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(^{wwcmQa
Mississauga is "a city of small communities . .

trying to grow from the outside in," says Roger

E. Riendeau in this one-of-a kind look at a one-
of-a-kind city, a city in search of an identity. In
Mississauga: An Illustrated History, beautifully
illustrated with 200 carefully researched histori-

cal photos and sixteen pages of captivating color

photography, author-historian Roger E. Riendeau
narrates the fascinating history of this misunder-
stood city.
Carved from Canadian wilderness inhabited by
the Indians who gave the city its name, the Mis-
sissauga Tract was pioneered by eighteenth-
century settlers from England and British loyal-
istsfrom America. Followed eventually by Euro-
pean immigrants, these pioneers began shaping
the pristine hinterland with their hands and
hearts. Those early backbreaking days consisted
of subsistence farming and "settlement duties":
clearing, fencing, and planting acres of land,
building shelter, and keeping the few primitive
roads gouged out of the wilderness passable ar- —
duous duties in the primeval forests of this virgin
land.
As the years passed, Mississauga's destiny be-
gan to unfold. The population grew, due in part

to the presence of the provincial capital of Toron-

to fifteen miles to the east, and to the shipping
trade plying Lake Ontario to the south. Crossroad
settlements competed as locations for highways,
and industry, to serve and di-
railroads, business,
and lumber econo-
versify the local agricultural
my. Later, workers living in Toronto Township
would commute to the capital to earn their living,
giving rise to the mistaken impression of Missis-
sauga as a "bedroom community" of the big city.

Mississauga's new identity as a cosmopolitan,

autonomous city is based both on the emerging
downtown center, and on its people's growing ten-
dency to identify themselves as Mississaugans.
Mississauga: An Illustrated History is written to
illuminate and encourage this new identity, giving
Mississaugans a sense of their past and a new
outlook on their future. Journalists Richard M.
Pearce and Frank Kaplan tell the stories of the
businesses and organizations who have brought
Mississauga to its future. Their stories, along
with Mr. Riendeau's insights into the area's fasci-
nating past,make this volume an authoritative
and ground-breaking work.
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
University of Toronto

http://www.archive.org/details/mississaugaillusOOrien
 • I

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.

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Qzltfikriajauaa
 Picture research by Roger E. Riendeau
Additional picture research by Elaine Bauer
'Partners in Progress" by Richard M. Pearce and Frank Kaplan

Produced in cooperation with the Mississauga Board of Trade

Windsor Publications
AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

IENDEA
 To my parents, Ernest and Yolande Riendeau, who
have always understood.

Windsor Publications - History Books Division

Publisher: John M. Phillips

Editorial Director: Teri Davis Greenberg

Design Director: Alexander D'Anca

Staff for Mississauga: An Illustrated History

Senior Editor: Julie Jaskol

Copy Editor: Lane Powell
Director, Corporate Biographies: Karen Story
Assistant Director, Corporate Biographies: Phyllis Gray
Editor, Corporate Biographies: Judith Hunter
Editorial Assistants: Kathy M. Brown, Patricia Cobb, Lonnie Pham, Pat Pittman, Deena
Tucker, Sharon L. Volz
Designer: Christina McKibbin
Layout Artist: J.R. Vasquez

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Riendeau, Roger E., 1950-

Mississauga : an illustrated history.

"Produced in cooperation with the Mississauga Board

of Trade."
Bibliography: p. 176
Includes index.
1. Mississauga (Ont.) — History. 2. Mississauga
(Ont.) — Description. 3. Mississauga (Ont.) — Industries.

I. Pearce, Richard M. II. Kaplan, Frank.

III. Mississauga Board of Trade. IV. Title.

F1059.5.M57R54 1985 971.3'535 85-22792 „ . .

t
. , _ ,
Endsneets: Joseph Foster,
ISBN 0-89781-1 62-3 w ho emigrated from En-
gland in 1843. operated a
carriage works and black-
s 1985 by Windsor
Published
Printed in
in 1985
Canada
Publications, Ltd.
home
j" Mak
trated here in 1877.
"
smith shop next to his
'" UJ"
From
Historical Atlas of the
First Edition County of Peel, 1877
 CONTENTS

FOREWORD
6

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
7

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I

FROM WILDERNESS TO SETTLEMENT

10

CHAPTER II

THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

26

CHAPTER III

THE THRIVING HINTERLAND

48

CHAPTER IV

AN EVOLVING RURAL SOCIETY

62

CHAPTER V
THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER
76

CHAPTER VI

THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

96

CHAPTER VII

PARTNERS IN PROGRESS
130

PATRONS
175

BIBLIOGRAPHY
176

INDEX
178
FOREWORD in historic evolution. In so

the past of Mississauga from the original

Indian group that provides
doing, he traces

its name, from

Toronto Township's first

homesteaders crossed the

Credit River in covered
wagons. Courtesy, Govern-
Here is the striking story of how a City early settlers' clearings and crossroad ham- ment of Ontario Art Col-
lection
that Never Was arose as a major population lets, through farming countrysides and local
centre that is now home to nearly 400,000. communities like Port Credit and Streets-
As late as 1950 Toronto Township, the area ville, Cooksville, Malton, and more. He
that became the city of Mississauga in deals with the many-sided life of a growing
1974, still had only 30,000 people, and some Toronto Township, the spread of roads and
85 percent of it was farmland. None of the railways, and of suburban settlement from
small towns in its midst held a leading the neighbouring chief city of Toronto,
place, around which city growth might co- which exercised so much influence on the
alesce. Today Mississauga, Ontario, has area. Then comes large-scale industrial
emerged as a thriving home of industries, of growth as well as residential sprawl —and
well-filled housing subdivisions, giant shop- finally, the city of Mississauga to tie it all

ping malls, and gleaming skyscrapers: a fas- together. That city may still be in search of
cinating example of what I once called a heart, but Mr. Riendeau's work has done
"instant-city" — just add people and stir. a great deal to help it find one.

How all this came to be is clearly and au- And so I am very glad to have this oppor-
thoritatively set forth by Roger Riendeau, tunity to put the book before you. It is a

who I am more than pleased to note was a well organized and balanced account, built

former student of mine at the University of on careful inquiry and full of interest and
Toronto. He has pioneered in explaining meaning. The City that Never Was is re-

the history behind one of North America's vealed as the City that Should Be — thanks
newest big cities; he has shown that its ap- to the skill and insight of the author.

pearance was no happenstance, no chance J. M.S. Careless,

product of developers, politicians, and bu- University Professor Emeritus
reaucrats, but represented an "inevitability" University of Toronto

-SSw SSI

I^HbHESB
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The task of researching and writing this son, Mary Lou Evans, Jocelyn Garrett, and
book was made more enjoyable and produc- Tom Van Turnhout. Julie Jaskol and Pain
tive by the advice and assistance of several Taylor of Windsor Publications offered con-
people. The staff of various libraries and ar- stant encouragement and judicious editorial

chives, particularly Albert Spratt and Mar- advice. I could always count on the dili-

lene Bernard of the Mississauga Central gence and innovativeness of my research

Public Library, Aileen Wortley of the Port assistant David Block. Professor J.M.S.
Credit Public Library, Ralph Coram of the Careless of the University of Toronto not
Public Archives of Ontario, and Michael only contributed his wisdom to the Fore-

Proudlock, Ann ten Cate, and Cathy Seguin word of this book but also taught me how to
of the Region of Peel Archives, all went be a historian. Professor Heather MacDoug-
well beyond the call of duty in providing me all, a colleague and friend, was the ideal

with valuable research guidance. Julius sounding board for many of my ideas and
Gorys of the Mississauga Planning Depart- contributed much of her own historical in-

ment and Karen Campbell of the Missis- sight. When I needed a deeper insight into
The Credit River valley
sauga Department of Business Development the special qualities of Mississaugans and
was exclusively the domain
generously donated their time and knowl- their city, I turned to Clarkson resident and of the Mississauga Indians
edge of the city. I also received valuable friend David Abdulla. Finally, Diane from the late seventeenth
century to the early nine-
information and photographs from the fol- Searles, a Cooksville native, patiently and
teenth century. They were
lowing: Mary Manning, Thompson and Jean masterfully typed the manuscript and pro- nomadic hunters and fish-
Adamson, Mildred Belleghem, Professor vided unwavering moral support. ermen who travelled the
entire length of the river
Thomas Mcllwraith, Lome Joyce, Miriam
from Lake Ontario to
Arnold, Louise Southern, Margaret McClin- Roger E. Riendeau Georgian Bay. Courtesy,
tock Raines, Mary Barnett, Anthony Adam- August 1985. The Delta Meadowvale Inn
INTRODUCTION
A city usually starts out as a village or town 1850s. Over the next four decades, however,

which gradually expands into the surround- Toronto Township underwent a dramatic
ing countryside, often absorbing other ham- physical and demographic transformation.

lets in the process. No matter how extensive What had once been a scattered collec-

the boundaries of a growing city become, its tion of farms and small villages became a
original central core can still be identified conglomeration of housing subdivisions,
and generally continues to direct economic, business-industrial parks, high-rise apartment

political, and cultural life. Certainly, Cana- buildings and office complexes, multi-acre

da's major cities, such as Toronto, Montre- shopping centres, multi-lane highways, and
al, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Halifax, have the nation's busiest airport. With its popula-

to a large extent followed this traditional tion reaching 100,000 in 1968, Toronto

pattern of evolution. A notable exception, Township became the town of Mississauga.

however, is the city of Mississauga. As the population passed 200,000, Missis-

Mississauga began in the early nineteenth sauga joined forces with Port Credit and
century as the Township of Toronto which Streetsville in 1974. With 350,000 inhab-
had been carved out of the vast tract of itants, Mississauga is the ninth largest city

land purchased from the Mississauga In- in Canada.

dians. Located in the rolling countryside Yet the prevailing image of Mississauga
fronting the north shore of Lake Ontario, is that of a sprawling suburban or "bed-

Toronto Township was primarily an agricul- room" community on the western outskirts

tural hinterland serving the growing market of Metropolitan Toronto. This image per-
in the city of Toronto about fifteen miles to sists because Mississauga, unlike most cities,

the east. By the 1850s upwards of 8,000 has no main street, or "downtown" district,

people were living in Toronto Township, but to serve as a focus for business and civic ac-

thereafter the population declined steadily tivity and to provide a sense of identity. Ac-
until at the end of the century there were cordingly, Mississauga has been dubbed "a
less than 6,000 people scattered throughout city in search of an identity" or "a city
an area encompassing more than 100 square without a heart." In the words of its current

miles. mayor Hazel McCallion, Mississauga is "a

In an age before the advent of the auto- city of small communities . . . trying to grow
mobile and the paved road, it was hardly from the outside in." Mississaugans are still

possible for a rural area as large as Toronto likely to say they live in Port Credit, Streets- SMK*»
Township to develop its own sense of com- ville, Cooksville, Clarkson, Meadowvale,
munity. Instead, the inhabitants of the Dixie, or Malton.

township came to identify more strongly The persistence of strong local identities

with the local villages and hamlets which and the unfocused nature of the city of Mis-
sprouted in the countryside during the nine- sissauga become more understandable when
teenth century. viewed from a historical perspective. Missis-
Toronto Township's predominantly rural sauga was never intended to be a city. But
landscape dotted with small semi-autonomous the rural communities of old Toronto Town-
communities remained relatively unaltered ship after almost a century and a half of
until the post- World War I period. Only in gradual evolution found themselves thrust
the 1920s did the township's population re- quite suddenly and unexpectedly into a mar-
turn to the heights attained during the riage of urban convenience. Perhaps with

.
the passage of time the reluctant partners The Commercial Hotel, lo- the old hotel has lost its

cated on the south side of front verandas, has been

will become more accustomed to living and
Deny Road in Meadow- painted white, and has
working together and therefore more com- vale, was built in 1852 by been converted into apart-
fortable with their corporate arrangement. Matthew Laidlaw. By ment units. Courtesy,

The process of accommodation and 1910, shortly after this pic- Louise Southern and the
integra-
ture was taken, it became a Meadowvaie Women's
tion in the future can also be facilitated by private residence. Today Institute
an awareness of the shared experiences of
the past.
I
Chapter One

From wilderness To
Settlement

When Toronto Township became Mississauga,

not adopt a new name but

it

reverted to an old one.

did

As

early as the 1790s the twenty-six-mile stretch of wil-

derness along the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario from

Etobicoke Creek west to Burlington Bay was commonly re-

ferred to as the "Mississauga Tract." This was the private do-

main of the Mississauga Indians until the British government

persuaded them to sell their vast holdings in the first two de-

cades of the nineteenth century. In agreeing to relinquish their

territory the Mississaugas not only opened the way for the for-

mation and settlement of Toronto Township but also inadver-

tently sowed the seeds of their own demise.

The Mississaugas were a band of the powerful Ojibway tribe

which dominated the area to the north of lakes Superior and

Huron as well as Georgian Bay. In search of new hunting and

fishing grounds, the Mississaugas gradually moved southward

By the early eighteenth
century the Mississauga In-
dians had established a
wigwam village at the
mouth of the Credit River.
The Indian word
"Mississauga " means
"river of the north of many
mouths. " Courtesy, Ron
Duquette and SB.
McLaughlin Associates
Ltd.
MISSISSAUGA

until by the late seventeenth century they de Lery suggested to the governor of Que-
confronted the mighty Iroquois Nations in bec in 1749 that a trading post be built at

the lower Great Lakes region. After years the mouth of the Credit River. Although
of brutal warfare the Iroquois were forced this suggestion was not followed, some
to retreat, and according to a peace treaty French traders regularly stopped at the

drawn up between the two Indian nations, Mississauga encampments near the mouth
the Mississaugas were awarded exclusive of the Credit River.
possession of the territory to the north of As the years went by, the trading part-
the Great Lakes. Finding the hunting and ners at the Credit mouth developed such a
fishing much to their liking, about 500 Mis- mutual trust that the French routinely ad-
sissaugas decided to settle permanently in vanced the Indians supplies for the coming
the dense forests of southern Ontario. winter until they returned with their furs at
The Credit River appears to have been the end of the season. Conversely, the In-
one of the main avenues of transport and dians would have no reservations about
trade for the Mississaugas. A somewhat obtaining the supplies due to them in instal-
wider and deeper river in the days before ments, especially since they had no facilities

the surrounding forests were cleared, it pro- for storing furs or supplies for any length of
vided easy access to the old Huron country time. Hence, the waterway along which this

in the vicinity of southern Georgian Bay. commerce was conducted came to be known
At mouth of the Credit, the Missis-
the as Riviere du Credit (trusting river); the

saugas eventually came into contact with name first appears on a map by Boucher de
French fur traders who had been operating la Broquerie in The
1757. fall of the French
along the St. Lawrence River out of Quebec empire in North America after 1760 brought
and Montreal since the early seventeenth an end to this long-standing trade alliance
century. Engaged in an intense competition and soon ushered in a new era in southern
with English merchants operating along the Ontario's history in which the fur trade
Hudson River out of Albany, New York, frontier would give way to the settlement

the French were moving southwestwardly in frontier.

an effort to extend their fur trading empire For the first two decades of British rule,

as far as the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. the fur trade remained relatively undisturbed.
This ambitious design called for the es- With the departure of the leading French
tablishment of fortified posts along Lake merchants, a group of English and Scottish
Ontario beginning with Fort Frontenac "pedlars" from Albany moved to Montreal
(now Kingston) in 1673. By 1720 Fort To- to take control of the St. Lawrence fur trad-
ronto had been constructed near the mouth ing empire. Without the French rivalry, the

of the Humber River. The Indians could British traders were not as inclined to pur-

bring pelts of beaver, fox, bear, muskrat, ot- sue an aggressive policy of going directly to
ter, and wolf to these forts in exchange for the Indian camps. Instead, they waited for
the trappings of European civilization: guns, the Indians to come to the posts at Niagara
liquor, woollen goods, and any kind of iron- and Detroit, closing down Toronto and Ca-
ware. taraqui (as the English called old Fort
The more enterprising traders preferred Frontenac). Furthermore, the growing con-
to deal directly with the Indians in hopes of cern over the illicit sale of liquor to the In-

drawing business away from the established dians in the aftermath of the uprising under
forts or preventing it from going to the En- Pontiac in 1764 prompted British authori-
Oswego on
glish fort at the south side of ties to restrict the right to trade in the inte-
Lake Ontario. To avert the latter possibility, rior to those "responsible" traders who had
the French military engineer Chaussegras been issued special licenses.

