Caledon (Ontario)

Caledon (Ontario), town in southern Ontario, Canada. It is located in Peel Regional Municipality, directly northwest of Toronto. Its landscape is largely rural, but its proximity to the Toronto metropolitan area gives Caledon both an urban and rural character. Farming is a declining industry, although hobby farms are still common. Goods manufactured here have included auto parts and telecommunications equipment; quarrying pits supply gravel and stone aggregates to construction companies in the Toronto area. Caledon is served by Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport.

Caledon is notable for the scenic beauty of its natural landscape and its proximity to the Niagara Escarpment, one of the most diverse regions in the province. The area features a wide array of plants and wildlife, old growth forests, and spectacular cliffs. In 1990 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Niagara Escarpment an International Biosphere Reserve in order to protect and monitor the area’s ecosystem. The reserve can be observed from the Bruce Trail, one of the most utilized public footpaths in Canada, and from the Caledon Trailway, an abandoned railway line converted for recreational uses. The Caledon Trailway also provides hikers, cyclists, and cross-country skiers with views of the Credit and Humber rivers and the Caledon and Albion hills.

European settlement of the Caledon area began in the 1810s, and the area grew steadily through the mid-1800s. The town of Caledon was formed in 1974 from the amalgamation of the townships of Caledon and Albion and part of the township Chinguacousy, as well as the villages of Bolton and Caledon East. The town comprises numerous communities, including the urban center of Bolton, which is home to a significant proportion of Caledon’s residents. The town of Caledon, like much of the Greater Toronto Area, is ethnically diverse.

Caledon covers a land area of 686.2 sq km (264.9 sq mi). Population 34,965 (1991); 50,595 (2001).