Trenton (2001 population 16,770) is a large unincorporated community in Central Ontario in the municipality of Quinte West, Ontario, Canada. Located on the Bay of Quinte, it is the starting point for the Trent-Severn Waterway, which continues northwest to Peterborough and eventually Port Severn on Georgian Bay. History The Trenton area is part of the traditional area of the Mississauga and other Indigenous First Nations. The first known expedition by Europeans in the area was one by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, which followed the Trent passing through Trenton in 1615. The Trent River is known to the Mississauga as Sangichiwigewonk, or 'fast flowing.' Settlers gave it the name 'Trent', after the River Trent in England. The area around the mouth of the Trent River was first settled by Europeans in the 1780s, after the area was ceded to the British in 1783 as part of the Crawford Purchase. United Empire Loyalists first settled in Trenton in 1792. First named Trent Port, it was renamed Trent Town and later became Trenton. Assorted settlements and town plots in the area went under a number of names, until the Village of Trenton was incorporated in 1853. Trenton grew thanks to its port location and the area's lumber industry. During the First World War, the town was home to a major munitions plant owned by the British Chemical Company. This facility was built in 1915 to manufacture artillery, rifle, and small arms ammunition. Three weeks before the Armistice, an explosion levelled the plant. Remains of the old plant can still be found today. Trenton was also an important film production centre. In 1917, a film studio was built in the town and a number of productions were filmed there. In 1923, the Trenton Film Plant was purchased by the Ontario government to house the studio and laboratory of the Ontario Motion Picture Bureau. The advent of talkies and 16mm film made the equipment at the film plant obsolete and the facility closed in 1934. The construction of a RCAF Station Trenton, a major Royal Canadian Air Force base just east of Trenton, started in 1929 and continued through the 1930s. This provided a major economic boost to the area through the Great Depression, the Second World War and later. Trenton was incorporated as a city in 1980. On January 1, 1998, Trenton was amalgamated with the Village of Frankford and the Townships of