Penetanguishene is a historic community first recognized in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe with the establishment of a naval base. Penetanguishene was incorporated on February 22, 1882, and boasts a robust billingual culture.

Penetanguishene's history reflects its three founding cultures: Native, French and British.

As early as A.D. 800, Iroquoian-speaking people began to settle in semi-permanent villages in the area. As population grew, these villages developed alliances and distinct Nations. In about A.D. 1400, the Huron Confederacy was formed out of the alliance of the Bear and the Cord Nations. By A.D. 1600, two other Nations had joined the Confederacy, bringing the total Huron population to approximately 14,000 people. 

The first European to set foot in the Penetanguishene and Tiny Township area was an 18 year old Frenchman sent some time between 1610 and 1614 by Samuel de Champlain named Etienne Brulé to live with the Huron people.

In 1793, the Penetanguishene area was visited by John Graves Simcoe, then Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. He immediately saw Penetanguishene's potential as a naval base to maintain warships which could protect a new trade and exploration route to the northwest. Five years later, the British government purchased the land around Penetanguishene Harbour. This area included all land north of a line from the ruins of Ste. Marie to Nottawasaga Bay, and contained most Tiny and Tay Townships as well as the present sites of Midland and Penetanguishene. Finally, in 1817, a naval base was established.

In the early 1840's, families from Quebec, attracted by promises of cheap and fertile land, came to the area of Tiny Township. They settled in and around the present site of Lafontaine. More Quebec immigrants arrived and settled throughout Tiny Township including south of the present-day Perkinsfield. Penetanguishene became the natural market and meeting place for these early settlers. It became a thriving commercial center and along with Tiny Township, saw the development of a booming logging industry. The town was incorporated in 1875.

Penetanguishene met her boom era shortly before and after the turn of the century. The vast timber resources and convenient harbour brought such names as Beck, McGibbon, Gropp, Tessier and Firstbrook.

To learn more about Penetanguishene visit the town website