The township was named after Welsh prince Madoc ap Owain Gwynedd, credited by some with discovering North America in 1170. There exists an alternative explanation, for which no evidence exists, that the name comes from a small Welsh village, Llanmadoc, on the Gower Peninsula of Wales, not far from the city of Swansea. Its post office dates from 1836.[3]
Communities
The township of Madoc comprises several villages and hamlets, including communities such as Allen, Bannockburn, Cooper, Eldorado, Fox Corners, Hazzards Corners, Keller Bridge, Rimington, and Empey.
Eldorado (2010)
Bannockburn
History
Eldorado (circa 1900)
Mills and ironworks gave initial stimulus to the community of Madoc. Following the discovery of gold-bearing quartz in 1866,[4] the community prospered as an industrial centre.[5] Eldorado, 6 miles north of Madoc, was the site of Ontario's first gold rush on 18 August 1866 by Marcus Powell and William Berryman (or Nicholas Snider). The opened up a limestone cave 12 feet long, 6 feet wide and 6 feet high. The resultant mine was named the Richardson Mine, after John Richardson, owner of the farm where it was located. People soon came from all over North America to this area.[6]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Madoc had a population of 2,233 living in 868 of its 934 total private dwellings, a change of 7.5% from its 2016 population of 2,078. With a land area of 274.58 km2 (106.02 sq mi), it had a population density of 8.1/km2 (21.1/sq mi) in 2021.[7]
^Pain, S.A. (1960). Three Miles of Gold. Toronto: The Ryerson Press. p. 7.
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-03-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Ontario Heritage Trust Founding of Madoc
^Barnes, Michael (1995). Gold in Ontario. Erin: The Boston Mills Press. pp. 13–15. ISBN155046146X.
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