Global Alliance Worldwide Chauffeured Services operates in the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario, Canada. Although Global Alliance provides services around the world through our network of affiliates, the core of our services are performed in Toronto and its surrounding region. In this continuing feature, we will detail notable locations and communities in the Greater Toronto Area (or GTA) where we often provide limousine service. Today, we travel east of Toronto to the city of Peterborough.
Located approximately 125 kilometres east of Toronto and about 270 km southwest of Ottawa, Peterborough is a city of just over 81,000 inhabitants (121,000 inhabitants in the larger metropolitan area). The Peterborough area was frequented by First Nations peoples and even traversed by French explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th Century, but the first settlement on the Otonabee River – beginning with a small mill operation – dates to 1818.
Early Canadian political leader Peter Robinson, for whom the city is named, founded and planned the settlement beginning in 1825. By 1846, Peterborough has a population of 2000 people, and incorporated as a town in 1850. The historic Peterborough Lift Lock, an important component of the Trent Canal system, was completed in 1904. The longtime home to a General Electric facility (which closed only this year after more than a century in operation), Peterborough was the first town in Canada with electric streetlights, and was once known as “The Electric City”.
Today, Peterborough has a diverse economy and an active cultural and recreational profile. Major employers include Quaker Oats, the Peterborough Regional Health Centre, and the city’s major post-secondary educational institution, Trent University. Peterborough is home to the annual Peterborough Folk Festival, the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, and art galleries like the Art Gallery of Peterborough and the local artist-run Artspace, as well as the Riverview Park & Z00 and the Canadian Canoe Museum. The Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League are the city’s major-junior hockey team. The Petes play their home games at the Peterborough Memorial Centre, have produced numerous NHL players (as well as several Hall of Famers), and have won a Memorial Cup as Canada’s top junior hockey team. Peterborough is also known as the gateway to the Kawarthas, a recreational and vacation area part of what is known in Ontario as “cottage country”.
Please feel free to contact Global Alliance Worldwide Chauffeured Services for all of your transportation needs in Peterborough, Ontario.