12
 FROM WILDERNESS TO SETTLEMENT

The Credit mouth attracted unlicensed

traders because soldiers patrolling the lakes
for illicit trade tended to ignore this area,
which the British did not consider to be a
primary trading ground. The unlicensed
traders were not about to leave a record of
their illegal activity, with the result that lit-

tle is known about the Credit River area

during the early British period.
The outbreak of the American Revolution
in 1775 seriously disrupted the St. Law-
rence fur trade since only the "King's"
ships were allowed to sail on the Great
Lakes as a precaution against smuggling by
traders in private ships. The Mississaugas
were trade allies of the British, but they had
little desire to fight the Americans with
whom they had no quarrel. The Mississau-
gas figured more prominently at the end of
the Revolutionary War in 1783 when the
British government faced the problem of re-

settling nearly 10,000 so-called "United

Empire Loyalists" who had fled to Quebec
from the American colonies.
British authorities had already established
a policy of recognizing the Indian title to

the land and of purchasing it only through

formal treaty. Accordingly, from 1783 to
1787 a series of treaties were negotiated
with the Mississaugas to acquire all the
land along the north shore of Lake Ontario
except for the portion between Etobicoke
Creek and Burlington Bay. This unpurchased
section henceforth became known as the
"Mississauga Tract."
Settlement proceeded at a steady pace on
both sides of the Mississauga Tract, al- that the Mississauga Tract should be re- Lieutenant-Colonel John
Graves Simcoe served as
though it remained confined to the shoreline served not only for the Indians but also for
the first lieutenant-
of the Upper St. Lawrence River and lakes the "King's Masting." The thick pine and governor of Upper Canada
Ontario and Erie due to inadequate inland oak forests were a vital source of masts for (now Ontario) from 1 792

Navy, upon to 1 796. His decisions to

transportation. As the need arose, the impe- the sailing ships of the Royal
buildGovernment House
rial authority purchased more Indian land which Britain's military supremacy depend- and Dundas Street were
in the 1790s but preferred not to infringe ed. Yet it was Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe important for the eventual

upon the Mississauga Tract. Lieutenant- himself who inadvertently opened the way development of Toronto
Township. Courtesy, Met-
Colonel John Graves Simcoe, who was ap- for settlement of the Mississauga Tract.
ropolitan Toronto Public
pointed lieutenant-governor of the Province In 1793 he chose a site a few miles east Library
of Upper Canada (renamed Ontario in of old Fort Toronto to serve as the capital

1867) when it was created in 1791, thought of Upper Canada. It was then necessary to

13
 primary concern was that Dundas Street
would be well out of the cannon range of
warships on the lake. Further south, another
old Indian trail formed the basis of Lake-
shore Road which was opened for military
purposes in the summer of 1798.
Also completed in 1798 was "Government
House" at the mouth of the Credit River.
Simcoe had proposed the construction of
this inn two years earlier after he and his

family were forced to dock at the Credit

mouth to take shelter from a threatening
storm. Accordingly, Government House was
built "for the accommodation of travellers

passing to and from the seat of government

through the Mississauga Tract of land."
Standing on the east bank of the river fac-

ing the lake, this one-and-a-half storey

squared-timber structure, thirty feet by for-

ty feet in dimension, was for decades an oa-

sis in the wilderness for the weary traveller

along Lakeshore Road or on a stormy Lake

Ontario.
For the first few years the inn was leased
by Colonel William Allan, a prominent
York merchant, who in turn sublet it to
By 1805 Major Thomas
various tenants.
Ingersoll, father of Laura Secord, who is

celebrated for her heroism during the War

Part of Lieutenant- improve transportation and communication of 1812, was leasing Government House and
Governor Simcoe's grand
between the new capital which Simcoe was the first proprietor to make it his per-
design for the province was
to employ members of his called the Town of York (renamed the City manent home. He therefore holds the dis-

illustrious regiment, the of Toronto in 1834) and the western district tinction of being the first recorded white
Queen's Rangers, on public Among
of the province. He put soldiers of the Queen's inhabitant of the Mississauga Tract.
works projects. During the
1 790s they opened up Dun-
Rangers to work building a military road the conditions of his lease was that he cut
das Street, which became a known as Dundas Street (in honour of Brit- out a road for one mile on each side of the
main avenue of settlement ish Home Secretary Henry Dundas). The Credit River and that he maintain a ferry
and commerce for the fu-
section of Dundas Street running through service across the river.
ture Toronto Township.
Courtesy, Metropolitan To- the Mississauga Tract was surveyed in the After Ingersoll's death in 1812 the family
ronto Public Library summer of 1794 and was completed two continued to operate the inn for a few years
years later. Little more than a narrow, before turning it over to Wesley Watson, an
stump-laden, dirt path cut through the forest, Irish immigrant by way of New York. The
the road followed an old Indian trail that inn remained in Watson family hands, al-

ran from Cataraqui (Kingston) around the though it had become a private home by the
lake to Niagara. The Indians had located early 1840s. In 1861 the first building in
their trail about three miles inland because the Mississauga Tract was unceremoniously
it was easier to cross Etobicoke Creek and dismantled and the timber used to build a
the Credit River at this point, but Simcoe's barn which was destroyed by fire two years

14
FROM WILDERNESS TO SETTLEMENT

The Mississaugas hunted,

fished,and travelled along
the Credit River, and traded
with the French at the Cre-
dit's mouth. Courtesy, The
Delta Meadowvale Inn

15
MISSISSAUGA

as Joseph Brant, the powerful chief of the

Mohawks, acted on behalf of the Mississau-

gas to ensure that they received a fair price

for their land and that their hunting and

fishing rights were protected. Under consid-
eration was the section of the Mississauga
Tract fronting the lake and extending five

or six miles inland. Finally, the Crown's

representative, Colonel William Claus, dep-
uty superintendent general of Indian affairs,
and the eight Mississauga Chiefs, with
Quenepenon serving as their spokesman,
came to an agreement. The Mississaugas
would transfer ownership of over 70,000
acres of land to the Crown in return for

about 58,500. In addition the Mississaugas

reserved a strip of land extending one mile
on each side of the Credit River, the land
where they had established their camps
along Etobicoke Creek, Twelve Mile Creek,
and Sixteen Mile Creek, as well as complete
control over the salmon fisheries in all four
waterways.
Both sides seem to have been satisfied
with this agreement, although the price
eventually paid by the Crown (approximate-
ly twelve cents an acre) appears miniscule

for what would become prime real estate. In

the early nineteenth century, however, this

was still unchartered wilderness which would
require many decades of back-breaking
work and expense to develop. As far as the

Mississaugas were concerned they had re-

ceived money for something that had cost

them nothing in the first place. They had no
concept of property ownership; land was a
Iroquois chief Joseph Brant later. commodity to be used for hunting and fish-
acted as spokesman for the
At Government House in August 1805 ing. The reserves set aside in the area pur-
Mississaugas in land nego-
representatives of the British government chased by the Crown and the unsold portion
tiations with British offi-
cials. Although he drove a met with the chiefs of the Mississaugas to of the Mississauga Tract (extending as far
hard bargain, he was finalize yet another land purchase treaty. north as Georgian Bay) still left them with
staunchly loyal to the Brit-
The founding of York and the opening of plenty of territory in which to continue their
ish cause during the Amer-
ican Revolutionary War Dundas Street had made the Mississauga semi-nomadic way of life.

and the War of 1812. Tract, in the words of Receiver-General Immediately after signing the treaty with
Courtesy, Mississauga Cen-
Peter Russell, "indispensably necessary to the Mississaugas, the provincial government
tral Public Library
connect the population of the Colony, with appointed Samuel Wilmot to survey the
." purchased land as a prelude to settlement.
the seat of the King's Government. . . For
nearly a decade negotiations had dragged on The area was divided into three townships:

16
 FROM WILDERNESS TO SETTLEMENT

Nelson to the west, Trafalgar in the middle, of Toronto Township within six months.
and Toronto to the east. While the first two They adopted Dundas Street as the control
townships were named in celebration of the line and laid out two concessions north to

recent British victory over the French at the Base Line (now Eglinton Avenue) and
Trafalgar in which Admiral Horatio Nelson three concessions south to the lakefront. The
was killed, Toronto Township was named Indian Reserve along the Credit River was
after the old French fort which was mistak- not included in this survey.
enly thought to have been located at the By the spring of 1806 settlers were arriv-
mouth of the Credit River. All three town- ing in Toronto Township to take up 200-acre
ships were added to the Home District. A lots along Dundas Street. By the middle of Joseph and Jane Silverthorn
district was the principal unit of local ad- the summer, Thomas Ridout, principal clerk were among the original
Dundas Street settlers in
ministration in earlyUpper Canada, and by in the surveyor-general's office noted "that
1807 and continued to live
1805 the Home District was one of seven only Twelve whole lots remain unlocated in Dixie until their deaths
such units into which the province was di- throughout Dundas Street, including both more than seventy years
The later. The solidly Tory
vided. sides," within the Mississauga Tract.
Silverthorn family, led by
Because the districts tended to be quite favourable location of these lots near the
father John of Summer-
large, they were subdivided into townships lake and along a major road within reason- ville, was at the forefront
in order to facilitate the land survey and able travelling distance of the provincial of business and politics in
the township during the
certain functions of local government. Using capital undoubtedly accounted for their ap-
nineteenth century. From
Government House as their headquarters, peal. Historical Atlas of the
Wilmot and his crew completed their survey Relatively little is known about the earli- County of Peel, 1877

yp^yift .T^Cuwfifcc.
'&r"- y ^V^^_, o^t^c^^-^-i
I

17
MISSISSAUGA

est settlers of Toronto Township. None of ish immigrants would be in short supply so

them were men of wealth and power who long as the war against France continued to
might have been inclined to leave behind rage in Europe. The only hope seemed to lie

extensive records of their exploits. Some of in the American immigrants who already
them were Loyalists or their offspring and had experience in developing a pioneer re-

were thus entitled to a grant of 200 acres of gion.

Crown land. The most notable of the origi- Wars in Europe,
Despite the Napoleonic
nal Loyalist settlers was the Silverthorn a few English immigrants managed to make
family. John Silverthorn was an English their way to Toronto Township. For exam-

millwright who migrated from New Jersey ple, Joseph Cawthra, originally from York-
to the Niagara area in 1786. Two decades shire, emigrated to New York in 1802 and
later his son Joseph moved to Toronto then moved on to Upper Canada in 1808.
Township and settled on what is now the Operating out of York, Cawthra went on to
northwest corner of Dundas Street and become one of the province's most successful
First Line East (now Cawthra Road.) The wholesalers. He and his son Henry acquired
elder Silverthorn followed, settling along government grants of 500 acres running
Dundas Street on the border of Etobicoke south from Middle Road (now the Queen
and Toronto townships. Another Loyalist Elizabeth Way) to the lakeshore along the

settler was Andrew Cook, a farmer who im- east side of the road that would bear the
migrated from Pennsylvania to Ancaster in family name.
1804. Four years later he acquired land on By 1807 settlers were also arriving via
the north side of Dundas Street near the Lake Ontario, Lakeshore Road, and Middle
western boundary of Toronto Township. Road to the area about three miles west of
While some Loyalists chose to settle per- the Credit mouth. The Middle Road was a

manently, others preferred to sell their land concession road opened in 1806 and was so
grants to immigrants from the United named because of its location between Dun-
States. This was apparently the case with das Street and Lakeshore Road. Thomas
Mrs. Sara Grant who actually received the Merigold was among the earliest settlers to

first patent issued in Toronto Township in this area. A Loyalist from New Brunswick,
May 1807 but immediately sold her 200 he settled south of Lakeshore Road near
Cody of Massachusetts for
acres to Phillip present-day Clarkson Road. Merigold's
about $500. Cody built an inn on the south daughter, Mary, married Benjamin Monger,
side of Dundas Street and among his first a retired sea captain from New York. Monger
guests were Joseph and Jane Silverthorn acquired land on the north side of Lake-
who stayed there until their log cabin was shore Road across from the Merigolds and
erected on the lot across the street. Other went on to become a prominent merchant in

American immigrants to settle along Dun- the township. One of Monger's employees
das Street by the end of 1807 were Daniel was Warren Clarkson, who came to the

Harris (a millwright and carpenter), Abso- township from Albany, New York, in 1808
lom Wilcox (a journeyman builder), and Al- when he was only fifteen years old. By 1819
lan Robinett (a French Huguenot tanner Clarkson had purchased 100 acres from
from Pennsylvania). Monger for about $1,000 and would himself
Toronto Township was opened for settle- become a leading businessman in the com-
ment at the height of the post-Loyalist wave munity that would later be named after him.
of American immigration from the United The population of Toronto Township
States encouraged by Lieutenant-Governor reached 175 according to a census taken in

Simcoe. He realized that Upper Canada ur- March 1809. Settlers were attracted to To-
gently needed to be populated and that Brit- ronto Township not only by its accessibility

18
 FROM WILDERNESS TO SETTLEMENT

York but also by the quality of land. ciently equipped to handle the responsibility Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of
to its
the province's first lieuten-
The terrain of the township is gently undu- of settling on a major roadway. Despite
ant-governor, was inspired
lating, rising from about 250 feet above sea starting out with certain advantages related to paint this scene at the

level at the lakefront to about 700 feet to skill, location, and quality of land, the mouth of the Credit River
during their unscheduled
twelve miles inland (near its eventual north- original settlers of Toronto Township still
stopover in 1 794.
ern border). Most of the area south of Dun- had to endure the usual hardships of early
das Street was once covered by an ancient Ontario pioneer life.

glacial lake known as Lake Iroquois. When Their pioneer ordeal often began even be-
its waters eventually receded to form Lake fore they arrived at the site of their new
Ontario, rich deposits of sandy loam were home. Early Ontario roads were notoriously
left behind in the dried lake bed. In the treacherous at times, and the main arteries
area north of the Lake Iroquois shoreline an of Toronto Township were no exception. Be-
almost equally rich clay loam predominates. cause they were designed as military rather
The fertile and well-drained soil combined than settlement roads, both Dundas Street
with a moderate climate, featuring about and Lakeshore Road were in dire need of

thirty-three inches of precipitation evenly improvement by 1806. Although Dundas

distributed throughout the year and a grow- was straightened after the survey was com-
ing season approaching 200 days, was pleted, a traveller was still plagued by steep
bound to lure prospective farmers to Toron- hills, unsafe bridges, huge tree stumps pro-
to Township. jecting above the surface, and insome
Most of the early settlers in Toronto placesswamps and "knee-deep" mud. Lake-
Township were indeed experienced farmers. shore Road was even less passable, primari-
Those who had been granted lots along ly because of unmaintained bridges across
Dundas Street in particular had been care- the Humber and Credit rivers. Crude scows
fully selected to ensure that they were suffi- or rafts would often be used to ferry set-

19
MISSISSAUGA

Before obtaining clear title tiers, their belongings, and their livestock pear before a magistrate with two witnesses
to his land the settler had
across these waterways. After travelling and swear that he had satisfactorily com-
to erect a dwelling sixteen
by twenty feet. The tall along Lakeshore Road on his way to York pleted his settlement duties.
pine and oak timbers of the in 1817, Robert Gourlay complained: "No Even after the settlement duties were out
primeval forest covering
less than seven hours were thus wasted in of the way pioneer life continued to be very
Toronto Township in pio-
neer times offered ample getting over asmany miles!!" arduous and precarious. By far the most
building material. Cour- Upon reaching his prospective lot, the set- back-breaking chore that early settlers faced
tesy, Book Society of Can- tler who had been granted land by the was clearing land. The original survey of
ada Ltd.
Crown had to perform "settlement duties" Toronto Township reported "a great many"
within eighteen months before obtaining pine trees sixty to seventy feet high and sev-
clear title. These duties included erecting en to eleven feet around, along with oaks
and occupying a dwelling at least sixteen having a similar circumference and reaching
feet by twenty feet, clearing, fencing, and forty-five feet in height. While this primeval
planting five acres of land, and clearing half forest may have appealed to the Mississau-

the road allowance across the front of his gas and the Royal Navy, to the pioneer
property. The latter tasks meant removing farmer trees were a curse. Certainly, the
logs and brush from the roadway, and cut- forest was a useful source of building mate-
ting down all trees across the front of the rial and fuel; but with the supply of trees
lot for 100 feet from the line of the road al- far surpassing the need and the market for

lowance. Ultimately, the settler had to ap- wood products still limited, the forest loom-

20
ed as a formidable obstacle to cultivation. stumps and boulders. Thanks to these im- After about three years of
hard work the pioneer
As if these physical hardships were not provements and the strict enforcement of
homestead would be well-
enough, the pioneer family also had to con- settlement duties, Dundas Street by the end established, but it would be
tend with food shortages due to crop failure of the war was a 266-foot-wide opening in several more years before
the forest was largely
or killing frost, violent storms and bitterly the woods except for the two miles of Indian
clearedand the tree stumps
cold winters penetrating their crude shelter, Reserve on either side of the Credit River. removed from the land.
wild animals such as bears, wolves, and fox- Although some stretches might be washed Courtesy, Perkins Bull Col-

out after a heavy rain, the road as lection, Archives of Ontario

es attacking livestock and fowl, the solitude it passed
of the wilderness, and the many privations through the township seems to have com-
of frontier life in general. While travelling pared favourably with other roads in the

to York along Dundas Street in 1817, Fran- province.The same could not be said for

cis Hall noted: "Nothing looks less cheerful Lakeshore Road between the Credit River

than the hut of a primitive settler, especially and Etobicoke Creek. Too close to the lake

when isolated in the mass of a dark heavy to warrant improvement during the war, the
forest. ..." road was a prime example of how the non-

Contributing to the isolation of Toronto performance of settlement duties — in this

Township settlers was the outbreak of the case by absentee military personnel who
War of 1812. The periodic threat of an were exempt —could retard the development

American invasion and the urgent need for of an area. Not until the early 1820s when
troops to defend the province brought the the road was improved was the area east of

first wave of settlement to an end. Although the Credit River settled.

the population did not grow, economic life After the war between Britain and the
seems to have been enhanced by the war. United States ended in 1815, immigration
The demand for farm produce, particularly to Upper Canada resumed, but with a dis-
grain, increased considerably, and with the tinct difference. Blaming the seeming lack

disruption of shipping along Lake Ontario of local enthusiasm for the war effort on the
the traffic along Dundas Street was much predominance of American immigrants with
greater than usual. To facilitate the move- "republican" sentiments, the provincial gov-
ment of troops, the provincial government ernment sought to stem the tide of newcom-
undertook an improvement of the roadway, ers from the south. Accordingly, land would

including grading of hills and removal of no longer be granted to American citizens

