On January 1, 1959, Barrie was incorporated as a City and at that time Barrie was the only city in Simcoe County.   The first mayor of the City of Barrie was Willard L. Kinzie. 

The City of Barrie serves as the County of Simcoe's principal urban area in terms of population, employment and the delivery of services. Barrie has developed its role as a strong regional urban growth centre within the provincial settlement pattern. The City is the location of many private and public sector institutions and facilities serving a market that extends well beyond the current boundaries of Simcoe County. The City contains sufficient designated lands within its present municipal boundaries to accommodate a planned population of 175,000.  Infrastructure improvements are also planned to facilitate the achievement of this population.¹

¹ Based upon the book From Portage to Prosperity; a Brief History of Barrie, Ontario.

City of Barrie - Coat of Arms and City Badge

The armorial ensigns of the City of Barrie consist of a Coat of Arms and a Badge. They are incorporated in a Patent of Arms issued by the College of Arms, which were delivered by the York Herald of Arms to Alderman Janice Laking of the Council on the 22nd of August, 1977. A Coat of Arms normally includes a shield of arms, a helmet, crest wreath and a crest. The helmet is usually mantled. In addition, while they are not granted to individuals normally, municipal corporations are granted supporters. A Shield of Arms is sometime divided into three fairly equal parts horizontally. The top part is called the Chief. The middle part is called the Fess and the lower part is called the Base. In the case of many shields these divisions do not exist.

In the Barrie shield , the top third or Chief is separated from the lower two thirds by colour differences. The entire Shield is said to be silver, which is commonly represented by white, and in the case of Barrie's Shield the upper third or Chief is red. On the upper part in the centre position is a naval crown which is gold, as are two wheels placed on either side. The one on the left side as you look at the shield is a winged wheel, and the one on the right is a cog wheel.

The Shield is crossed horizontally by three sets of double blue wavy bands. The crest wreath and mantling on the helmet are the chief colours from the Shield; in this case, white and blue. The crest consists of a masonry crown , on the top of which is a green mound which supports a cross. This is in the form of an ancient market cross. The supporters are a soldier in the uniform of a private of the 1st World War standing easy and the Goddess of Harvest, holding in here left hand a basket of fruit, a golden sheaf of wheat at her feet and a golden garland in her hair.

While a motto does not form a essential part of a Coat of Arms, a motto is usually applied, and in this case the motto of Barrie is 'The People are the City'.

The Badge of the city consists of five interlacing lines of gold which appears like a five pointed star, upon which is placed a white masonry (mural) crown across which are two wavy blue lines. The City of Barrie was named after Sir Robert Barrie about 1832, at which time he was stationed in Kingston and in command of all the naval forces in Canada, having passed through Barrie on his journey for the annual inspection of the naval establishments at Penetanguishene. On these trips, the portage from Kempenfelt Bay to the Nottawasaga river was used. In 1833 Lady Barrie wrote to relatives in England, suggesting that it would be a good place for the Barrie connection to settle here in Canada. It seemed only appropriate, therefore, that in designing a Coat of Arms for the present City of Barrie, that some reference might be made to the Arms of the man for whom the City was named.

Sir Robert Barrie's motto was in Latin and translated meant 'We have fought with the Sword'. His crest consisted of a naval crown with a trident and two scimitars crossed through the crown. These elements seemed inappropriate to the present day City. However, his shield which consisted of a blue Chief or upper third with a naval crown in the centre flanked by two erect anchors, and the lower two thirds of the shield is white with three sets of double lines in red. So, in the design of the City of Barrie Shield, the naval crown was flanked by the winged wheel and the cog wheel, and the background of the upper third was changed to the red of the bars in the lower two thirds of the Shield of Sir Robert Barrie, and the colour of the bars in the Shield of Sir Robert Barrie was changed to blue and made wavy. The naval crown alludes to the connection the City had not only with Sir Robert Barrie, but the naval persons who were remembered in the name of the lake, bay, and street names of the City of Barrie.

Barrie has always been a centre of transportation, even in the day of the 1812-14 War, and this characteristic of the City is recognized in the winged wheel, which represents transportation. The cog wheel represents the thriving secondary industry established in Barrie from its early times as an urban community.

The lower two thirds of the Shield adapted from Sir Robert Barrie's shield alludes to Barrie's position on the waters of Kempenfelt Bay. Geographically Barrie is situated in the centre of a thriving agricultural community. It was therefore natural that Barrie should be a market town. The government plan of the centre of Barrie laid out a three acre parcel for a market, which was from the early times of the Community known as 'The Market Square'. A Market house and Town Hall were erected in the centre of the Market Square and were used for the purpose. It seemed appropriate therefore, that the crest of the City should be a market cross, representing this function of the community.

 The masonry or mural crown is commonly used as a symbol of civic authority in armorial ensigns, and so Barrie's crest consists of the masonry or mural crown out of which rises the mound upon which the market cross is cited.

Base Borden at Angus became Camp Borden during the 1st World War, about 1916, and a large number of the families of military personnel stationed there have looked to Barrie to satisfy their needs, material and social, over the years since 1916, a great many of whom actually reside in the City. It seemed appropriate, therefore, that a recognition of this influence in the life of the City should be made, and this is done in having as a supporter the figure in the uniform of the 1st World War private soldier, many of whom were familiar with the citizens of Barrie during that period of time. 

The other supporter in conjunction with the market cross alludes to the thriving agriculture community which surrounds the City. It seemed appropriate in this day of equality that both sexes should be represented. Ceres, the Goddess of Harvest was chosen for the other supporter.

The motto which seems singularly appropriate to a City was suggested by Mr. Archie Ross, an English master at North Collegiate, now retired, and is taken from Shakespeare's play, 'Coriolanus'.

Barrie's Badge

Barrie's Badge fulfills the object of a badge admirably. A badge 'par excellence' is one of bold and simple design aesthetically pleasing, easily identifiable and which presents no undue difficulty of reproduction. It embodies a masonry (mural) crown (for the City and for civic authority) coloured white for silver and of four parapets (merlons), three showing, crossed (charged) with a double wavy blue line alluding to Barrie, all set in front of five golden interlacing lines (pentagram) and refer to the City's location where five major provincial highways cross.

After considering a number of designs, Council finally approved one submitted by City Solicitor O.J. Rowe, and instructed him to apply to the College of Arms for a Grant of Arms on the 25th of November, 1974. On the 27th of January, 1975, the Mayor petitioned the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, requesting the favour of the Duke's warrant to the Kings of Arms of the College of Arms to grant and assign Arms, Crest, Supporters, and Badge, and on the 23rd of April, 1975, His Grace was pleased to issue his warrant to the College of Arms, and after settling the designs, the Kings of Arms of the College of Arms were pleased to issue their patent, which is beautifully painted showing the Arms of Barrie with the supporters and badge, the arms of Norfolk, the arms of The Queen of Canada, and the Arms of the College of Arms. Suspended on the ribbons from the patent are the seals of the three Kings of Arms, Garter, Clarenceux, and the Norroy and Ulster, whose arms are impressed on the seals.

City of Barrie Flag