The present-day County of Essex in southwestern Ontario was established in 1792 as an administrative unit within the British colony of Upper Canada (also known as Canada West, 1841-1867) by Lieutenant-Governor Colonel John Graves Simcoe. It has been governed by several permutations of municipal government. In 1800, the townships of Rochester, Mersea, Gosfield, Maidstone, Sandwich, Malden, and the tracts of land occupied by the Huron and other Indigenous groups living along the Detroit River, together with islands in Lake Erie, St. Clair and the Straits, were designated as the County of Essex and Kent. Together with areas of Upper Canada not included in any other district, the County of Essex and Kent constituted what was known as the Western District. The first meeting of the Western District Council (then composed of representatives from the Counties of Essex, Kent, and Lambton) was held at the Sandwich Court House in February 1842. After a subsequent county reorganization, the first meeting of the Municipal Council of the United Counties of Essex, Kent and Lambton was held January 28, 1850. This was swiftly followed by further reorganization, so that the first meeting of the Municipal Council of the United Counties of Essex and Lambton was held a year later, on January 27, 1851. Population growth and economic development in both of the constituent counties led to a division at the end of the 19th century, and the first meeting of a dedicated Essex County Council was held at the Sandwich Court House on January 26, 1897. Like other county councils, the various permutations of Essex County's municipal government were largely preoccupied with issues related to property, justice, taxation, and infrastructure (roads, bridges, civic buildings, etc.) in its earliest days. Over time this expanded to include planning, emergency medical services, housing with supports for low-income individuals, and a long-term care home.
The region comprises a peninsula surrounded on three sides by Lake Erie, the Detroit River, and Lake St. Clair, and has a deep history of settlement and use by Indigenous peoples, especially the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi nations) and the Huron-Wendat Confederacy. French explorers, fur traders, and missionaries were present in the area from 1640, with French settlement for farming purposes beginning in 1747. British settlement began after the 1763 Treaty of Paris transferred the region to British hands, and increased during and after the American Revolution (1775-1783) as British military allies and Loyalists from the USA resettled in the region. Fort Malden, in the garrison town of Amherstburg, played an important defensive role during the War of 1812. The 19th century brought thousands of African-American freedom-seekers who followed the Underground Railroad to the region, as well as economic migrants from Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. The construction of railways spurred the growth of industry, trade, travel, and urbanization in the county. Cycles of economic boom and bust marked the region in the 20th century, but the growth of manufacturing in Windsor (especially in the automotive sector) drew a steady influx of immigrants, especially from Italy (after the Second World War) and the former Yugoslavian republics (during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s). The early twenty-first century saw new waves of immigration, especially from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Sources: County of Essex, "Early Settlement History," and "Departments," https://www.countyofessex.ca/ (accessed 19 March 2020).