21
 /rm until they had been residents of Upper Can-
ada for seven years. Furthermore, the west-
ward movement of American people was
now by-passing Upper Canada in favour of
the plains region of the United States. At
the same time thousands of people were
leaving the British Isles in the wake of the
social and economic dislocation that fol-

lowed the Napoleonic Wars. Upper Canada

over the next four decades would be peopled
by British immigrants, and Toronto Town-
ship would receive its fair share.
In need of more land for these new set-

tlers, the provincial authority began to cast

its sights towards the remainder of the Mis-
sissauga Tract, north of the area purchased
in 1805. Once again. Colonel Claus acting
on behalf of the Crown met with the Missis-
sauga chiefs at Government House to nego-

tiate a land purchase treaty in October

1818. With the signing of the second Mis-
sissauga Purchase Treaty, the Crown ac-
quired about 648,000 acres in return for an
annual payment of about $2,500. This time
no land was reserved for the Mississaugas
along any of the inland waterways, including
the Credit River. As a result the northern
boundary of Toronto Township was extend-
ed another six miles to present-day Steeles
Avenue. The area of Toronto Township was
now 64,777 acres (roughly nine miles east
to west and twelve miles north to south),
the standard size of a nineteenth-century
Ontario township.
Within six months Richard Bristol, with

22
 FROM WILDERNESS TO SETTLEMENT

financial backing from Timothy Street, a per Canada through the Niagara frontier Facing page, top: A pion-
eer's first home was often
saddler from Niagara, had completed the and headed for Toronto Township along
a crude shanty with no
survey of the north half of the Township of Dundas Street. Upon reaching the Credit amenities. If the family

Toronto. This became known as the "New River, a group led by John Beatty proceed- persevered, they would
eventually be able to build
Survey" while the south half was designated ed upstream while another group led by
a larger frame house and
the "Old Survey." Instead of Dundas Thomas Graham continued on to settle in the old shanty would be
Street, the New Survey adopted Centre the northeastern corner of the township. used as a farm building.
Courtesy, Perkins Bull Col-
Road (now Hurontario Street or Highway Another smaller group of these Irish immi-
lection, Archives of Ontario
10) running in a north-south direction as grants led by Joseph Carter located just
the control line, and six concessions were west of the Centre Road about four miles Facing page, bottom: Dun-

laid out on each side. In return for their north of Dundas Street. In the wake of the das Street about 1830
would ha ve closely resem-
services, Street received 1 ,000 acres of opening up of the New Survey as well as
bled the road from Toronto
Crown land in the New Survey and Bristol the post-war "settlement boom" in the Old to Kingston as portrayed in
600 acres. Survey, the population of Toronto Township this painting by J. P.

Cockburn. In fact, the

Even before it was ready for settlement, a was up to 803 by 1821.
Kingston Road was the
few squatters were moving into the New The Mississaugas in the Old Survey had eastern extension of Dun-
Survey in anticipation of receiving land become thoroughly disillusioned with their das Street in Lieutenant-

and Governor Simcoe 's trans-

grants. Amaziah Church, for example, is living conditions their contact with the
provincial road scheme.
thought to have taken up land along the white man. Consequently, in 1820 they From Edwin Guillet, The
Credit River about one mile south of the agreed to sell to the Crown all of the Credit Story of Canadian Roads

new northern boundary as early as 1815. River Indian Reserve retained in the Treaty Toronto, 1966

Sometime between 1818 and 1820 he built of 1805, except for 200 acres on the west
the first sawmill in the New Survey. Like- bank of the river about a mile above their
wise, Malcolm McKinnon was occupying his village at the Credit mouth. In 1826 the In-

lot on the north side of the Base Line at the dian village was relocated in the vicinity of

western boundary of the township for sever- the new reserve. The surrender of the Indi-

al months before the area was surveyed in an reserve coupled with the second Missis-
February 1819. He is recorded as being the sauga Purchase two years before greatly
first settler officially granted land in the enhanced the Credit Valley's potential for

New Survey. Also among the first official settlement in general and the development
settlers by the spring of 1819 was James of millsites in particular. Included among
Glendinning, who located his farm on the the new millsites was Thomas Racey's
banks of Mullet Creek just west of the sawmill at the junction of Dundas Street
Credit River about a mile north of the Base and the where settlement was now un-
river

Line. He was joined in the following year by a der way. The Credit River was beginning to
group of settlers including John Barnhart, a rival Dundas Street as a major artery of
Loyalist who by 1821 had opened a general settlement in Toronto Township.
store and trading post. About the same The removal of the Indian village at the
time, Timothy Street, also a Loyalist, built Credit mouth by the late 1820s opened the
a saw- and gristmill along the Credit in the way for the development of the port for
settlement that would bear his name. commercial purposes. Until then the shelter-

About two miles further up the Credit, a ing river mouth had served primarily as a
group of Irish immigrants from New York port of call for small lake vessels. Soon it
came to settle in 1819. They were part of a would become a convenient shipping port
contingent of twenty-six Irish families who for grain and timber from the growing num-

had become disenchanted with their treat- ber of mills upstream.

ment as enemy aliens during the War of The original inhabitants, the Mississauga

1812. Their caravan of wagons entered Up- Indians, would not share in the prosperity

23
MISSISSAUGA

Right: Peter Jones, half- and progress of Toronto Township, although

Indian son of surveyor
it seemed for a while that they might. At
Augustus Jones, was a lin-
guist, scholar, and devout first, the sale of their land and the arrival of
Methodist convert. With white settlers had little impact on the less
his brother John and
than 300 Mississaugas who roamed the
Egerton Ryerson, he helped
build the Credit Indian Vil-
Credit watershed. They did not remain con-
lage and became chief of fined to their reserve but rather continued
the Mississaugas in 1829. township as
to use the entire area of the
Courtesy, United Church
Archives, Toronto
they had before 1805. Their relationship
with the first wave of settlers remained rea-
Below: A young Egerton sonably cordial since there was so much
Ryerson spent a year as a
land for relatively few people. The settlers
missionary at the Credit
Indian village in the mid- were much too busy performing their settle-

1820s. As superintendent of ment duties and clearing an additional few

education in the province
acres to be concerned with Indians trespas-
from the 1840s to the
1870s, he has been recog-
sing on the wooded areas of their lots, and
nized as the founder of the the settlers found the Indians useful in
Ontario public school sys- keeping wild animals away from their live-
tem. Courtesy, Wesleyan
stock and fowl.
Methodist Magazine, 1837
However, as more land was cleared and
more settlers came, the Mississaugas' no-
madic way of life inevitably clashed with

24
the sedentary nature of the agricultural ment policy was to relocate the Credit vil- In 1826 the provincial gov-
ernment granted the Mis-
frontier. Farmers began to view Indians lage on this new site where the Mississaugas
sissaugas a tract of land for
wandering through their fields as a nui- could be "civilized" and taught "regular a village, shown here circa

sance. Increasingly the Indians became ob- habits." This meant providing the children 1830, on the west bank of
the Credit River where the
jects of ridicule and hatred by a society that with a Christian education and teaching the
Mississauga Golf and
did not understand their customs or respect adults the skills of farming. A census of the Country Club now stands.
their culture. Too many days were spent in new Credit village taken in 1826 reported a Disease and the pressure of

and drunkenness wigwam white settlement prompted

idleness at the vil- population of 226 Indians, sixty-one acres of
the Mississaugas tomove
lage which had emerged at the Credit cultivated land, and an assortment of live-
to the Grand River Reserve
mouth. The Indians also fell prey to other stock and agricultural implements. Egerton in 1847. From E. Ryerson,

European-imported diseases such as mea- Ryerson, later to be the founder of the On- The Story of My Life,
1824-1881
sles, small pox, and tuberculosis, to which tario public school system, served as a mis-
they had little immunity. sionary at the new Credit village during the

The plight of the Mississaugas along the first year of its existence.
Credit River became the concern of Meth- Until 1837 the Credit mission seems to
odist missionaries who arrived in the early have been a success. It had expanded to in-

1820s. Among them were Peter and John clude fifty houses each containing two fami-
Jones, the half-breed sons of the noted York lies, 900 acres of land cleared and under
surveyor Augustus Jones. Having spent their cultivation, and a substantial sawmill. How-
youth with their mother, the daughter of a ever, the mission gradually fell upon hard
Mississauga chief, the Jones brothers were times largely owing to epidemics of conta-
quite familiar with the nomadic way of life. gious diseases which decimated the Indian
However, their father had arranged for population until the maintenance of a sepa-
them to be educated at an English school, rate mission was no longer warranted. Be-
and eventually they became Methodist sides, the township was developing much too
"circuit riders" preaching to the Six Nation rapidly for the Indians who were having dif-
Iroquois at the Grand River Reserve and ficulty adapting to an unfamiliar agrarian
the Mississaugas at the Credit village. way of life. Finally, in 1847, the provincial

The useful work of these preachers per- government moved the Mississaugas to a

suaded the provincial government in 1826 to 4,800-acre site within the Grand River Re-
use the proceeds from the sale of Indian serve. The original inhabitants of Toronto
lands to build up to thirty log houses near Township, like the other native peoples of

the remaining Credit Reserve (where the North America, had become the principal
Mississauga Golf and Country Club is now- casualties of the progression from wilderness
located). The objective of provincial govern- to settlement.

25
 Chapter Two

jjfe

the communities
Emerge

settlement during the mid- 1820s To-

After a brief lull in

ronto Township enjoyed three decades of dynamic

growth. Its population reached 4,000 by 1835 and

stood at 7,539 according to the first census in 1851. This

growth spurt coincided with the influx of British immigrants to

the province, which began as a trickle in the decade after 1815

and became a flood in the 1830s and 1840s. During this period

the township began to fragment into a collection of hamlets

and villages, each of which had its own reason for existing. As

the era of massive British immigration drew to a close in the

1850s and attention began to focus on the virgin wheatland of

the western prairies of Canada, the township's population de-

clined steadily in the second half of the century. By 1901 only

5,208 people were living in Toronto Township and 522 in

Streetsville.

Villages in nineteenth-century Ontario were of two types:

Churchville is no longer
part of Mississauga. but it

was the northerly hamlet of

Toronto Township until the
new regional boundaries es-
tablished it at the southern
limit of Brampton. This is

how the village appeared

from the top of the hill on
Churchville Road around
the turn of the century.
Courtesy, Region of Peel
Archives, Brampton
MISSISSAUGA

incorporated and unincorporated. When the

population of a community not occupying
more than 500 acres exceeded 750, its rate-

payers could apply to the county council to

be declared a village. An incorporated vil-

lage, like a town or township, had specified

borrowing powers and an elected council
which could make a wide variety of political

decisions affecting the citizens within its

borders. Smaller communities could be giv-

en "police village" status which meant that
they had some but not all of the powers of a
full-fledged village as authorized by the On-
tario Municipal Act. Besides these political-

ly created villages, there were organically

created villages which existed in the minds

and sentiments of the people who lived in or

near them. The unincorporated villages

grew up two or three miles apart through-
out Toronto Township during the first half
of the nineteenth century.
These virtually self-contained hamlets
emerging in such close proximity to one an-
other can be compared to the shopping
centres that now dot the urban landscape.
Both were designed to provide services and
supplies to the people who lived within easy

travelling distance of them. But to the pio-

neer settler the local village was even more

fundamental to existence than is the local

plaza or mall to the modern shopper. The

modern urban dweller has the option of
travelling an extra ten miles or so to anoth-
er shopping centre. For the rural pioneer

that extra distance, depending upon the

weather and road conditions, could mean an
entire day's journey by horseback or wagon.
In essence, the nineteenth-century rural
dweller lived in a completely different frame-
work of time and space than does his or her

twentieth-century urban counterpart. The

This map from the Histori-
world was the village and perhaps the ones
cal Atlas of 1877 shows the
various concessionsand lot a few miles on either side of it; seldom did
numbers determined by the the world extend beyond these limits.
surveys of 1806 and 1819.
In most cases no one could pinpoint when
From Historical Atlas of
the County of Peel, 1877 a row of concession lots turned into an orga-
nized village. No public ceremonies or de-
crees heralded its founding. Usually, the

28
 THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

opening of a post office at a well-travelled hamthorpe could be considered within the Joseph Silverthorn s home-
stead known as Cherry Hill
crossroad would necessitate that a name be orbit of the aforementioned communities for
was probably the most ele-
given to the surrounding area. The first it was located only one concession road gant of its day. This two-
name might not always last, but eventually north of Dundas Street (a distance of about storey frame house built in
1822 was the Silverthorn's
community and nearby
people within the a mile and a quarter) at the current inter-
third residence at the cor-
would grow accustomed to a specific name section of Burnhamthorpe and Dixie roads.
ner of Dundas Street and
which had significance to them. Summerville was one of the earliest busi- Cawthra Road. The origi-

nal log shanty was replaced

Since settlement in Toronto Township ness centres in the township thanks to the
in 1816 by a larger stone
originated along Dundas Street, it was natu- efforts of the Silverthorn family. By 1818 structure which was ulti-

ral that the first signs of village life would Summerville's first settler, John Silverthorn, mately incorporated into

be found there. In a six-mile stretch be- was operating a blacksmith shop as well as Cherry Hill. From Histori-
cal Atlas of the County of
tween Etobicoke Creek and the Credit Riv- large saw- and gristmills along Etobicoke
Peel, 1877
er, four villages were distinguishable by the Creek with his son Joseph. Another Silver-

early 1830s: Summerville at the junction of thorn son, Thomas, opened a hotel along
Etobicoke Creek, Dixie between the north- Dundas Street around the same time. Ac-
south concession lines now known as Dixie cordingly, the community which grew up
and Cawthra roads, Cooksville at the inter- around the Silverthorn enterprises was origi-

section of Centre Road or Hurontario nally known as Silverthorn's or Mill Place.

Street, and Erindale at the junction of the When a post office was opened in 1851 the
Credit River. Although not situated along village was renamed Summerville, an Irish

Dundas Street proper, the village of Burn- name of unknown origin. Summerville

29
MISSISSAUGA

which was erected in 1816. By the 1840s

thecommunity which was growing up
around the Union Chapel was known as
Sydenham in honour of Charles Poulett
Thompson (Lord Sydenham), governor-
general of British North America from
1838 to 1841. A popular name for the com-
munity at mid-century was Irish Town be-
cause of the large number of settlers of
Irish origin there. When a post office

opened in 1864 it was called Fountain Hill,

a name commonly used in the village's early
years. The following year the name of the vil-
lage was changed to Dixie after Dr. Beau-
mont Dixie, who from the 1840s until his
death in 1897 served the village as well as
Cooksville, Erindale, and Streetsville. By
1880 Dixie had become a thriving market
gardening centre with a population of about
200. Included in the village were a hotel, a
blacksmith shop, two general stores, a Ro-
man Catholic and an Anglican church (in
addition to the Union Chapel), a large brick
schoolhouse, and a station on the newly
built Credit Valley Railroad line. In 1898
the Canadian Pacific Railroad which had
taken over the Credit Valley Railroad
opened a gravel pit able to "give employ-
ment to all available hands" in the area. At
the turn of the century Dixie, with a popu-
lation of about 400, was competing with
Cooksville as the leading village along Dun-
das Street.
Cooksville was originally known as
Harrisville after the first settler in the area.
Cooksville was named after appears to have been a millsite until the Daniel Harris operated a sawmill as well as
Jacob Cook, who was born
mid- 1860s when a declining supply of water a potashery and a pearl-ashery along
in Pennsylvania in I 776
and came to Toronto
from Etobicoke Creek forced the mills to Cooksville Creek. In 1819 he sold part of
Township via Ancaster in close. By then another hotel, a general store, his holdings at the southeast corner of Dun-
1815. He purchased the a carriage works, and a Methodist church das and Hurontario streets to Jacob Cook,
property at the corner of
had been added to the village which had a son of Andrew Cook, for $30. By 1829 the
Dundas and Hurontario
streets in 1819 on which population of about 200. younger Cook secured a government con-
the village of Cooksville It was not uncommon in a pioneer com- tract to carry mail on horseback from An-
grew. From Historical
munity for a tavern and a church to emerge caster to Toronto along Dundas Street.
Atlas of the County of
Peel, 1877 as the twin pillars of social life. Such was Within a few years he had managed to ex-

the case with the village of Dixie which de- tend his route as far east as Kingston and
veloped around Phillip Cody's inn and Peel as far west as Goderich on Lake Huron. He
County's first church, the Union Chapel, also operated a stagecoach service from

30
 THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

Hamilton to Toronto, thereby making his and desirable place for a country residence"
community (then commonly known as Mill- but for "the poor train accommodation."
brook) a major way station. In 1830 the Burnhamthorpe was too close to Dixie

area around the Dundas-Hurontario cross- and Cooksville to develop into a sizeable vil-

roads began to be subdivided into village lage. Founded in the 1820s, the village orig-

lots, and six years later it was renamed inally known as Sand Hill or Sandy Hill

Cooksville in honour of the community's reached its peak of development in the

leading entrepreneur. 1860s and 1870s. With the opening of a

With Hurontario Street becoming a ma- post office in 1862, the name was changed
jor north-south route and Dundas Street to Burnhamthorpe (after Lord Nelson's
continuing to handle a substantial east-west birthplace in England) in order to avoid
traffic, Cooksville developed into a busy confusion with the village of Sand Hill in

commercial and service centre with a popu- neighbouring Chinguacousy Township. By

lation exceeding 300 by the middle of the the late 1870s the village of scarcely 100
nineteenth century. However in 1852 fire residents had a tavern, a blacksmith shop, a

swept through the village destroying all but wagonmaker shop, a general store, a Sons of

a few buildings. The process of recovery was Temperance Hall, a Methodist church, and
hampered three years later by the opening a one-room schoolhouse.
of the Great Western Railway through Port Village life along Dundas Street was in-

