The new Town of Lakeshore was established in 1999 by the amalgamation of the former Town of Belle River and the former Townships of Maidstone, Rochester, Tilbury North and Tilbury West.

Lakeshore involves an area bordered on the north by the shoreline of Lake St. Clair, so the region was among the first in the interior of Canada to be explored and then settled by people of European descent.

The land occupied by the Town has a long and colourful history, and here are a few highlights from the past three centuries.