Port Hope, Ontario

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Port Hope had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

|1841| 1200

|1851| 2476

|1871| 5114

|1881| 5581

|1891| 5042

|1901| 4188

|1911| 5092

|1921| 4456

|1931| 4723

|1941| 5006

|1951| 6548

|1961| 8091

|1971| 8872

|1981| 9992

|1991| 11505

|2001| 15605

|2006| 16390

|2011| 16214

|2016| 16753

|2021| 17294

Mother tongue (2021):

! Company !! Employees

| CPK Interior Products || 403

| Cameco Corporation || 390

| ESCO || 157

| Cameco Fuel Services || 140

| Akzo Nobel || 78

| Standard Auto Wreckers || 60

| Disk Tooling || 40

| Curtis Chicks || 32

| Unitrak || 21

| Port Hope Patterns || 12

Downtown Port Hope offers shopping and a historic main street. Port Hope is served by a Via Rail station. It has a medical centre, and a community health centre. It has had a daily newspaper since 1878, the Port Hope Evening Guide. Until 2007, this was part of the Osprey Media chain and subsequently a part of the Sun Media organization. In 2009 the newspaper was amalgamated with the Cobourg Daily Star and renamed as Northumberland Today.com. In November 2017 the newspaper was included in the large-scale closing of many local community newspapers throughout the province of Ontario.

Port Hope's Economic Development Strategic Plan aims to increase job growth at least as fast as population growth. The town has a variety of industries.

In January 2025, the Ontario Government announced plans for a new nuclear generating station to be built at Wesleyville.

Arts and culture

thumb|[[Ganaraska River at Port Hope]]

The Ganaraska River (affectionately known as "The Ganny"), is well known to area anglers for annual salmon and trout runs. It has caused many historic floods, the most recent having occurred on March 21–22, 1980. Every April since until 2020, Port Hope has commemorated the flood with "Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny" ten kilometre boat race. "Participants range from serious paddlers navigating the cold, fast-moving water in kayaks and canoes, to the very entertaining 'crazy craft' paddlers, floating any combination of materials down the river in an attempt to reach the finish line." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, the first time in its history for such action.

Attractions

The Capitol Theatre is Canada's last functioning atmospheric theatre. The theatre's main auditorium is styled after an outdoor medieval courtyard and rolling clouds are projected onto the ceiling. The town spent in excess of three million dollars renovating and upgrading the theatre in 2004–2005. It is also used for live events by Port Hope Festival Theatre.

thumb|John David Smith House, c. 1834

thumb|Waddell Block-Lantern Inn, 1845

The Municipality of Port Hope is home to many heritage and cultural attractions, and events, including:

Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny—a water race commemorating the 1980 flood of the Ganaraska River
Ganaraska Forest Centre
Canadian Firefighters Museum (now demolished)
Port Hope Yacht Club
Port Hope Festival Theatre at the Capitol Theatre
La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra (3 concerts per year)
Port Hope and District Agricultural Fall Fair
The All Canadian Jazz Festival
Port Hope Farmers' Market (May to October)
Port Hope Christmas and Santa Claus Parade (includes Festival of Trees, Candlelight Walk to Memorial Park, and Carol Singing)
Port Hope Drive-In (Built in 1952, it is among the oldest Canadian drive-ins still operating)
Architectural Conservancy of Ontario Annual House Tour, Garden Tour, and Antiques and Artifacts Auction
Port Hope and District Historical Society Dorothy's House Museum
Port Hope Archives
Friends of Wesleyville Village
Beaches:
West Beach (parking at the end of Marsh Street)
East Beach (parking at the bottom of King Street at Madison Street)
Port Hope Waterfront Trail
Port Hope Golf and Country Club

Infrastructure

Transportation

Highway 401 runs through the north end of Port Hope, with exits at County Road 2/Toronto Road (461) and Highway 28/Ontario Street (464).

thumb|An inside look of the Port Hope VIA Rail station

Port Hope Transit provides local bus service, and VIA Rail provides passenger service from the Port Hope railway station along the Toronto-Montreal corridor. The station was built in 1856 for the Grand Trunk Railway and later CN Rail. It was restored in 1985.

Pleasure boats dock at the foot of John Street at Hayward Street and share the facilities with Cameco, which has berths for freighters servicing their manufacturing facilities at the mouth of the Ganaraska River.

Education

Public education in Port Hope is under the management of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, and Catholic education is by the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.

Elementary schools

St. Anthony's Elementary School, Catholic JK–8
Ganaraska Trail Public School, Public JK–5
North Hope Central School, Public JK–6
Beatrice Strong Public School, Public JK–6

High schools

Port Hope High School c. 1871, Public Gr 9-12 - opened in 1853 as Port Hope Grammar School
Dr M. S. Hawkins Senior Public School, Public Gr 6–8 (same building as Port Hope High School)
Port Hope High School Student to Work Transition Program (SWOT Campus), Public Grade 9–12
Trinity College School, Private Gr 5–12
Discovery Academy, International campus (not active)

Notable people

Owen Beck, professional ice hockey player.
David Blackwood (1941–2022), artist.
Lew Cirne, pioneer of Application Performance Management, founder of Wily Technology and New Relic.
William Henry Draper, lawyer, judge, and politician.
Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
J.J. Hagerman, Colorado railroad and mining magnate who went on to become one of founders of New Mexico.
William Leonard Hunt ("The Great Farini"), entertainer.
Watson Kirkconnell (1895-1977), linguist, public intellectual, father of multiculturalism in Canada, and a highly important figure in both Canadian poetry and the culture of Canada.
Archibald Cameron Macdonell, commander of the 1st Canadian Division during the First World War.
Charles Vincent Massey, first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.
Claire Mowat, writer.
Farley Mowat, conservationist and writer.
Alice Munro, author and Nobel Prize winner, lived in Port Hope.
Dennis O'Brien, NHL hockey player.
Shane O'Brien, NHL hockey player.
David Piccini (born 1988), politician, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training & Skills Development
Cal Quantrill, Major League Baseball player.
Paul Quantrill, Major League Baseball player.
Jim Roberts, NHL hockey player.
Wade Rowland, writer and journalist.
Joseph M. Scriven, author of the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".
William Sims, U.S. Naval Admiral, awarded 1921 Pulitzer Prize for History.
Ron Smith, NHL hockey player.
Ambrose Thomas Stanton, Chief Medical Officer for the British colonies. Born in Kendal and attended Port Hope High School.
Paul Terbenche, NHL hockey player.
Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams, politician.
Major-General Arthur Victor Seymour Williams.