Lindsay was founded in 1833 when a townsite was surveyed near a sprawling grist mill. The town was officially incorporated in 1857.
In 2001 Lindsay's town government was officially dissolved and merged, with the County of Victoria into the new City of Kawartha Lakes. There is now a movement to reinstate local government.
For the size of the town before the amalgamation into the City of Kawartha Lakes it had been known to residents and other people local to the area for the fact that Lindsay had four Tim Horton's donut stores all very close to each other.