities . The route lost its King's Highway designation in the process, along with much of its visibility on printed Ontario maps. Many Ontario highways which originally ended at Highway 2 (as the backbone of Ontario's highway system) were truncated or simply decommissioned , most often becoming county roads. One token provincially maintained section of Highway 2 remains east of Gananoque; this section remains provincially maintained because

5538-451: Was completed by 1817 and the road renamed The Kingston Road . Downriver from Kingston, roads built along the St. Lawrence for War of 1812 military use became a popular means to avoid rapids on the river by travelling overland. Prescot , now called Fort Wellington , is important as being the chief stage between this port and Montreal , from which it is distant 130 miles, and between which coaches run every day, except Sundays. From

5616-612: Was completed in 1968. The August 1997 completion of Highway 403 bypassed one final section through Brantford. Virtually all of the 847.3 km (526.5 mi) length of Highway   2 was deemed a local route and removed from the provincial highway system by January   1, 1998, with the exception of a one-kilometre (0.62 mi) section east of Gananoque . The entire route remains driveable, but as County Road   2 or County Highway   2 in most regions. Portions of what became Highway   2 served as early settlement trails, post roads and stagecoach routes . While

5694-541: Was in late October 1793, when Captain Smith and 100 Queen's Rangers returned from carving The Governor's Road 20 miles (32 km) through the thick forests between Dundas and the present location of Paris . John Graves Simcoe was given the task of defending Upper Canada (present day Ontario) from the United States following the American Revolution and with opening the territory to settlement. After establishing

5772-445: Was inaugurated on August 21, 1917, as The Provincial Highway . On June 7, 1918, the designation was extended east approximately 379 kilometres (235 mi) to the Quebec border. The forerunners to Highway 2 are numerous paths constructed during the colonization of Ontario. While some portions may have existed as trails created by Indigenous peoples for hundreds of years, the first recorded construction along what would become Highway 2

5850-552: Was initially little more than a muddy horse path. In 1829, a ferry crossing on the Cataraqui River in Kingston was replaced by a draw bridge . In the 1830s, efforts were made by various toll road operators to macadamise the trail as a gravel stagecoach road. On one section between Cobourg and Port Hope the Cobourg Star on October 11, 1848, expressed "surprise and deep regret, that the Cobourg and Port Hope Road Company have placed

5928-660: Was maintained by the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville , serving the communities of Wilstead , Mallorytown and Butternut Bay . The highway intersected Highway 29 at Brockville , then passed through the communities of Maitland , Prescott and Johnstown , intersecting the southern end of Highway 16 at the latter. It passed through Cardinal , as well as the Lost Villages relocated towns of Iroquois , Morrisburg —where it intersected Highway 31 — Ingleside and Long Sault before entering Cornwall. It met

6006-474: Was placed atop the Courthouse in 1982. Major highways: The town of Smiths Falls is mostly located in Lanark County , while parts of the southern areas of the town are in the township of Rideau Lakes in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville. Ontario Highway 2 Once the primary east–west route across the southern portion of Ontario, most of Highway   2 was bypassed by Highway 401 , which

6084-403: Was siphoned from highway construction to the war effort. The wartime rationing of the 1940s soon gave way to the fifties neon era of growing prosperity, increased vehicle ownership and annual paid vacations. Service stations, diners, motels and tourist-related establishments were proliferating on long strips of highway such as Toronto's Lakeshore Boulevard and Kingston Road to accommodate

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