Credit. The railway diverted much of the itially confined to the area east of Huron-
traffic between Toronto and Hamilton away tario Street because of the Credit Indian
from Dundas Street. Moreover, the dimin- Reserve. But in 1820 the provincial govern-
ishing danger of an American attack after ment acquired the reserve from the Missis-
the 1860s enhanced the prospects of Lake- saugas and surveyed it in three blocks. The
shore and Middle roads to the south at the centre block covering both sides of Dundas
expense of the Dundas route. Street was laid out "in Lots of Fifty Acres
Despite these setbacks, Cooksville re- and a Village" and was sold in its entirety

mained an important business and adminis- to Thomas Racey two years later. Racey, a

trative centre. Because of its central location, timber cruiser and ex-army captain, suc-
it was chosen to be the seat of Toronto ceeded in building a sawmill on the Credit

Township Council in 1873. Furthermore, it River by 1825, but a shortage of funds

was noted in the Historical Atlas of the prevented him from fulfilling his commit-
County of Peel in 1877 that: ment to establish a village. In 1827 Racey's
block was again up for sale, only this time

. . . the land around the village is of the in smaller parcels. James McGill, a Scottish
richestand the farmers, as a general thing, immigrant bought Racey's mill and a con-
wealthy. And it is hoped that by the build- siderable amount of property surrounding it.
ing of the Credit Valley Railroad that the About the same time that Racey was pur-
business will again assume the magnitude chasing the centre block of the Credit Re-
that it did in the days of yore. serve, Colonel Peter Adamson was settling

on the south side of Dundas Street about a

With the opening of the Credit Valley mile west of the new village site. Colonel

line two years later, Cooksville did regain Adamson had immigrated from Scotland in
some prominence as a shipping centre for 1817 and was a typical "estate settler." He
local farm products, although not as much was a gentleman of better than average
as had been anticipated. An article in the means who came to Upper Canada seeking
Brampton Conservator in 1891 concluded an estate rather than a farm. Not wealthy
that Cooksville would be "a most convenient enough to own an estate in Britain, he could

31
MISSISSAUGA

emulate the life of the landed gentry in a between Toronto and Hamilton. This trip

colonial society where capital resources were took up to five hours, and the village with

in shorter supply. its popular Exchange Hotel was ideally situ-

Colonel Adamson used his considerable ated about halfway between the two cities.

influence to recruit Reverend James Magrath Like neighbouring Cooksville, Springfield,

as rector for the St. Peter's Anglican with a population around 200, suffered from
Church. Realizing that his children's oppor- the decline in traffic along Dundas Street

tunities for social and economic advance- after the opening of the Great Western
ment were limited in his native Ireland, Railway further south in the mid- 1850s. By
Reverend Magrath migrated to Upper Can- 1889 Springfield had become a more popu-
ada and took up an 800-acre estate called lar name than Credit, so the post office was
Erindale on the north side of Dundas Street officially renamed Springfield-on-the-Credit.
just east of the Credit River. The Magraths However, the confusion with other Spring-
would remain an influential family in the fields in Ontario and Ohio prompted anoth-
community throughout the nineteenth cen- er name change in 1900 to Erindale after
tury. the old Magrath estate.

The village along Dundas Street at the Although the lakeshore area west of the
Credit River was beginning to take shape Credit River was settled as early as Dundas
by the end of the 1820s. Detailed plans Street, villages were slower to develop along

were drawn up in 1830 for the establish- Lakeshore and Middle roads. By the end of
ment of the "Town of Toronto," but for un- the 1830s three villages were gradually
known reasons they never materialized, and emerging within a six-mile span: Port Cred-
the name was adopted by the town of York it at the junction of Lakeshore Road and
when it became a city four years later. In- the river mouth, Clarkson about three miles
stead, the village was called Credit when a to the west along Lakeshore Road at the
post office opened in 1831, although shortly present intersection of Clarkson Road, and
thereafter the name Springfield was also Sheridan along Middle Road at the western
used. A letter written in 1833 by a local boundary of Toronto Township.
resident, Dr. James Coleman, indicated the The oldest of the lakeshore communities,

progress that the village had made in a Clarkson was named after Warren Clarkson
short time: around whose property the village devel-

oped. By 1834 stagecoaches travelling from

Springfield is a rapidly increasing place and Toronto to Hamilton followed a trail from
one of the prettiest villages in Upper Can- Erindale south to Lakeshore Road. This
ada. 3 years ago it contained only 4 houses, trail running along the east side of Clarkson's
now there are 23 and many more will be property later became known as Clarkson

erected this summer. There are 4 stores, 2 Road. Shortly after 1835 Clarkson built the

taverns, a church with a spire and burial first store in the area along Clarkson Road
ground, a sawmill and grist mill, 2 brew- just north of Lakeshore Road. The Great
eries will commence this autumn. There are Western Railway purchased a right of way
now a tailor, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a through Clarkson's property in 1853 and
cabinet maker, a manufactory worked by two years later opened a station called
water and many carpenters and joiners. Clarkson's. The emerging community was
also known as Clarkson's Corners, but when
For the next two decades, Springfield or a post office opened in 1875, it was hence-

Credit (both names seemed to have been forth called Clarkson. The post office was
used interchangeably) became a regular established in the Clarkson family store
stopping place for stagecoaches travelling with Warren's son, William, serving as post-

32
THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

Left: Reverend James

Magrath acquired an 800-
acre estate on the north
side of Dundas Street east
of the Credit River. Here
in the early 1830s he built
his impressive homestead
known as Erindale. The
house was destroyed by fire

in the 1860s. Courtesy,

Harold Hare Collection,
Port Credit Public Library
and Region of Peel Ar-
chives, Brampton

Below: From the ashes of

the first Erindale home-
stead emerged a larger res-
idence in which William
Magrath, fourth son of
Reverend James Magrath,
lived until his death in
1888. Courtesy, Region of
Peel Archives, Brampton

33
MISSISSAUGA

Right: In 1835 Warren

Clarkson opened his first

store in the village that

would be named after him.
The Clarkson family store,
shown here circa 1 900, be-
came the local post office
in 187$, with Warren's son
William serving as post-
master. Courtesy, Harold
Hare Collection, Port
Credit Public Library and
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

Below: By the end of the

nineteenth century
Clarkson was a small farm
service village with about
fifty residents situated

around the intersection of

Lakeshore and Clarkson
roads. Pictured here are the
W.A. Durie and EM.
Clarkson stores. Courtesy,

Harold Hare Collection,

Port Credit Public Library
and Region of Peel Ar-
chives, Brampton

34
 THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

master. A member of the Clarkson family

would serve as postmaster for the next

forty-four years.
Even at the height of its development in

the 1870s and 1880s Clarkson was little

more than a string of houses and shops

along Clarkson Road. Besides Clarkson's
store and post office and the railway sta-

tion, the hamlet consisted of Joshua Pol-

lard's Inn dating back to 1811, a school and
meetinghouse erected in the 1820s, and a
Methodist church. Clarkson's population by
the turn of the twentieth century was about
fifty, probably half of what it had been two
decades earlier.

In May 1879 an estimated 8,000 visitors

from Toronto flocked to the Lakeshore area

southeast of Clarkson to enjoy the opening
of Lome The seventy-five-acre amuse-
Park.
ment park named after the Governor-General
Marquis of Lome had a restaurant, bar,
shooting gallery, bowling alley, billiard par-
lour, merry-go-round, dancing pavilion, pic-

nic facilities, baseball grounds, and swings.

The recreation complex attracted as many
as 5,000 visitors who came by railway,
steamboat, or carriage on a summer Sun-
day. By 1886 the Toronto andLome Park
Summer Resort Company had embarked
upon a scheme to subdivide parkland into
fifty-foot lots to be sold for $100 each.
Within eight years, seventy-two lots had
been purchased, mostly by affluent Toronto- opened a store and named the settlement Lome Park was named af-
ter the Marquis of Lome,
nians seeking to build summer cottages. The Hammondsville. One of Hammondsville's
governor general of Canada
resort community had even acquired its own most distinguished citizens was Joseph from 1878 to 1883. He pre-
summer post office by the end of the cen- Adamson, brother of Colonel Adamson of sided over the opening of

tury. However, while the Lome Park resi- nearby Erindale. Dr. Adamson, who came the popular amusement re-
sort in 1879. From A Vil-
dential community would survive, the from Scotland in 1822, was the first li-
lage Within A City, Lome
amusement complex itself declined in popu- censed physician in Peel County. He ac- Park Estates Historical
larity. The end came in 1903 when a wharf quired 400 acres around Hammondsville, Committee

collapsed under the weight of a crowd waiting and by 1825 had built a home near the cor-
to return to Toronto by ferry. ner of Middle Road and the Township Line
Like Clarkson, Sheridan was never more where the village was beginning to focus.

than a hamlet serving the surrounding When a post office opened in 1857 the vil-

farming community. It began in the 1820s lage was renamed Sheridan after the Irish

on land which Henry Gable and Sebastian playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. By
Greeniaus had originally settled in 1807. 1870 the village also had a blacksmith shop,
William Ranson Hammond of Pennsylvania a chair factory, two tanneries, a shoemaker

35
MISSISSAUGA

Joseph Adamson of Sheri- macadamized from Dundas Street to the

dan, brother of Colonel
lake by 1838. Nevertheless, the village was
Peter Adamson of Erindale,
was Peel County's first li- slow to develop. When Anna Jameson visit-

censed physician. His prac- ed Port Credit in 1837 she noted: "there is

tice covered a wide area

which included Streetsville,
little evidence of settlement here —only four

Erindale, and the Credit to five cottages!" Walton's Directory of the

Indian Village. He is shown Home District in 1837 confirms Mrs. Jame-
here circa IS 40. Courtesy, son's observation, listing only six heads of
Adamson Collection and
Region of Peel Archives,
families in the community. Among the ear-

Brampton liest inhabitants of the village were Peter

and John Jones who each owned an acre
and a half of land.

Within a decade, however, Port Credit

had a population of 150 and consisted of
two inns, two stores, a blacksmith shop, a
shoemaker, a wagon maker, a tailor, a
Methodist church, a schoolhouse, and a post
With wagonloads of grain teamed
office.

down Hurontario Street and timber floated

down Credit River, Port Credit harbour
would soon have to be enlarged. The nearby
supply of timber also enabled shipbuilding
shop, and a Methodist church. The popula- to flourish at the harbour. Furthermore,
tion of the village was never much more there was regular stagecoach service be-
than 100, and at the end of the century it tween Toronto and Hamilton along Lake-
was half that amount. Both Sheridan and shore and Middle roads, and lake steamers
Clarkson declined as community develop- travelling between the two cities made regu-
ment increasingly focused on Port Credit. lar stops at Port Credit. Salmon fishing
The village of Port Credit still did not ex- thrived until the late 1840s when the waters
ist in the early 1830s. Despite the surrender of the Credit River became too polluted by
of the Credit Indian Reserve, the disappear- sawdust from the mills upstream. By the
ance of the Indian village at the river mid- 1850s Port Credit had grown to a pop-
mouth, and the extension of Hurontario ulation of about 400 and become one of the
Street to the harbour in the previous de- busiest shipping centres on the Great Lakes.
cade, Government House remained the only The advent of the railway proved to be a
sign of settlement at the Credit mouth. In mixed blessing to Port Credit. In 1855 the
1832 the provincial government built a new Great Western Railway established a sta-

corduroy road along the lakeshore, a route tion at Port Credit, which along with the
that had been little used prior to then be- opening of a telegraph office on the line be-

cause of its miserable state. Two years later tween Toronto and Hamilton seemed to re-

the government also surveyed 340 acres on inforce the village's position as a hub of
the west side of the river as a townsite and transportation and communication. But
passed an act to incorporate the Port Credit while the Great Western line diverted traf-
Harbour Company to undertake harbour fic from Dundas Street through Port Credit,
improvements. The company received a it also contributed to the decline of shipping
grant of about $7,500 to build two wharves activity in the harbour. The following year
and a warehouse on the east bank of the the Grand Trunk Railway completed a line
river. Furthermore, Hurontario Street was running northward from Toronto through

36
 THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

Louis Bradley, a Loyalist

who settled along the lake-
shore of Toronto Township
in 1809, built this frame
structure as his second
house about 1830. Bradley
House has been restored to

period and is currently

Mississauga 's only public
museum. Courtesy, City of
Mississauga, Public Rela-
tions and Communications
Department

Malton and Brampton. Thus, grain and disappeared from the Credit River, there
other farm produce from the northern hin- was still plenty of whitefish, herring, and
terland could be transported more easily lake trout to sustain the fishing business.
and cheaply to the port at Toronto. At the The County Atlas of 1877 described Port
same time, the end of the Crimean War, Credit as "a good place for fishing and
which had given an added boost to grain shooting and a favourite resort for sporting
shipment from Port Credit harbour over the men from Toronto and other places." As
past three years, ushered in a period of gen- more Torontonians built cottages in the
eral economic depression. To make matters area. Port Credit became a shopping centre
even worse, fire had devastated the harbour for summer residents. As the century came
in 1855, and the reduced traffic did not en- to a close. Port Credit was well on the way
courage speedy reconstruction. The hope to becoming an attractive residential village,

that Port Credit would become a great ship- and the arrival of the St. Lawrence Starch
ping centre faded as the population dipped Company in 1889 indicated that it was be-

to 350 in the mid 1860s. coming more attractive to larger businesses

Although no longer an important shipping as well.With a population of 650 by 1900,

port, the harbour became increasingly Port Credit was surpassing Streetsville as
crowded with stonehookers, fishing fleets, Toronto Township's largest village.

and boating enthusiasts. Stonehookers were Streetsville, which developed on the west
schooners capable of hauling ten to sixty bank of the Credit River between present-
tons of large stone, gravel, or sand dredged day Eglinton Avenue and Britannia Road,
from the bottom of Lake Ontario. The was the first and only village in Toronto
streets and buildings of Toronto were the Township to be incorporated during the

main beneficiaries of the work of the Port nineteenth century. Its incorporation in
Credit stonehookers. While the salmon had 1858 reflected the optimism that existed in

37
MISSISSAUGA

Right: This circa 1908 view

of Port Credit Harbour,
from the post office looking
west, depicts the last days
of the stonehookers. These
schooners hauled stone and
gravel dredged from Lake
Ontario to be used for local
building and for paving the
streets of the nearby city of
Toronto. Courtesy, Harold
Hare Collection, Port
Credit Public Library and
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

Facing page, top: The

Streetsville post office was
located in the Regent
House, Robert and William
Graydon's general store,

which was built by their

brother John in 1876. The
Ancient Order of United
Workmen, Lodge Number
85, met above the store, the township as a whole and in the Credit farm, several village lots and buildings,
and Robert Gray don lived Valley in particular around that time. three unoccupied millsites, and the first
in the adjoining house. The
entire building, seen here
While James Glendinning was the first brick home in the township. By 1829 a post

circa 1890, was destroyed settler in the Streetsville area by 1819, the office had been opened in Ransom's store,
by fire in 1909. Courtesy, village actually began with the opening of and the village enjoyed biweekly mail ser-
Streetsville Historical
John Barnhart's store and trading post vice.
Society
(known as Montreal House), Timothy Streetsville was an unusually large and
Facing page, bottom: Street's sawmill and gristmill, and Israel busy village for the 1830s. Walton's Direc-
William Graydon 11 and
Ransom's store in 1821-1822. A letter to tory for 1837 indicated a population of 500
his wife celebrate their fif-
tieth wedding anniversary
the editor of the Colonial Advocate on July and listed fifty-three business and profes-
in 1905 at the home of 1, 1824, expressed amazement over the sional men established in the village. By
their son William Graydon 1844 the Barber brothers of Georgetown
rapid progress of the community:
III on Queen Street in
were operating a substantial woollen mill on
Streetsville. The home,
known as "Solomon's Tem- The village of Streetsville was about four the southern outskirts of Streetsville. Bar-
ple," was built about 1855 years ago composed of a mass of stout and bers' Woollen Mills (also known as Toronto
by Solomon Jesse Barnhart,
lofty trees ... It now contains two taverns, Woollen Mills) went on tobecome one of
publisher of The Streets-
ville Review. The house two stores, one gristmill with two run of the largest enterprises of its kind in the
was demolished in 1 966. stones, a sawmill, two shoe-makers, a distill- province. At its peak the Barber Brothers
Courtesy, Streetsville His-
ery, tannery, two blacksmiths' shops, one complex employed 150 to 200 workers and
torical Society
chairmaker, one cabinet-maker, a potashery, included three factory buildings, a sawmill,
a Presbyterian church and an excellent a blacksmith's shop, a machine shop, and a
schoolhouse. . . . Town lots are a quarter- carpenter's shop. A village grew up around
acre each, already sell for £10 [about fifty the works on the banks of the Credit River
dollars]. and became known as Barbertown. It in-

cluded a two-storey brick store, a tailor

Not surprisingly, Street was the leading shop, stables, forty-three houses "built for
entrepreneur of the village named in his ho- the comfort and convenience of the work-
nour. Besides the mills, he owned the tan- men," and handsome residences for the

nery and distillery as well as a 400-acre proprietors. Gooderham and Worts, the

38
/' ail ft
!'
$a»^%i» I "T^ !M^Z*»*r2£*2Hl «»•

^
t -
H

855|
27
190E
irri
•r
1
^Nr

1
 '

