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Essex

Essex is strategically located as the hub of the County and is traversed by many inter-regional transportation routes. Given its centralized position in the Region and its proximity to numerous regional destinations, Essex has location advantages that make it a desirable place to live. Its communities offer a quality of life not often found within larger urban centers.

Living in Essex

The urban areas of Harrow and Essex are quaint, walkable communities with vibrant, traditional downtowns but also contain amenities such as bike paths and other recreational facilities such as municipal arenas, soccer complexes and skateboard parks. The Essex Urban Area also has a 25-meter municipal pool housed within its high school.

A major commercial center containing larger format stores has developed within the Essex Urban Area along Highway 3 and County Road 8, which includes a new Canadian Tire, Mark's Workwear, Tim Horton and the first new concept McDonalds in the region.

In addition to these two major urban areas, the Town of Essex has two smaller settlement areas in the Villages of Colchester and McGregor.

  • Colchester - a small community of approximately 1000 persons situated on Lake Erie has a public beach and a marina that serves as the base for a strong sport fishing industry. It's also the epicentre of a burgeoning estate wine industry forming along the north shores of the Lake.
  • McGregor - situated within a 10-minute drive of major employment and shopping areas of the City of Windsor, contains a population of approximately 2500 and is located at the nexus of two major trails forming the Chrysler Canada Greenway system. The CoAn Park, a major recreational facility containing many baseball diamonds, and the Steam and Gas Museum are located within this small community.

Although agriculture dominates the rural landscape and is an important component of the local economy and culture, the Town of Essex has managed to maintain the highest percentage of natural heritage areas in the Region.

Recreation

There are three golf courses within the municipality as well as an arena and numerous parks and conservation areas. Essex also absorbed a number of smaller communities on Lake Erie as part of the 1999 amalgamation; hence it is also home to more than 120 public recreational boat slips and some beautiful uncrowded beaches. The Southwestern Ontario Heritage Village & Transportation Museum, with one of the most impressive and rare car collections in Canada, is located in the Town of Essex.

Communities That Make Up Essex

  • Ambassador Beach
  • Barretville
  • Belcraft Beach
  • Colchester
  • Comet
  • Edgars
  • Essex
  • Gesto
  • Harrow
  • Klie's Beach
  • Leslies Corner
  • Levergood Beach
  • Lypps Beach
  • Marshfield
  • McGregor
  • New Canaan
  • Oxley
  • Paquette Corner
  • Seymour Beach
  • Vereker
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