History History1818 the Government purchased 4000 square miles of land from the Missisauga Indian tribe from both counties Victoria County and Peterborough.
Around 1820, Maurice Cottingham settled here on the Pigeon River in Emily Township. Immigrants came from Ireland.
By 1835 his family had acquired much of the site of the present village. William Cottingham had built mills and along with Christopher Knowlson, had laid out a village plot named Williamstown on the Westside of the River. By 1843, the village had been enlarged. At first there were about six taverns, one little general store, three blacksmith shops, a large distillery and a small Anglican church. The hamlet was first named Cottingham’s Village, but was changed to Metcalf, then it was discovered that there was already a post office of that name in Canada West, so the name was changed again to Omemee. This was the Missisauga Indian word for pigeon.
The centre became a thriving shipping point for timber and grain. Omemee was incorporated as a village in 1874 with a population of about 900. By 1880, Omemee had a school, three churches, grist mill, two saw mills, large tannery, shingle mill, cloth mill, one hotel, stores, trade shops and a weekly newspaper.
Emily was the first township and it later became part of Victoria County, which was amalgamated recently to the City of Kawartha Lakes.