| Callander | |
| Official Name: | Municipality of Callander |
| Settlement Type: | Municipality (single-tier) |
| Motto: | Four Seasons of Reasons |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Southern Ontario |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Callander in Ontario |
| Coordinates: | 46.2167°N -101°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ontario |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Parry Sound |
| Government Type: | Township |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Robb Noon[1] |
| Leader Title1: | Governing Body |
| Leader Title2: | MP |
| Leader Name2: | Anthony Rota |
| Leader Title3: | MPP |
| Leader Name3: | Vic Fedeli |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | 1891 |
| Area Land Km2: | 102.98 |
| Area Metro Km2: | 788.48 |
| Area Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 3964 |
| Population Density Km2: | 38.5 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | −5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −4 |
| Area Code: | 705 |
The Municipality of Callander (formerly the Township of North Himsworth) is a township in central Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast end of Lake Nipissing in the Almaguin Highlands region of the District of Parry Sound. The municipality is located on Callander Bay, just south of North Bay.
The municipality renamed itself from North Himsworth to Callander in 2003, adopting the name of its major community because, in the words of then-mayor Bill Brazeau, "Nobody knew where North Himsworth was."[3]
The main community of Callander is located in the northeast corner of the municipality, along the eastern shore of Callander Bay.
The south shore of Callander Bay and Lake Nipissing (southwest of the town) represents the rural population of Callander, which primarily runs along Highway 654 West. This area includes the communities of Wisawasa and Lighthouse Beach.
Callander Bay is an eroded Proterozoic volcanic pipe formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of a deep-origin volcano, approximately 500 million years ago. It is one of eight known volcanic sites in Ontario, including the Manitou Islands in North Bay.
The first people in the Callander area were of Ojibwa and Algonquin descent who have lived around Lake Nipissing for about 9,400 years. Though in history known by many names, they are currently known as Nipissing First Nation. They are generally considered part of the Anishinaabe peoples, a grouping which includes the Odaawaa, Ojibwe and Algonquins.
In 1610, French explorer Samuel de Champlain sent a young apprentice, Étienne Brûlé, to live with the Huron natives at Georgian Bay. While en route, Brûlé discovered Lake Nipissing via the La Vase River Portage (approximately 3 km north of Callander) and established a major fur trading route linking the Ottawa River with the upper Great Lakes. Other explorers who used the La Vase Portage were Samuel de Champlain in 1615, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye in 1731, Alexander Henry the elder in 1761 and Sir Alexander MacKenzie in 1802.
In 1880, George Morrison, a bookkeeper from Oxford County in Southern Ontario travelled by ox-cart from Muskoka to Lake Nipissing. There he built a raft and floated his family and possessions across the lake to the south-east bay. Logging companies had taken interest in the abundant Eastern White Pine that grew in the area. He was one of its first pioneers and his wife was the first white woman. On June 1, 1881, he opened a Post Office in his general store and named it after his parents' Scottish birthplace of Callander.
Lumber companies that established mills in Callander included:
Prominent people who have lived in Callander include:
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Callander had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 102.98km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[5]