The surveying of the original Crosby Township began in 1795 and was completed in 1806 when the Township was divided into North and South Crosby Townships. It was very likely named after Brass Crosby, at one time the Lord Mayor of London, and a Member of the British Parliament.
In the early 1800's, United Empire Loyalists, English and Scottish settlers cleared the forests, tilled the soils and eventually built beautiful stone homes on a fertile wedge of St. Lawrence Lowland extending from Newboro to Salem. But elsewhere the Canadian Shield dominates the landscape of North Crosby. Farm settlement was difficult and slow. Development was very much linked to the mill sites located at the west end of Rideau Lake in the community aptly named Westport. Settlers, many fleeing the Potato Famine in Ireland in the mid-1800's, eked out a living in the summers on the marginal farmland on "the mountain" and manned the bush camps in the winter, cutting timber. Today, North Crosby with its forgiving forests, its rugged hills and many pristine lakes is a paradise for recreational fishing and an Eden for cottaging.