Cayuga

Cayuga, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cayuga is the name of a village in the province of Ontario, Canada located where Ontario King's Highway #3 (the Talbot Trail) crosses the Grand River. It was incorporated in 1859 as county seat for Haldimand County, Ontario because of its central location. It is named after the Cayuga, one of the Six Nations of the Grand River Indians who were awarded land in the area for siding with the British in the War of 1812. As the county seat, it is the location of the Court House, jail and Museum. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, public hangings were held in the Court yard and the prisoners buried on site.

In modern times, Cayuga is known for car racing. The oldest continually operating Dragstrip in Canada and the fastest high bank oval race track in Canada, are near the townsite and have used the name Cayuga.

The drag strip was originally a runway built for training British Commonwealth pilots in the Second World War.

Cayuga is also known for producing two NHL hockey players. Both Marty McSorley and Ray Emery grew up playing minor league hockey in Cayuga.

In 1939, Helen Alice Kinnear, the first woman Superior Court judge in the British Empire was appointed to sit in Cayuga.