MISSISSAUGA

Right: William and Robert

Barber started tomove
their extensive woollen mill
operations into Streetsville
in 1843. Their complex,
known as Barbertown, was
virtually a self-contained
village.

decishn
Barber Brothers
to move to Toronto
H & ±
in the mid- 1880s was a
critical blow to the econo-
my of Streetsville. From
Historical Atlas of the
County of Peel, 1877

Below: This imposing brick

house, built about 1867,
was the residence of
William Barber who, along
with his brother Robert, es-
tablished Streetsville Wool-
len Mills at Barbertown.
Today the house serves as a
fashionable restaurant.
Courtesy, The Streetsville
Historical Society
Archives, Brampton

40
 1 :• |

\ MP»niiri!i)''>niiFi'»i<<><<nrr'niiin>p»>>

lAJ ffiHIGHT^
- ^" -
- llMlllJ
*.ii "*
"*
. ! '
"T

well-known Toronto distillers, also had a 730. Not until the completion of the Credit A.J. Wright's home and
butcher shop, shown here
large gristmill in operation by the early Valley Railway in 1879 did Streetsville have
about 1895, was located on
1860s. a railway link to Toronto, but by that time the southeast corner of

Moreover, Streetsville was becoming a it was too late to supplant Brampton as the Queen and Ker streets in
Streetsville. Courtesy,
centre for religion, education, and culture. business and political centre of Peel County.
Margaret McClintock
An article in the local newspaper, The Gooderham and Worts were on the verge of Raines and Region of Peel
Weekly Review, on April 7, 1849, noted closing down their operation, and concern
had " ,000 people, 4 churches
that the village 1 was being expressed about what would hap-
and chapels, and common schools attended pen if Barbers' Woollen Mill experienced a
by 150 pupils, and in the summer will boast similar fate: "Take this factory away and
of a Grammar School." Five years later a Streetsville would be as flat as a Western

Farmers' and Mechanics' Institute, the fore- grasshopper after a train of cars have
runner of the public library, was established passed over him." The bad news was deliv-
for adult education. With all these earmarks ered in the Brampton Conservator on Feb-
of a progressive community —
by far the ruary 6, 1885: "The woollen mills of

largest in Toronto Township —

the move- Messrs. Barber Bros, have shut down. It is

ment for incorporation of Streetsville as a hoped that work will commence again in a
village separate from the township gained short time, for if not many persons will have
impetus in the 1850s. to seek other places for employment." An-
Shortly after incorporation, Streetsville's other article in the same newspaper five

fortunes began to decline as both the Great years later remarked "that since the stop-
Western and Grand Trunk Railways by- page of Messrs. Barbers' woollen mills this

passed the village. The census of 1861 village has been passing through a sort of

showed Streetsville's population down to commercial crisis."

41
MISSISSAUGA

Right: Francis Silvenhorn, Upstream from Streetsville, much the

nephew of Joseph
same Meadowvale and Church-
fate befell
Silver thorn of Dixie, came
ville. The development of Meadowvale as a
to Meadowvale in 1840 and
within a few years was op- village began in 1831 when John Beatty,
and
erating two gristmills
who had led a group of Irish settlers to the
James Crawford's sawmill
area in 1819, sold his lot on the north side
along the Credit. Courtesy,
Louise Southern and the of DerryRoad (between present-day Credit-
Meadowvale Women's In- view Road and Second Line West) to James
stitute
Crawford. Crawford then built the first

Below: This handsome sawmill in the community which was locat-

twenty-one-room residence, ed in the heart of a great stand of white
shown circa 1900, was built
pine forest. In 1838 John Simpson built a
about 1870 for Charles H.
Gooderham who operated second sawmill and a small carding mill on
the Meadowvale Mills after the lot across the road from Crawford's.
Francis Silvenhorn. In
From these mills large quantities of sawn
1880 Gooderham and
Worts moved their entire
lumber were shipped by wagon along Hu-
mill operation to Toronto. rontario Street or floated down the Credit
Courtesy, Louise Southern River to Port Credit. By the late 1840s lum-
and the Meadowvale Wom-
bering was in decline as the surrounding
en's Institute
white pine forest was becoming depleted,
and iron and steel instead of wood were be-

42
ing used increasingly for shipbuilding. Brampton and then shipped to Toronto by John Simpson's fine Mead-
owvale residence and mills
Wheat milling was now replacing lumbering rail,Gooderham and Worts, the principal
were located along the
as the leading industry in the upper Credit owners of the Bank of Upper Canada, took Credit River just south of
Valley. over Silverthorn's operations. As a result, Deny Road. Courtesy, His-
torical Atlas of the County
In 1844 Francis Silverthorn, nephew of Meadowvale continued to prosper during
of Peel, 1877
Joseph, built a large gristmill known as the 1860s and 1870s, although it would nev-
Meadowvale Mills. Already the name Mead- er again reach the level of growth achieved
owvale was in common use because of the in the mid- 1850s. The population of the vil-

lush meadows in the area. Within a decade lage remained around 300 until the depar-
of Silverthorn's arrival, the village was ture of Gooderham and Worts in the early
thriving with three stores (one belonging to 1880s. Thereafter, Meadowvale was reduced
Silverthorn), a hotel, a wagon shop, a black- to a small farm service centre of less than
smith shop, an ironworks and foundry, a 200 inhabitants. An article in the Brampton
schoolhouse, and a post office which opened Conservator on July 21, 1899, expressed the
in 1854. Silverthorn subdivided his property hope that Meadowvale could revive its sag-

into village lots to accommodate a popula- ging fortunes by becoming a summer resort:

tion which was approaching 200. The end of

the war, however, left Silverthorn with It is by enterprise such as this and by the
10,000 bushels of unsold wheat worth only influx of visitors that our sleepy old hamlet

half the price he had paid. He had no (erstwhile thought to be only a subject for
choice but to declare bankruptcy. In addi- the artist 's brush) receives something of the
tion, Meadowvale suffered like all the other elixir of life and awakes from her long hi-

Credit Valley communities from the com- bernation.

pletion of the Grand Trunk Railway through
Malton and Brampton. The development of Churchville differed
Realizing that flour could still be trans- from that of Meadowvale in only a few de-
ported profitably by road to Malton or tails. Like Meadowvale, the village that

43
MISSISSAUGA

Right: Lnglish immigrant emerged in the vicinity of Amaziah Church's

Joseph Gardner arrived in
sawmill and gristmill by 1822 started out as
Toronto Township in 1822
at five years of age. He a centre for lumbering and eventually con-
eventually acquired land at centrated on flour milling. Because of the
the northwest and south- earlier establishment of mills, Churchville
cast corners of Hurontario
Street and Britannia Road
progressed more rapidly than its neighbour
which up until 1863 was two miles to the southeast. In addition to
known as Gardner's Cor- Church's mills, the village had two general
ners. He served as postmas-
stores, a distillery, a tannery, and a post of-
terof the village, which
was renamed Britannia. fice to serve the seventy or eighty people al-

From Historical Atlas of ready living in the area by 1831. Even by

the County of Peel, 1877
the mid- 1850s Churchville had a much larg-

Facing page, top: Joseph er number of business establishments than

Gardner's homestead at the did Meadowvale, although the population of
southeast corner of Huron-
both communities was comparable. Church-
tario Street and Britannia
Road was described in the
ville also experienced a decline in flour mill-

county atlas of 1877 as "a ing activity following the Crimean War and
very beautiful place, the the completion of the Grand Trunk Railway.
residence being very fine,
But there was no large business enterprise
and the outbuildings being
on an extensive scale. The like Gooderham and Worts to stimulate eco-
grounds, also, are beauti- nomic recovery in the 1860s and 1870s.
fully laid out. " A Method-
Furthermore, the village was hampered by
ist church which still stands
was built on his land in its location within five miles of Brampton byterian Orangeman, named the village af-
1843. Courtesy, Historical which in 1866 was chosen to be the seat of ter Londonderry in North Ireland. Although
Atlas of the County of were never much more
government for Peel County. As a result, their populations
Peel, 1877
business and settlement gravitated increas- than 100, Britannia and Derry West flour-
Facing page, bottom: ingly to the county's political and railway ished as farm service centres and stopping
Josiah Oliver's fine home- centre. In the mid- 1870s Churchville's de- places, with each having their own post of-
stead was located on the
mise was virtually completed when fire de- fices, Orange Halls, schools, churches,
west side of Hurontario
Street just south of Deny stroyed much of the village. By the turn of blacksmith shops, carpenter's shops, taverns,
Road. The nearby village the twentieth century scarcely fifty people and general stores.
of Deny West, named af-
were living in Churchville. The tiny hamlet of Palestine at the inter-
ter Londonderry in North-
ern Ireland, had become East of the Credit River, several commu- section of Derry Road and Second Line
known as "a good stopping nities sprang up at various crossroads in the East (now Tomken Road) was named after
place" by the middle of the
so-called New Survey. The hamlets of Bri- a local Primitive Methodist Church built
nineteenth century. From
Historical Atlas of the
tannia and Derry West were situated along about 1871. Local residents picked up their
County of Peel, 1877 Hurontario Street at intersecting roads that mail about a mile to the east at the inter-
now bear their names. Britannia was
origi- section of Derry and Dixie roads where a

nally known as Gardner's Corners after post office called Mount Charles opened in
Joseph and Robert Gardner, who owned 1862. Elmbank and Richview were commu-
most of the land around the intersection. nities further south between Britannia Road

When a post office opened in 1863 the vil- and Eglinton Avenue near the eastern
lage was renamed in honour of the mother boundary of the township. Grahamsville, in

country. Derry West, two miles further the northeastern corner of the township at
north, was settled after 1819 by a group of the intersection of Steeles Avenue and Sixth
Irish immigrants from New York led by Jo- Line East (now Airport Road), began in

seph Carter. Apparently, one of the earliest 1819 when Thomas and George Graham ar-

settlers, James Brown, an ardent Irish Pres- rived with their party of Irish settlers from

44
 THE COMMUNITIES EMERGE

.
^» -.^rfe
fc«*&ifes»

*«,; -
'

* a^-is^ss

&% :*?*3B)*S!

45
Right: The Palestine
School, the last reminder of
the tiny hamlet of Palestine
at the intersection of Deny
and Tomken roads, was de-
molished in 1 983. The
school, built before 1877,
was in use until about
1955. Courtesy, Professor
Thomas Mcllwraith Col-
lection

Below: In 1819Thomas
Graham, along with his
brother George, led a group
of fellow Irishmen to the
village that was to bear
their name. Grahamsville
evolved around the Graham
brothers stores, post office,
'

and tavern. The staunchly

Methodist Graham
brothers were also leading
Orangemen in the town-
ship. Courtesy, Region of
Peel Archives, Brampton

New York. The population of the farm ser-

vice centre that developed around the Gra-
ham Brothers' store and tavern reached 200
by the mid- 1860s before declining as a re-

sult of the selection of Brampton as the

county seat and the opening of a railway

station in Malton.
Malton, at the intersection of Sixth Line
and Derry roads, emerged as the most
prominent of the northeastern crossroads
villages. Among the first settlers arriving in
1819 was Richard Halliday, a native of
Malton in Yorkshire, England. By the late
1820s he had opened a blacksmith shop and
an inn and named the village after his

birthplace. The name was also appropriate

because many of Malton's early settlers had
migrated from the North Country of En-
gland. The planking of Sixth Line and the
inauguration of stagecoach service to and
from Toronto in the late 1840s, followed by
the opening of a Grand Trunk Railway sta-

tion in the mid- 1850s, dramatically trans-

formed Malton from a small farm service

46
village to a major storage and marketing cent three decades later. The attraction of

centre for Peel County. By the mid- 1860s steady wages in urban factories and the in-

the village had a population of about 600 creasing use of farm machinery which re-
and included a post office (opened in 1856), duced the need for farm labour accelerated
five hotels, four stores, two shoemakers, this movement away from the countryside.
three blacksmiths, a wagon shop, a Method- For farmers' sons and daughters of Toronto
ist and a Presbyterian church, a two-storey Township in particular, nearby Toronto,
brick schoolhouse, a telegraph office, and Hamilton, and Brampton offered economic
several grain elevators. Malton was initially opportunities that were difficult to resist.

chosen over Streetsville and Brampton to be Transportation improvement reinforced the

the county seat, but the decision was subse- tendency to live, work, or transact business
quently reversed in favour of Brampton. As in these larger urban centres. The local vil-

business activity shifted to the county seat, lages retained some of their usefulness in
Malton began to decline until by the turn of much the same way that the modern corner
the century the village's population was less store is convenient for picking up a quart of
than half of what it had been at its peak. milk or a package of cigarettes. One by one
The decline in the population of local vil- the enterprises that aspired to do a larger
lages and the township as a whole during volume of business moved to a larger centre,

the second half of the nineteenth century leaving behind only the smaller-scale opera-
was in keeping with a province-wide trend tions to serve the immediate community.
toward rural depopulation. Whereas about The villages became more residential than

80 percent of Ontario's population lived in commercial, more like neighbourhoods than

rural areas according to the census of 1871, small towns.
the proportion had shrunk to about 57 per-

47
 Chapter Three

r^k

The Thriving
Hinterland

Rural depopulation and thwarted village ambition did

not prevent steady economic progress as Toronto Town-

ship evolved from a pioneer into a mature agrarian

community during the nineteenth century. The thickly forested

wilderness was transformed into concession rows of prosperous

and diversified farms. Even the village blacksmith, carpenter,

innkeeper, and shopkeeper usually cultivated a small plot of

land and kept a cow or two, a few pigs, and some poultry. A
variety of enterprises flourished based on the extraction or pro-

cessing of local farm products and timber resources as well as

the harnessing of the water power of the Credit River. The

rough trails in the forest became a network of roads, railways,

and telegraph lines which enhanced mobility and contact with

the world outside the township. By the end of the century, To-

ronto Township had become an integral part of Toronto's hin-

terland, a status that had its benefits but also its drawbacks.
For the pioneer farmer a
sturdy yoke of oxen was in-
dispensable for clearing the
land, particularly for pulling
out stumps and dragging
fallen timber. Courtesy,
Mississauga Central Public
Library
MISSISSAUGA

Up to the late 1830s farming in Toronto patch of potatoes, corn, peas, and flax, the
Township remained largely subsistent be- latter of which could be used to supply the
cause of the slow pace of clearing the land family's clothing needs. Common grasses
and a lack of markets. A pioneer settler such as timothy, white clover, and red top
could hope to clear only an acre or two a were necessary for sustaining livestock.

year on his own and perhaps three or four Since livestock was expensive to keep over
acres with help from his neighbours. Several the winter, the early farmer kept only
years would elapse before his cultivated enough to supply his domestic needs. Be-
land could yield a surplus to take to market. sides a team of oxen for heavier field work,
Even if the farmer produced a surplus, he he would likely have a horse or two for
still faced the problem of how to dispose of transportation and lighter field work, one or
it. Toronto and Hamilton, with populations two milk-producing cows, a few sheep for

scarcely reaching 9,300 and 1,400 respec- wool and mutton, chickens for eggs and eat-
tively by 1834, could consume only a frac- ing, along with pigs for the dinner table.
tion of the produce of their vast hinterlands. Within a few years the farmer might be for-

Furthermore, the poor state of roads in the tunate enough to have a small orchard of
pre-railway era rendered the cost of trans- apples, pears, cherries, and peaches.

porting farm products beyond the immedi- The pioneer farmer could add to his self-

ate vicinity prohibitive. So the early farmers sufficiency by fishing for salmon or white-

of Toronto Township were restricted to pro- fish inLake Ontario, the Credit River, or
ducing for family consumption and to bar- nearby streams and by hunting the wild tur-
tering with the few neighbours who did not keys, ducks, and deer in the surrounding
grow the same crops. forest which also supplied maple sugar and
To undertake clearing and cultivating his honey bees. His progress after a decade or
land, the pioneer farmer had a limited and so of farming could be measured in terms of
primitive stock of hand tools and imple- the buildings on his property. He would
ments: axes, shovels, hoes, forks, sickles, probably have built a frame house with the
scythes, flails, and logging chains. His only original log shanty used as a farm building.
labour-saving devices would be a plough and Included among the assortment of farm

an A-frame harrow, both crudely made of buildings could be a granary, a stable, a

the timber cut from his property. Pioneer pigpen, a milk house, perhaps an icehouse,
farming would have been virtually impossi- and a barn or two.
ble without a sturdy yoke of oxen to pull By the early 1840s farmers in Toronto
out the stumps by chain and to drag the Township were engaging in commercial ag-
plough and harrow amidst the stumps that riculture. Not only had they been able to

remained. Oxen were the primary beasts of clear enough land for large scale production

burden during the pioneer stage of farming but also an international market had opened
because they were more manageable and up Upper Canadian wheat. The growing
for

could handle a heavier workload than could market for wheat was attributable to the
horses. Corn Laws which allowed Canadian grain
From the outset, wheat was the staple to enter the British market at a lower rate

crop of Toronto Township. For the farmer of duty than could foreign sources of supply.
just starting out with little capital and In addition, the failure of the wheat crop in

equipment, it was easy enough to sow some parts of the United States during the late
wheat, broadcast as in biblical times, even 1830s and early 1840s as well as the rapidly
in the earliest stages of clearing when the expanding urban market there greatly in-

land was still dotted with stumps. By the creased the demand for imported wheat.
second year he would also be planting a Agricultural prosperity was further nour-

50
THE THRIVING HINTERLAND

Left: With his yoke of

oxen, crude plough, and A-
frame harrow, the pioneer
farmer cultivated his land,
sowing his early wheat
crops amid the stumps that
still dotted the fields. Cour-
tesy, Book Society of Can-
ada Ltd.

