Since 1940 Thornloe Cheese had produced a respected brand of award-winning cheese and butter products in Northeastern Ontario. Fresh milk was utilized from neighboring farms all within a 25KM footprint in this unique Northern agricultural region.
The original home of Thornloe Cheese was built in the village of Thornloe in 1940. It continued to operate in that location until a new plant was built in 1969 at the current location on Highway 11 just north of the City of Temiskaming Shores, and it was a popular attraction for tourists.
The Thornloe Cheese Factory employed more than 35 full and part-time workers, and purchased over 3 million litres of milk from local farmers.
Gay lea, current owners of the Thornloe Cheese brand since 2019 decided to shudder the business after 83 years of production on October 31, 2023,[2][3] citing it too costly to upgrade to current standards.[4] The Thornloe Cheese Factory had been shutdown since serious equipment failures halted operations in mid-September 2023.[5]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Thornloe had a population of 92 living in 48 of its 53 total private dwellings, a change of -17.9% from its 2016 population of 112. With a land area of 6.59 km2 (2.54 sq mi), it had a population density of 14.0/km2 (36.2/sq mi) in 2021.[8]
