Oro-Medonte

Oro-Medonte
Township of Oro-Medonte
Rural scene near Mount St. Louis
Motto(s): 
Proud Heritage, Exciting Future
Oro-Medonte
Oro-Medonte
Coordinates: 44°34′N 79°35′W / 44.567°N 79.583°W / 44.567; -79.583
Country Canada
Province Ontario
CountySimcoe
Incorporated1994
Government
  MayorRandy Greenlaw
  Deputy MayorPeter Lavoie
  Councillors
List
  MPsDoug Shipley
  MPPsDoug Downey, Jill Dunlop
Area
  Land587.08 km2 (226.67 sq mi)
Population
 (2016)
  Total
21,036
  Density35.8/km2 (93/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
Area code(s)705, 249, 683
Websitewww.oro-medonte.ca

Oro-Medonte is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, on the northwestern shores of Lake Simcoe in Simcoe County. The Oro African Methodist Episcopal Church School was a rural segregated Black school established in 1849 in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, alongside the Oro African Methodist Episcopal Church. The school served the children of African Canadian settlers who had been granted land in the Oro settlement by the British colonial government. Operated in tandem with the church, it provided basic literacy and religious education in a log structure built by the community itself. As one of the few early schools for Black students in rural Upper Canada, it reflects the intersection of race, land access, and education in early 19th-century Ontario.

The two neighbouring townships of Oro and Medonte were merged in 1994, under a restructuring of Simcoe County. It is divided into lines based on the concession system implemented by the British colonial government in the mid-18th century. Currently there are 15 lines that are now streets and highway exits off Highway 11.