Below: The old Bowsfield

Home near Hurontario
Street and Derry Road is

an example of a typical
late nineteenth century
stone house. It is the birth-
place of Frank Oliver, a
federal cabinet minister
during the administration
of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
Courtesy, Perkins Bull Col-
lection, Archives of Ontario

51
 •

MISSISSAUGA

Farms became increasingly ished by international conflicts such as the cern about the so-called "wheat mining"
mechanized as commercial
Crimean War, the American Civil War, tendencies of farmers such as those in To-
agriculture developed. This
threshing machine, al- and the Franco-Prussian War, all of which ronto Township: "the general success in

though primitive by mod- greatly inflated the price of wheat. growing that crop, especially in the lower
ern standards, represented
In 1853 John Lynch of Brampton boasted region, has induced most farmers to culti-
a signiHcant advance for
in his prize-winning essay on agriculture in vate it to a greater extent than will be ulti-
the farmers of the 1870s.
Courtesy, Perkins Bull Col- Peel County: "For wheat growing, this sec- mately advantageous to their farms." He
lection, Archives of Ontario further pointed out that such a practice
tion of country [southern Peel] is not, per-

haps, excelled in any part of Canada." The "produces heavy crops of wheat, while the
high wheat production stimulated and was land is new and rich — but it is a severe

stimulated by the use of new and improved wearing system on the land, and is already
farm implements. The reaper, thresher, telling unwelcome truths on the older

mower, seed drill, sulky rake, and double farms." By the mid- 1860s the "unwelcome
furrow plough were considered essential truths" — notably soil exhaustion combined
tools of the "mechanized" commercial farm- with wheat midge (a parasite insect) — were
er. Agricultural progress was also reflected drastically reducing the wheat production of
in higher property values. Lynch reported most Toronto Township farms.
the "ordinary selling price of a 200-acre Already by the 1870s Toronto Township
farm, with about three-fourths under culti- farmers, particularly in the Old Survey, had

vation, and good farm-buildings and fences, decided to heed Lynch's warning and to
may be considered, in the front section of make the transition to mixed farming with
the County, to range from 1,500 to 2,000 special emphasis on livestock and dairy
pounds" (about $7,500 to $10,000). products. The railroad had contributed to

However, Lynch went on to express con- facilities for shipping products to distant

52
 THE THRIVING HINTERLAND

During the winter months

markets, particularly in the United States the Port Credit-Clarkson area as well as the
when farm work was com-
and Britain. In addition, a substantial do- Cooksville-Dixie area were developing a rep-
plete, farmers often
mestic market was developing as a result of utation as market gardening centres. supplemented their income
industrialization and urbanization in south- While farming was by far the dominant as part-time lumbermen.
They would drag logs
ern Ontario. Until the end of the nineteenth occupation in Toronto Township, there were
through the snow to the
century, horse breeding was important be- numerous other ways of earning a living or Credit River or Lake On-
cause of the growing demand for draft and supplementing farming incomes. For the pi- tario from where the logs
would be floated to the log
carriage horses in the cities. Butter, cheese, oneer settler, clearing the land for farming
boom at the Credit mouth
and milk along with beef, pork, and mutton often provided his first "cash crop." The in the spring. Courtesy,

were also produced on Toronto Township ashes left over from the burning of hard- Perkins Bull Collection,
Archives of Ontario
farms for consumption in an export and do- wood trees and stumps were usually leached
mestic urban market. To feed a larger num- and dried to be exported as potash or pearl-

ber of quality livestock, the farmers had to ash. Among the early settlers, Daniel
grow more oats, barley, hay, straw, alfalfa, Harris and Allan Robinett operated "potash
and other legumes. As a result, the manure works" and "pearling ovens." In fact,

from the animals and the tendency to keep Harris invented a cheaper method for man-
more land in pasture helped to restore the ufacturing potash and pearl-ash, for which
fertility of the worn-out wheat farms. Fur- the provincial legislature awarded him
thermore, mixed farming offered protection about $125 in 1823. These ashes were in
against the hazards of single-crop price fluc- great demand in Britain for use in making
tuations; there was stability in diversity. soap, fertilizer, glass, and dyes for textiles.
Towards the end of the century small Sixty large maple trees were required to
fruit farms and orchards were becoming produce a 650-pound barrel of potash, and
more prominent in the sandy soils of the in 1844 thirty-two barrels were shipped
southern part of the township. In particular, from Port Credit. By the 1850s the depletion

53
MISSISSAUGA

Gooderham and Worts op-

erated Meadowvale Mills
until 1880 by which time a
third storey had been
added to the building. The
mill, owned by Henry

Brown when this photo was

taken about 1907, was torn
down in 1954. Courtesy,

Louise Southern and the

Meadowvale Women's In-

stitute

of the hardwood forest and the profitability lumber increased from the 1830s onward,
of grain-growing reduced the attractiveness rafts would also travel across Lake Ontario
of potash-making as a secondary occupation. to Oswego on the Erie Canal feeder.
Farmers also spent their winters as part- Oak staves to be used in making barrels
time lumbermen cutting trees, removing the and kegs were in demand in Britain and the
branches, and dragging the logs by oxen U.S. The staves would be cut out of small
over the snow to the banks of the Credit white oak logs, corded, and hauled to the

River or Etobicoke Creek. By the 1820s the riverbank or lakeshore where they were
forests of Toronto Township had become a piled. Stavebank Road along the east side of
valuable source of square timber for the the Credit River in Port Credit derives its

Royal Navy. Logs that were too small for name from the piles of staves left on the
the square timber trade would be floated river bank.

downriver to the nearest sawmill where they Lumbering in Toronto Township and Peel
would be cut into planks two or three inches County in general had reached its peak by
thick. Then the square timber and planks the early 1850s as the forest frontier gradu-
would continue their journey downriver until ally retreated northward. Still, a consider-
they were caught in the log boom strung able amount of lumber and square timber
across the mouth, or they would be teamed continued to be used for local construction
to Port Credit harbour. Before the greater until the 1870s. Planks were particularly in

use of steamships in the late 1830s, giant demand for the building of roads in the

rafts constructed of logs and equipped with 1850s. Certain species of lumber were also
primitive square sails and oar-like sweeps in demand for the manufacture of carriages,
would tow the wood across Lake Ontario wagons, furniture, barrels, and woodenware
and down the St. Lawrence River to Quebec until the end of the century.
to be loaded onto timber ships bound for Farming and lumbering also fostered the

Britain. As the American demand for sawn leading "industries" of early Toronto Town-

54
 THE THRIVING HINTERLAND

ship — gristmills and sawmills. Of course, Barber Brothers bought William Comfort's The Oriental
were
Textile Mills
in operation from
with the decline of grain growing and the gristmill south of Streetsville about 1844
1891 to 1913 on the site of
timber trade, most of these mills had closed and moved their entire Georgetown woollen the Barber Brothers Wool-

down by the 1880s. Flour milling continued mill operation there. Above Churchville len Mills in Barbertown,
Streetsville's satellite
to be an important industry along the Cred- Jacob Snure purchased Jacob Bradt's car-
village. The McCarthy
it River until after the turn of the twentieth ding and fulling mill in 1850 and converted Milling Company Ltd. now
century. By that time the industry was con- it into a large cloth factory. Large knitting operates the historic com-

Erindale and plex. Courtesy, Streetsville

centrated in the hands of larger firms such mills were also located in
Historical Society
as McCarthy Milling Company (in what Streetsville. By the 1850s agricultural im-
was once the Barber Brothers complex) and plements were being manufactured in a

Reid Milling Company (once the Beaty number of factories, the largest of which
Mills) in the Streetsville area. was the Mammoth Iron Works which at

Tanning and leatherworking were among times could employ up to seventy men in

the first industries to be established in the Meadowvale.

township. Allan Robinett's tannery near Among the industries using wood as their

Dixie pre-dated 1820; Timothy Street had primary raw material were cooperages and
facilities for tanning attached to his milling stave mills which produced barrels, casks,
enterprises in Streetsville by 1825; and in and tubs used mostly in grist milling. Coo-
the 1830s Francis Motherill and Richard per's shops were operating in Streetsville

Poynter operated tanning mills in Street- and Churchville by the 1840s, and Francis
sville and Churchville respectively. Woollen Silverthorn had a stave and barrel factory
factories equipped with carding and fulling attached to his sawmill at Meadowvale in

mills were also an important part of the the early 1850s. About the same time
township economy. In the 1830s Joseph Daniel Rowe had "an extensive stave and
McCrary had a dyeing and cloth-dressing shingle factory" in Churchville, while
establishment in Streetsville, which became Thomas Shaughnessy had a thriving lath

Hiram Caslor's woollen factory by 1846. and shingle factory in Meadowvale.

Above: The Port Credit
Brickyard, shown here
about 1907, was founded
by Thomas Nightingale in
the 1880s. Competition
from brickyards at Streets-
ville and Cooks vilie forced

it to close down by the late

1920s. Courtesy, Harold
Hare Collection, Port
Credit Public Library and
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

Right: The Port Credit

Brickyard was at the peak
of its operation by about
1907, employing over 200
men. Many of the workers
were recent Italian immi-
grants. Courtesy, Harold
Hare Collection, Port
Credit Public Library and
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

Cooksville was also a centre for shingle Shipbuilding at Port Credit harbour dates
making. The stave and barrel trade as well back to 1809 when Daniel Harris built one
as shingle making had disappeared from the of the first sailing vessels in order to trans-
township by the 1890s because of the ex- port grain to various ports on Lake Ontario.
haustion of the raw materials. The improve- By 1846 the harbour had three busy ship-
ment of roads from the 1840s onward yards as noted in the Canadian Gazeteer:
increased the demand for carriages, coaches, "Several vessels have been built here, and
and wagons. Nearly every sizeable village five good schooners are owned in the place."
had a wagon maker or carriage works. The After 1850 shipbuilding continued on a
industry went into a decline in the 1890s small scale until the 1870s when the de-
when the electrification of street railways mand for wooden vessels and the supply of
reduced the number of private carriages in localwood had diminished substantially.
the cities, and larger producers located in The quarrying of building stone and
the urban centres began to take control of burning bricks and pottery in the township
the market. By the 1840s the cabinetmaking dates back to the 1820s. A number of build-
trade, noted for producing fine maple furni- ings including Toronto House, the second
ture, was well established in Streetsville, Dixie Union Chapel, and several post- 1850
and Erindale had a chair factory. mills were constructed of stone quarried in

56
 WW. 4

the bed of the Credit River. The stonehook-

ers operating out of Port Credit harbour
were at their peak by 1881 as no less than
twenty-three vessels were busy hauling stone
out of Lake Ontario. Three brickyards and
two pottery works making field tiles were
operating in the vicinity of Streetsville and
Erindale by the 1850s. In the 1880s Thomas
Nightingale opened the Port Credit Brick-
yard employing up to fifteen men.
Also located in Port Credit on the west
side of the river mouth was O'Reilly and
Savigny's small crude-oil refinery which be-
gan in the late 1850s. The refinery, which
produced mostly kerosene for use in oil

lamps and axle grease, burned down in the

mid- 1860s. By the 1870s the Parker and
Gordon oil refinery on the eastern outskirts

of Cooksville was doing an extensive busi-

ness manufacturing gasoline for use at the

Barber Brothers factory near Streetsville.
The St. Lawrence Starch Company, spe-

cializing in extracting starch and glucose

from corn, would be a more enduring indus-
try. Originally employing twenty-five men ized" from Toronto to the intersection of A corduroy road was prac-
tical for a wet or swampy
when it arrived in Port Credit in 1889, the the Port Credit-Streetsville Road (now Mis-
stretch such as Lakeshore
company expanded its operations to include sissauga Road). Such a surface, which con- Road east of the Credit,

over 100 workers by 1900, foreshadowing sisted of hand-broken stone in various sizes, but it was an uncomfort-
able way to travel. Cour-
the trend toward large scale industrial de- was a definite improvement over the dirt
tesy, Book Society of Can-
velopment in twentieth-century Toronto and corduroy roads but it was not without ada Ltd,
Township. its own problems. Since only water was used
Economic development in the nineteenth to bind the extremely coarse stone, it took a
century was largely influenced by the state long time to pack down, making the road
of the roads and the accessibility of the rail- quite rough and susceptible to breaking up
roads. For the first three decades of Toronto with the spring thaw.
Township's development, roads were dirt By the late 1840s "plank roads" were be-
with only a few stretches of corduroy on coming popular because they were smoother
some of the main arteries. A corduroy sur- than dirt or corduroy roads and could be
face, consisting of logs laid side by side built for half the cost of macadamized
across the roadway with dirt packed in be- roads. Wooden planks three inches thick
tween, was applied to a particularly wet or and about sixteen feet long were laid cross-

swampy stretch such as Lakeshore Road wise on a bed of timbers packed into the
east of the Credit River. Travelling along a earth. To facilitate the building of such
corduroy road was at best a bone-shaking roads, the provincial legislature passed the

experience for settlers, and it was common Road Companies Act in 1849 authorizing
for horses and cattle to fracture a leg or for the formation of private companies to im-
a wagon wheel to break as a result. prove certain roads in return for a franchise
In 1836 Dundas Street was "macadam- to charge tolls. The first of these companies

57
MISSISSAUGA

Right: Streetsvillc Junction

on the Credit Valley Rail-
way opened on the west
side of Mississauga Road
north of Britannia Road in
1879. This circa 1910 view
shows the Pacific Hotel in

the left foreground. The

picturesque station became
a residence after 1914
when the Canadian Pacific
Railway built a new brick
station further south on
Ontario Street. Courtesy,
Streetsville Historical
Society

Below: A group of people

wait at Cooksville station
for aCanadian Pacific
Railway train to take them
to Toronto for a Sunday
School picnic. Courtesy.
Mildred Belleghem and
Region of Peel Archives.
Brampton

was the Port Credit and Hurontario Plank struction and maintenance. The slow prog-
Road Company, which by 1851 had planked ress was partly attributable to the prevailing

Centre Road as far as Snelgrove, three and system of road maintenance, which for the

half miles north of Brampton. At the same most part relied on "statute labour." In-

time Sixth Line was planked from Dundas stead of paying taxes, each male inhabitant
Street to Grahamsville as was the Port Credit- of the township from twenty-one to fifty
Streetsville Road (now Mississauga Road) years of age was required by law to perform
from the lakeshore to Georgetown. Unfortu- or arrange for the performance of three
nately, within a few years the planks broke days' labour annually on the roads in his
or rotted.By the 1860s macadam or gravel neighbourhood. Most of the people who per-
was being used on most of the main roads formed statute labour were unskilled at road
in the township. work and were usually more concerned
For the remainder of the century there about getting back to their farms than
was little significant progress in road con- about the quality of their work.

58
 THE THRIVING HINTERLAND

The practice of charging tolls on roads tion and excitement ensued when the first

where traffic was heavier proved no more train arrived in Port Credit and Clarkson in

effective. Tolls were charged on Dundas December 1855. Malton was just as euphor-
Street beginning in 1836, but constant com- ic when it became a station on the Grand

plaints about poor management prompted Trunk Railway mainline from Sarnia to
the provincial government to sell the road Montreal in the following year. The boost
along with Lakeshore Road to the Toronto that the railroad gave to these villages in

Road Company in 1850. For a few years the next decade made the by-passed Dundas
toll collection on these roads was quite prof- Street and Credit Valley communities long
itable, and the company was willing to in- all the more for a rail line to serve them di-

vest the necessary funds for proper road rectly. Accordingly, Streetsville jumped at
maintenance. However, the coming of the the opportunity to become the junction of

railway reduced the amount of traffic along the Credit Valley Railway mainline from

these roads and accordingly the ability of Toronto to St. Thomas and the branch run-

the company to keep them adequately re- ning north to Orangeville. In June 1871 the
paired. In an effort to cut its losses, the village council passed a by-law, subsequent-

company sold the roads to the county ad- ly ratified by the ratepayers, pledging
ministration in 1865 for a much lower price $20,000 to aid in the construction of the

than it had originally paid. The same fate Credit Valley line. A succession of financial

befell the plank road companies. The county and legal problems delayed the official

continued to charge tolls along these roads opening of the railway until November
which by 1900 were considered adequate 1879. In addition to a large station at
except in the spring or very wet weather. Streetsville, smaller stations were located at

Railroads were perhaps the most impor- Dixie, Cooksville, Erindale, Meadowvale,
tant factor working against the improve- and Churchville, since support for the rail-

ment of roads. The decision of the Great way had been strong in those communities.
Western Railway to build a branch line The Credit Valley Railway, which lasted
from Hamilton to Toronto to connect with only four years before being absorbed by
its main line from Windsor to Niagara via the Canadian Pacific Railway, proved to be
Hamilton touched off speculation and de- no more successful than its predecessors in

bate in the various communities of Toronto promoting longterm prosperity and growth
Township over the most feasible route. In for the communities of Toronto Township.
1853 the editors of The Streetsville Review Ironically, the railroad contributed to their

left no doubt about their preference on the decline. With technological advances such
matter, pointing out "a straight line be- as coal-fired engines and air brakes, trains

tween Hamilton and Toronto runs through could travel upward of twenty miles an hour
one of the most indifferent portions of west- in almost any weather. As travel became
ern Canada. Marshes, sand plains, quagmires more predictable, it was possible to go be-
and sour sterile soil are the leading factors yond the nearest village to conduct business,

of that region." A better alternative to the which was increasingly concentrating in the

lakeshore route, they argued, was the more major urban centres. Toronto in particular
northerly route through Streetsville which was now all the more accessible, and even
"exhibits a tract of country unrivalled in the Brampton could offer a range of goods and
Province for richness and fertility, and re- services that made a trip there quite worth-

plete with manufacturing establishments, while.

the feeders of a railway." The preoccupation with railroads and

Nevertheless, the shorter and more direct roads would curtail improvements in water
lakeshore route won out, and great celebra- transportation. Although steamships had

59
MISSISSAUGA

and faster iron-hulled steamers with screw

propellers and high-pressure engines, the

volume of these shipments was up to 1 38,063
bushels of wheat, 34,485 barrels of flour,
and 2,430,751 feet of lumber. The wharves
had to be extended over 300 feet beyond the
shoreline to accommodate the larger vessels
and increased traffic. Following the arrival
of the railroad, however, and the disastrous
fire of 1855, the port gradually declined and
was used primarily by stonehookers, small
fishing vessels, and assorted pleasure craft.

