Area Description

Tecumseh is a town in Essex County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is on Lake St. Clair east of Windsor and had a population of 23,610 at the 2011 census. It is part of the Windsor metropolitan area which is in turn part of the Detroit-Windsor metropolitan area.

Tecumseh enjoys long summers and mild winters. Originally a small Franco-Ontarian settlement with only a church, a school, a post office, a hotel and a general store, Tecumseh is now rapidly growing and offers many restaurants, shopping areas, medical facilities, and has a growing industrial and commercial sector.

Food processing is a major industry in Tecumseh, as Bonduelle owns a food processing plant near the heart of the town. The plant originally was Green Giant 1931 (Fine Foods of Canada) and Pillsbury Company. Green Giant sold in the late 1990s to Family Tradition Foods. Family Traditions sold the food processing plant to Carrière Foods in 2006. Carrière Foods was then purchased in 2007 by Bonduelle.

The Tecumseh Corn Festival has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Festivals in Ontario by Festivals and Events Ontario.

As the Town of Windsor grew, Tecumseh began to experience new blood when the overflow of immigrants coming to the city began to settle in the peripheral regions as well. Indicative of the change was the mix-up created by the introduction of the tomato to the area of Tecumseh. Many of the English residents of the community refused to touch the suspicious red vegetable believing it to be a "Love Potion"concocted by the amorous Frenchmen. The first post office was located on the northeast corner of Tecumseh and Lesperance and was operated by a Mr. Christie. Some of the first businesses in Tecumseh included a lumber mill operated by J.B.Cada; a grocery store operated by Arthur Cecile; a cheese factory on Banwell Road operated by Joseph Breault; a bakery owned by John Dugell; three butcher shops; a canning factory and a brewery eventually closed under Carling Company. In 1921 it was felt that Tecumseh was not getting its fair share of improvements in proportion to the taxes paid to the municipality of Sandwich East. A group of people headed by Malcolm Clapp petitioned the legislature to separate from the township and incorporate as the Town of Tecumseh with a population of 978. Dr. Paul Poisson was appointed as the first mayor of the town.The real growth in Tecumseh occurred in 1931 with the establishment of the Green Giant Factory as Fine Foods of Canada. Green Giant (now Bonduelle) is still located in Tecumseh and continues to employ full and part-time workers.

As the population grew, so did the demands for services. The Ontario Provincial Police started policing the Town in 1948 with 2 officers. In 1922 a fire chief was appointed although no fire department was in existence, the fires were fought by town volunteers.

In 1999, as part of a reorganization of Essex County, Tecumseh was merged with the Village of St. Clair Beach, and the Township of Sandwich South into the Town of Tecumseh. In 2003, the City of Windsor annexed approximately 23 square kilometres (8.9 sq mi) from the Town of Tecumseh. Now considered to be a bedroom community of Windsor, Tecumseh is often cited as an example of urban sprawl; new subdivisions have developed on some of Canada's most valuable agricultural land beginning in the late 1980s.