Although the macadamized and gravel

roads, the three railway lines, and the larger
steamships and harbour facilities did not
transform Toronto Township into a bustling
commercial centre, they did represent note-
worthy advances in transportation and
communication. Further improvement in

communication came with the inauguration

of telegraph service in 1846. Telegraph
poles and wires extended along Dundas
Street linking Toronto with Hamilton and
the Niagara district. By the mid- 1850s tele-
graph offices were located in Cooksville,

Port Credit, Streetsville, Meadowvale, and

Malton. As the century was closing, tele-

phone service began to appear. In 1885, a

decade after Alexander Graham Bell's in-

vention, only two subscribers in Streetsville

had a telephone connection to Brampton.
Within four years Bell Telephone opened an
office in Cooksville, and in 1894 the first

telephones in Port Credit were installed in

James Hamilton's general store and the St.

James Hamilton emigrated been plying the waters of Lake Ontario Lawrence Starch Company. Long distance
from Ireland
to Streetsville
since 1816, only small sailing vessels could calls to Toronto and Hamilton were possible
in 1850 and moved to Port
Credit two years later. He dock at Port Credit harbour before the con- by 1902, although extensive local service
soon became one of Port struction of new wharves in 1837. There- was still several years away.
Credit's most prominent
after, small side-wheeler steamers transport- Improved transportation and communica-
businessmen and political
figures. From Historical
ing cargo and passengers from Toronto to tion reinforced Toronto Township's hinter-
Atlas of the County of Hamilton made regular stops at Port Credit. land position within a metropolitan economy.
Peel, 1877 In 1844 the Canadian Gazeteer reported Ideally, the relationship between the metro-
that 49,100 bushels of wheat, 6,445 barrels politan centre and its hinterland is mutually
of flour, and 1,278,000 feet of lumber, advantageous. The hinterland is a source of

among other commodities, were shipped out raw materials for the metropolis as well as a

of Port Credit harbour. Within six years, as consumer of manufactured goods, while the
the side-wheelers were giving way to larger metropolis is a market for the raw materials

60
of the hinterland in addition to being a Sightseers pose with a
spectacularly wrecked Ca-
manufacturing centre. Certainly, a good
nadian Pacific Railroad
deal of Toronto Township's growth in the train in Streetsville in

1840s and 1850s can be attributed to its as- 1914. Courtesy, Margaret
McClintock Raines and
sociation with an expanding city of Toronto.
Region of Peel Archives,
However, the hinterland was invariably Brampton
the junior partner doomed to come out on
the short end of its interaction with the me-
tropolis. As the city continued its dynamic
growth, it proved to be a veritable magnet
attracting labour and capital from the town-
ship and the rest of the hinterland. The de-
parture of the Barber Brothers and the
Gooderman and Worts mill operations for

Toronto by the early 1880s is an obvious

case in point. The hinterland could do little

more than serve as the traditional "hewer of

wood" and "drawer of water" for the ex-
panding metropolis. Only when the city of
Toronto reached the limits of its growth af-

ter World War II could the imbalance in

the metropolis-hinterland relationship be re-

dressed in favour of Toronto Township and
later the city of Mississauga.

61
 Chapter Four

>jife

An Evolving Rural
Society

pioneer settlers of Toronto Township were typical fron-

The tiersmen and were initially more concerned with the ar-

duous tasks of clearing the forest, building a home, and

farming the land than with political or social matters. By ne-

cessity, their working day normally stretched from sunrise to

sunset throughout the whole week, leaving little opportunity for

leisure. Inadequate lighting and heating facilities as well as

poor roads further reduced the prospects for political and social

interaction. But gradually, as the settlers became more estab-

lished, they took a more active interest in the efficient man-

agement of local affairs and cultivated a wide range of social

institutions and activities.

Given pioneer conditions and preoccupations, it seemed ap-

propriate that early systems of local administration demanded

relatively little popular participation. For the most part, the

administration of township affairs rested in the hands of the

Itinerant preachers would
hold outdoor prayer meet-
ings before churches were
built. This meeting was
sketched circa 1820. Cour-
tesy, Book Society of Can-
ada Ltd.
M1SSISSAUGA

magistrates or justices of the peace who involved carrying out orders transmitted to
presided over the Court of Quarter Sessions them by the magistrates in quarter sessions.
for the Home District. The Home District Yet early Toronto Township officials and
was one of the largest local governing units citizens do not seem to have been disturbed
in early nineteenth century Upper Canada, by this absence of local self-government.
extending from Toronto Township eastward Township meetings were not frequently
to Whitby (a distance of about forty miles) held; in fact, Phillip Cody and Daniel
and northward to Georgian Bay (a distance Harris, his successor as constable, were both
of about seventy miles). The magistrates, discharged from their position for neglecting
appointed by the lieutenant governor of the to call meetings.
province, met four times a year to address Despite its minimal legislative power, the

various public concerns including the ad- township meeting gradually came to assume
ministration of justice, the building and a significant role as a forum for public dis-

maintenance of a courthouse and jail, the cussion about the larger political issues of
construction and maintenance of roads and the day. By the 1830s the apathy of the
bridges, and the appointment of township early years had given way to a desire for

constables. some measure of political reform. No longer

The chief duty of the township constable was centralized control over township affairs
was to call and preside over meetings of all by the magistrates accepted as a substitute
male householders in the township. Phillip for local self-government.

Cody was the first constable of Toronto Toronto Township was part of the Second
Township, and the first public meeting was Riding of York County (corresponding
convened at his inn. The most important closely to the present Peel Region) which in

business transacted at these meetings was 1829 had elected the radical reform leader
the nomination and approval of local citi- William Lyon Mackenzie as its representa-
zens to serve as township officers. These of- tive in the provincial legislature. Generally
ficials included the clerk who kept minutes speaking, Mackenzie's support in the town-
of the meeting, the assessor who kept a rec- ship was not strong, although he was better
ord of each householder's property for tax received in and around Streetsville and
purposes, the collector who had the thank- Churchville. The township had a strong con-
less task of actually collecting taxes, several tingent of Orangemen, many of whom could
pathmasters (also known as overseers of sympathize with some of the reform griev-
highways) who inspected the roads and or- ances but disapproved of Mackenzie's ex-
ganized the statute labour, fenceviewers tremism, particularly when he talked of
who inspected fences and mediated disputes separation from the British Empire and
between neighbours regarding damaged or union with the United States. Even moder-
improperly located fences, and the pounds ate reformers were uneasy about the appar-
keeper who impounded stray animals and ently republican sentiments of Mackenzie
arranged settlement of damages caused by and his more devout followers.

them. In June 1836 Mackenzie stood for re-

What constituted a lawful fence and election against Edward W. Thomson who
whether or not livestock should be allowed was backed strongly by Lieutenant-Governor
to "run at large" were the most frequently Francis Bond Head and the ruling oli-

debated questions at township meetings. garchy. On nomination day, the lieutenant-

Not only did these questions reflect the governor accompanied by Sheriff Jarvis of
agrarian society but they were also the only Toronto rode out to Streetsville, the polling

matters over which township officials had place for the Second Riding, to oversee the
any real discretion. Their principal functions election proceedings. In the days of open

64
 AN EVOLVING RURAL SOCIETY

Far left: Allen Wilcox, son

of one of the original Dun-
das Street settlers A bsolom
Wilcox, was born near
Dixie in 1809. He was a
supporter of William Lyon
Mackenzie during the Up-
per Canadian Rebellion of
1837 and helped him flee

the country. After the re-

bellion the younger Wilcox
returned from a year's exile
in the United States and
became one of the first

fruit-growers in the area.

From Historical Atlas of
the County of Peel, 1877

Left: William Elliot, a

farmer, mill operator, and
general store proprietor in
Meadowvale, spent seven
years as a township coun-
cillor, including terms as
reeve and deputy reeve in

the 1860s. He was also

elected as a Conservative
member of the federal elec-
toral district of Peel in
voting, the presence of such powerful public tention of British authorities on the lack of 1878. From Historical At-

officials was undoubtedly intimidating for local self-government. Accordingly in 1841 las of the County of Peel,
1877
the electors. As a result, Mackenzie was the provincial government initiated the re-

soundly defeated, and thereafter he de- form of the municipal system by replacing
spaired of ever achieving his aims by peace- the magistrates in quarter session with dis-
ful means. His effort at rebellion in 1837 trict councils. The township meeting contin-
received little support from the citizens of ued to exercise its former functions as well
Toronto Township, who preferred reform as the new function of electing two district
through legislative channels. councillors. Full local self-government in

The township militia, called to arms by Ontario was achieved with the passing of
the drums of the Orange Lodge, moved the Municipal Corporation Act in 1849.
quickly to suppress the rebellion. The volun- Under this enactment the county replaced
teer cavalry led by Major Thomas Magrath the district as a local governing unit. The
and Lieutenant William Magrath, sons of county council assumed administrative func-
the minister of St. Peter's Anglican Church tions designed to serve the whole county
in Erindale, was among the first to arrive at while the incorporated township was granted
the capital and took part in the seige at its own council comprised of five members
Montgomery's Tavern. Mackenzie fled west- elected by the ratepayers.
ward from Montgomery's Tavern, hiding Toronto Township's first municipal elec-
out at the home of Absolom Wilcox near tion was held in January 1850, with Joseph
Dixie on the night of the rebellion and Wright, Samuel Price, William Thompson,
William Comfort's mill on the Credit River Charles Romain, and Christopher Roe
below Streetsville the following day before forming the first council. At the inaugural
escaping to the Niagara frontier. meeting at the Telegraph Hotel in Streets-

Although Mackenzie's rebellion was a ville, the councillors selected Wright and
dismal failure, it did serve to focus the at- Price to serve as reeve and deputy-reeve

65
MISSISSAUGA

township as a whole elected a reeve and

deputy-reeve. In 1899 the ward system was
dropped, and for the next half-century or so
all council positions were elected on a
township-wide basis.
Meanwhile, Streetsville grew large enough
tobecome an incorporated village separate
from Toronto Township in 1858. As such, it
had its own municipal administration op-
erating like that of Toronto Township.
Timothy Street's son John was the village's

first reeve and sole representative on county

council, while Henry Rutledge, James
Anderson, Thomas Paterson, and Henry
Ker were elected to the first council.

Monthly meetings were held at the Town

James C. Aiken, born in representing the township on county council. Hall built in the mid-1840s. Since this
Burnhamthorpe in 1823,
Most subsequent meetings of township building was unheated, council would often
was a member of the pro-
from
vincial legislature council were held in Cooksville, which be- meet in the more comfortable confines of a
1854 to 1861. He was ap- came the permanent site for council meetings local hotel such as the Telegraph.
pointed to the Canadian
in 1873 when a township hall was complet- In 1856 the provincial legislature passed
Senate in 1867 and left to

serve as lieutenant-governor ed on Dundas Street just west of Centre "An Act to Provide for the Separation of
of Manitoba in 1882 before Road. The councillors continued to choose the County of Peel from the County of
returning to the Senate in
the reeve and deputy-reeve from amongst York." Accordingly, a Provisional Munici-
1896. Courtesy, Mary
Barnett and Region of Peel
themselves until 1867 when a ward system pal Council of the County of Peel was es-

Archives, Brampton was adopted. The township was divided into tablished with Joseph Wright, reeve of
three wards, each electing a councillor. The Toronto Township, appointed provisional

66
 AN EVOLVING RURAL SOCIETY

of Peel officially came into being in 1867, Facing page: Sir William
P. Rowland settled in
and at the first meeting of county council
Cooksville in 1830 before
Dr. John Barnhart, reeve of Streetsville moving his extensive busi-

from 1861 to 1867, was selected as the war- ness interests to Toronto in
the following decade. He
den or presiding officer.
served as a member of the
Even before they developed an interest in provincial legislature from
government and politics, the pioneer settlers 1857 to 1867, a member of
the Dominion Parliament in
of Toronto Township were deeply concerned
1867-1868, and lieutenant-
with their spiritual well-being. One of their governor of Ontario from
first community endeavours was to erect a 1868 to 1873, besides being
the only American-born
place of worship. In 1809 a number of set-
Father of Confederation.
tlers living along or near Dundas Street
Courtesy, Public Archives
gathered at Cody's Inn to discuss plans for of Canada
a church and burial ground. Before the end
Left: Dr. John Barnhart, a
of the following year Cody had purchased
member of one of Streets-
the southern half of the lot across the street ville's leading families, was
from his inn and transferred a quarter-acre chosen first warden of Peel

(on the northeast corner of Dundas Street County in 1867. Courtesy,

Perkins Bull Collection,

and Cawthra Road) to the church trustees
Ontario Archives
John Silverthorn, Allan Robinett, and Daniel
Harris. The deed specified that the land was
warden. Subsequently, the electors of the "for public use of building and erecting a
county voted 1,309 to 1,258 in favour of free Church of the Protestant religion and
separation. Toronto Township, however, vot- School and other public use as may be
ed 480 to 104 against separation, probably needful." Although most of the founders of
because it had closer ties with nearby Etob- the chapel were Anglicans, they decided it

icoke and York Townships. Further com- should be open to "all Protestant denomina-
plicating the matter was the choice of a tions." Thus, Anglicans, Presbyterians,
county town. The debate was prolonged and Methodists, and Baptists all worshipped in

heated as several villages vied for the hon- the "Union Chapel," albeit at different

our, including Streetsville, Port Credit, Mal- times of the day. This multi-denominational
ton, Cooksville, and Churchville. In 1860 use was a typical feature of pioneer reli-

county councillors narrowly chose Malton gious life since there were insufficient finan-
by a vote of six to five over Brampton, but cial resources for each denomination to

the motion was rescinded at a later meeting, build its own church.
and the issue was put to a vote of the coun- By the early 1820s itinerant Methodist

ty electors. The result of that vote was preachers from the Yonge Street and An-
Brampton 2,200, Malton 1,682, and Street- caster circuits were conducting regular ser-
sville 74. Nevertheless, the matter would vices in homes and at camp meetings across
linger because the by-law providing for the the township. Riding on horseback from one
purchase of land and erection of a court- community to another, the Methodist itiner-

house and jail was defeated on the strength ant brought a message of salvation that
of Toronto Township and Streetsville votes. made a personal and direct appeal to a pio-
When another separation vote was held in neer farming people. His approach was
1865, the margin in favour was 2,216 to highly emotional, threatening his listeners
1,649; and Brampton was the overwhelming with the eternal fires of hell if they did not
choice as county seat over Malton, Port repent and devote themselves to God and
Credit, and Streetsville. Thus, the County promising heavenly ecstasy to those who

67
 '*V."'k\*.'

•t.;

»;-~>-.

r .*•'.•
£J

77?e gra vestones in the did. His presence was also a stimulating so- by Joseph Carter in Derry West. Reverend
cemetery at the rear of the
cial occasion marked by enthusiastic hymn- James Magrath presided over both churches.
Dixie Union Chapel bear
the names of some of the singing and plenty of cheap whiskey for the Streetsville did not have an Anglican church
earliest families in the re- lonely men and women struggling with the until Trinity Anglican church was complet-
gion: the Harrises, the
hardships of the backwoods. Miss Elizabeth ed in 1842 on land donated by Henry
Robinetts, and the Cooks.
Courtesy, Mildred Trevorrow writing in the Streetsville Review Rutledge. The rector was Robert Jackson
Belleghem and Region of of March 29, 1900, fondly remembered a Macgeorge, a fiery orator and prolific wri-
Peel Archives, Brampton who had
Methodist camp meeting held in Mead- ter, arrived from Scotland in the
owvale sixty years before: previous year. Reverend Charles James
Stewart Bethune was the prime mover be-
There were young men and maidens who hind the building of Trinity Anglican
came to this camp meeting without a church at Port Credit in 1868 as well as St.

thought more serious than to have a good John's Anglican church at Dixie three years
time, and enjoy the bright days as they later.

passed. Some of these returned to their The earliest Presbyterian church was
homes untouched by any religious feeling, built in Streetsville in 1824 on land donated
and perhaps not as innocent as when they by Timothy Street. This frame church was
came, while others of them were imbued replaced by a two-storey brick structure in

with sacred thought, whose influences 1868. By 1830 Malton had a frame Presby-
stayed with them all the rest of their lives. terian church which was destroyed by fire

in 1877 and replaced with a brick building.

Despite the growing popularity of Meth- Although Allan Robinett and the Silver-
odism, early Toronto Township remained a thorns tried as early as 1825 to have a Pres-
bastion of Anglicanism. After 1827 Angli- byterian church built in the Dixie area,
cans could worship either at St. Peter's in none was built there until 1879.

Erindale or at the Hurontario church built Roman Catholicism was never strong in

68
 —

AN EVOLVING RURAL SOCIETY

Toronto Township, but by 1833 a frame population belonged to a denomination other Members of the Port Cred-
it Methodist Church Choir
church had been built along the Fifth Line than Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian, or
enjoy a picnic in Lome
halfway between Malton and Elmbank (now Catholic, and most of these "others" were Park about 1905. They
part of the airport). This church had vari- Baptists. Religious heterogeneity beyond the were comforted by the fact

ous names — St. Bernard's, St. Kevin's, St. traditional Protestant denominations was that no "intoxicating
quors" were allowed
li-

in the
Peter's, St. Patrick's, and Sacred Heart still a long way into the future for Toronto twenty-five acres of picnic
but it was always referred to as the Fifth Township. grounds. Courtesy, Port

Catholic Church Early churches, like the Dixie Union Credit Public Library and
Line Church. St. Joseph's
Region of Peel Archives,
(later known as St. Dunstan's) in Streets- Chapel, often served as public meeting halls
Brampton
ville opened in 1858, and within three years and schoolhouses. In the early nineteenth
its congregation reached 1,000. Father century, government support for elementary
William Flannery presided over both the education was almost non-existent, so par-
Fifth Line and Streetsville churches, and his ents, clergymen, and other interested citi-

initiative led to the establishment of a con- zens within the community had to ensure

gregation at Dixie. St. Patrick's Catholic that children could attend school. A one-
Church built at the southwest corner of room meetinghouse used for both a church
Dixie Road and Dundas Street in 1872 be- and a school was raised using volunteer la-

came the parish headquarters, with Streets- bour and logs cut from the surrounding
ville becoming a mission. forests. Expenses, including the teacher's
By the end of the nineteenth century, salary, were usually met out of private do-
about half the combined population of the nations as well as fees charged to parents
township and Streetsville was Methodist, amounting to about twenty-five cents a
doubling the once dominant Anglicans. month for each pupil. By 1830 schools were
Moreover, little more than 3 percent of the operating in Dixie, Clarkson, Sheridan,

69
MISSISSAUGA

words and sentences. The few pupils who

attended regularly or stayed in school long
enough could eventually read from the Bi-

ble, solve basic arithmetic problems, and

perhaps even write a little. School atten-
dance might be affected by impassable
roads, inclement weather, the need for la-
bour on the family farm, or an inability to

pay the school fees. Consequently, children

of less affluent parents seldom finished ele-
mentary school, and many parents saw no
point in educating their daughters.
The creation of a centralized system of
public schools under Egerton Ryerson dur-
ing the 1840s did much to improve educa-
tion prospects for all children. Ryerson, who
became superintendent of schools in the
province, maintained: "Education is a public

good, ignorance is a public evil . . . every

child should receive an education ... if the
parent or guardian cannot provide him with
such an education the State is bound to do
so."The concurrent development of local
self-government provided the means by
which to achieve the goal. Toronto Town-
ship was divided into sections, each of which
was to have a publicly-funded school with
St. Patrick's Roman Catho- Streetsville, Derry West, Malton, and the three school trustees responsible for annually
lic Church in Dixie was
built in 1872 in the modern
Credit Indian village. A second log school- determining all education expenses, includ-

Byzantine style combining house opened in Port Credit three years ing building and equipping the schoolhouse
basic Victorian gothic and later. and hiring a teacher. Normally, each rate-
touches from Westminster amounted
These early schools developed individual payer's share of the school tax to
Roman Catholic Cathedral
in London, England. was curriculums according to the skills of the about $5 to $7 a year, with additional funds
It

located at the corners of teacher and the few books available. The coming in the form of a provincial grant.
Dundas Street and Dixie teacher, usually a man unable to perform Ryerson's system also provided for a provin-
Road before it was demol-
heavy labour, needed no more qualification cially-appointed county school inspector and
ished in 1972. Courtesy,
Perkins Bull Collection, than to be able to read and write. An annu- a county-appointed township school inspec-
Archives of Ontario al salary of about $40 tended to discourage tor to promote greater uniformity of educa-
more qualified teaching candidates. Several tional standards.

times a day a teacher would have to pause Compulsory local assessment seems to

from his lessons to chop wood for the stove have had its desired effect as during the
that heated the schoolhouse or to make re- 1840s and 1850s frame schoolhouses were
pairs to the building. As conditions im- built in Burnhamthorpe, Cooksville, Erin-
proved, it became more feasible to hire dale, Streetsville, Port Credit, and Mea-
women teachers, especially since they could dowvale; while brick schoolhouses were
be paid a lower salary. erected in Streetsville, Malton, and Britan-
Generally, the pupils started with the al- nia. The Britannia schoolhouse (which is

phabet and progressed to reading simple still standing) was considered large for its

70
 when quarters of a century. Schoolchildren march be-
time, having an enrollment of eighty
hind the band along Queen
it opened in 1852. By the 1870s one- or Yet another indication of social and cul-
Street north of Thomas
two-room red brick schoolhouses resembling tural progress was the opening of the Farm- Street on Streetsville Fair

the one at Britannia were replacing earlier ers' and Mechanics' Institute, established to day in 1912. From 1858 to
1900 the annual Fall Fair
frame structures in various parts of the promote adult education by offering reading
sponsored by the Toronto
township. A notable exception was the stone material, classes, and lectures on practical Township Agricultural So-
schoolhouse built in Port Credit in the early subjects. By 1859 the library, located in ciety alternated between

John Embleton's had 400 volumes, Streetsville and Cooksville.

1870s. These "country" schools became a store,
Thereafter Streetsville held
central feature of the late nineteenth- and members paid an annual fee
fifty-five
its own fair until the mid-
century rural landscape, and represented a of $1.00 towards the purchase of new books. 1950s. Courtesy, Streets-

significant commitment to education by Women were notably absent among the ville Historical Society

local ratepayers. Depending on their size membership of the institute, and not until
and equipment, they cost about $5,000 to 1883 was a female librarian employed, ob-
$10,000 to build, usually amortized over viously in response to Adam Crooks, minis-
twenty years, and their annual operating ex- ter of education, who in his report two years

penses averaged about $400. In addition, earlier had suggested: "women can be em-
the teachers were markedly better-trained ployed at a far less cost [than the $25 annu-
and better-paid, earning $350 to $400 a al salary already being paid] and they make
year toward the end of the century. excellent librarians." Although still in the

A much-heralded development in educa- dark ages with regards to its view of wom-
tion was the opening of the Grammar en, the institute had built its collection to

School in Streetsville in 1851. Until then over 1,400 volumes. In 1895 the Institute
the expense involved in sending children to became the Streetsville Public Library and

Grammar School in Toronto was usually would become a free library in 1902. The
prohibitive, and children seldom continued Port Credit Library was established in De-
after they finished at the local "common" cember 1896 and charged a fifty-cent mem-
schools. The Streetsville Grammar School bership fee. The library was not free until
would remain the only secondary institution more than half a century later.
in Toronto Township for nearly three- For knowledge of the international, na-

71
M1SSISSAUGA

Right: In December 1896 a

teachers' room at Riverside
Public School in Port Cred-
it was set aside as a library
for six hours a week. The
Port Credit Library was
still located in the school
when this postcard came
out in 1920. Courtesy, Re-
gion of Peel Archives

Below: The T.H. Goodison

store in Streetsville, shown
here circa 1900, was origi-
nally John Embleton's
store, where the reading
room of the Farmers and '

Mechanics' Institute, the

first library in the town-

ship, was located by 1859.
The Goodison store oper-
ated for a half-century.
Courtesy, Streetsville His-
torical Society

tional, and local scene, Toronto Township Township made noteworthy contributions to

residents would read The Streetsville Re- Canadian culture and learning during the
view. Originally known as the Bulletin and nineteenth century. Peter Jones of the Cred-
Semi Weekly Register when founded by it Indian village wrote books on the Ojibway
Jabez Barnhart in 1843, it was transformed Indians. F.A. Verner, born in Sheridan in
into the Weekly Review by Solomon Barn- 1836, was inspired by prominent painter
hart three years later. The newspaper sus- Paul Kane to paint the Canadian landscape,
pended publication in 1866 but was revived notably the foothills of the Rockies. He was
in 1887. Other newspapers which enjoyed a founding member of the Ontario Society
wide circulation in Toronto Township and of Artists in 1872 and was elected an asso-
Streetsville were the Brampton Conservator ciate of the Royal Academy in 1893.

and the Toronto Globe. Charlotte Schreiber, moved in 1882 from

Individuals associated with Toronto her native Colchester, Essex, England, to

72
 AN EVOLVING RURAL SOCIETY

Erindale and lived on what is now a part of against the alleged republicanism of reform-
the Erindale campus of the University of ers like Mackenzie and his followers. The
Toronto. Schreiber became the first woman Barnharts and the Magraths were among
awarded membership in the Royal Canadi- the Orangemen who served during the re-
an Academy. She was the patron of the not- bellion of 1837, and Francis Lundy, grand-
ed Canadian naturalist Ernest Thompson father of Frank Oliver, rallied the Ulstermen
Seton, who once lived in the Erindale area of Derry West.
in addition to spending two years in the Equally important was their social role in

Lome Park area. Indeed, the scenic Credit an age before public assistance programmes.
River valley was a source of inspiration for Orange lodges aided newcomers in adapting
many nineteenth-century artists. to frontier life, encouraged education, and
The society of nineteenth-century Toronto To the
provided relief for the needy.
Township was remarkably homogeneous, Orangeman who fell ill or was injured, his
being predominantly Protestant and over- fellow members would lend a helping hand,
whelmingly British. The non-British popula- perhaps harvesting his crop, cutting fire-

tion was less than 5 percent, and of this wood for winter fuel, or providing food or

group Germans comprised over half and the clothing for his wife and children. If a
Dutch about one-fifth. The strongly British member died, his burial was attended to by
Protestant character of Toronto Township the lodge.
made it fertile ground for the emergence of By the 1860s a number of Orange Halls
the Orange Order as an integral part of had been built throughout the township.
community life. This fervently Protestant They were regarded as social centres used
organization, which for decades had been for entertainment, education, religious ser-
fighting vigorously against Catholics in Ire- vices, militia drills, church socials, and
land, Canada with the
was transported to meetings of agricultural and temperance so-

post- War of 1812 Irish immigration. The cieties. The lodge meetings themselves were
first Orange lodges in Toronto Township a pleasurable evening or day outing. Men
were formed by 1822. Orangemen gathered gathered to exchange news and political
at Thomas Graham's tavern in Grahamsville; views as well as to conduct business. Re-
his brother George started a lodge in Derry freshments were served, and the whiskey in

West; and Henry Rutledge was the driving particular was not spared. The annual July
force behind the lodge in Streetsville, 12th Orange Parade down the main street
donating land for the Orange Hall there. of every sizeable village was an eagerly
Streetsville, in particular, was a hotbed of awaited event. In effect, the Orange lodges
Orangeism with a second lodge starting up of Toronto Township and most rural com-
in 1834 that would eventually merge with munities in Ontario were more like a men's
the Britannia lodge. Besides Rutledge, Dr. social club than a fanatical political and re-

John Barnhart and Reverend Macgeorge ligious movement.

provided sustained leadership for Streetsville Likewise, the temperance societies blend-
Orangemen. Orange lodges were also form- ed religious and social concerns. These orga-
ed in Port Credit in 1834, Churchville in nizations led or influenced by clergymen of
1847, Dixie in 1859, and Cooksville in 1864. evangelical Protestant sects such as Metho-
Because there were relatively few Catho- dists, Baptists, and some Presbyterians
lics in the township over which to maintain waged a vigorous campaign against the evils

a constant vigilance, these Orange lodges of liquor. They were responding to the

adopted different concerns than those of prominence of taverns, which were all too
their overseas brethren. One of these con- often the only places of amusement in pio-

cerns was to defend the British Empire neer settlements. A temperance society was

73
 for those disinclined to consume liquor but
partial to social gatherings.

Those wishing to keep abreast of the lat-

est farming news would attend meetings of

the Toronto Township branch of the Peel
Agricultural Society, which had been orga-
nized in 1853. Several times a year interested
farmers would meet to exchange knowledge
about changing agricultural technology and
to debate issues related to improvement of
farming techniques, livestock breeding, and
crop selection. Advances in farming would
also be displayed at agricultural fairs which
became eagerly anticipated social events. As
early as 1836 annual fairs were being held
(usually in the fall) in Toronto Township,
with the ones in Streetsville and Cooksville
becoming the most prominent and enduring.
They would feature buying, trading, and
showing of livestock, horse racing, ploughing

matches, competitions involving products

such as cheese, maple sugar, fruit, and
vegetables, as well as assorted other amuse-
ments. For young people not yet devoted to
farming, a day at the fair was an excellent
opportunity for courtship, and for those
whose best farming days were behind them,
it was an occasion for meeting old friends
and reminiscing.
As the century progressed, sports became
an increasingly popular source of amuse-
Top: The wooded areas of organized in Streetsville as early as 1831 by ment. The pioneers, of course, lacked the
Toronto Township, particu-
a group of citizens led by Dr. John Crombie, time, equipment, and facilities for organized
larly the Credit River val-
ley and the Lakeshore area who served as the first president. Prayer sports, but they did manifest their competi-
west of Port Credit, were a meetings and lectures had limited appeal for tive spirit through their labour and practical
favorite resort for hunters
the rugged frontiersmen, and the society activities. When faced with raising a shanty
from the city of Toronto
and the local area. Cour- soon died out. But by the late 1840s a new or barn or with felling trees and piling the
tesy,Mildred Belleghem movement called the Sons of Temperance timber for burning, a group of men might
and Region of Peel Ar-
Society was flourishing with branches even- choose up sides and turn such a necessary
chives, Brampton
tually established in Streetsville, Erindale, task into a lively test of physical strength
Above: Mississaugans of Port Credit, Meadowvale, and Churchville. and endurance. Likewise, hunting and fish-
British origin brought soc-
This organization proved to be somewhat ing were both a pastime and a necessity.
cer with them from their
homeland. The Cooksville
more sociable and less sanctimonious than Bears and wolves often threatened livestock
team poses proudly in its predecessor. A number of Temperance and fowl. Bear, deer, duck, and the salmon,
1902. Courtesy, Mildred Halls were built throughout the township, bass, herring, trout, and whitefish that
Belleghem and Region of
and Orange Halls, they were impor-
like the abounded in Lake Ontario as well as the
Peel Archives, Brampton
tantcommunity centres. Temperance society Credit River and Etobicoke Creek added
meetings became a form of entertainment variety to the dinner table. Bare-knuckle

74
 AN EVOLVING RURAL SOCIETY

The Streetsville Thistles

were a well-known baseball
team in Peel County
around the turn of the cen-
tury. Unlike soccer, which
was a British import, base-
ball was imported from the
United States. Courtesy,
Margaret McClintock
Raines and Region of Peel
Archives, Brampton

fisticuffs and wrestling were further tests of ville in particular. Later in the decade base-
strength and "manliness." in addition to ball was brought across Lake Ontario from
breaking up the monotony of farm work. New York; the Brampton Times in July
Gang fights were common in pioneer times, 1868 reported that the home side lost to

often reflecting social or community rivalry; Streetsville 70-9 in a five-inning game.

they gave rise to such notorious and colour- Soccer, another British import, lacrosse, in-

ful local bullies as the "Town Line Blazers" herited from the Indians, and shinny, the
west of Streetsville, the "forty fighting coo- ancestor to ice hockey, were being played in
pers" of Churchville, and the "Derry West the township by the 1880s. The annual
Irish Immigrants." Christmas Day shinny match in Port Credit
Horse racing along rough country roads attracted large crowds who would line the

attracted many spectators and participants. banks of the Credit River to watch competi-
Such races were often the result of private tors from the east side of the river battle

challenges accompanied by wagers involving their counterparts from the west side. Regu-
the horse owners and interested onlookers. larly the communities of Toronto Township
In 1850 a horse owned by William Duck of would challenge each other in the various
Port Credit raced the approximately three team sports with nothing more at stake than
miles from Summerville to Dixie along local pride.

Dundas Street in eighteen minutes to win The pioneer settlers of Toronto Township
the $200 purse. Another of Duck's horses, would surely have been impressed with the
Flossie, won the prestigious Queen's Plate in steady progress of economic, political, and
1871. Trotting races on the ice were also social life during the nineteenth century.

quite popular in Port Credit and Streetsville Yet to the modern resident of Mississauga,
by mid-century. life in the previous century may seem rather
In the second half of the century team simple, slow-paced, even static. Indeed, the
sports made their appearance and inter- pre-urban age of Toronto Township is fasci-

community rivalries developed. Rope-pulling nating to recollect precisely because the

or tug-of-war was the first organized team human achievements that loomed so formi-
competition. By the early 1860s cricket had dable in the past offer such a startling con-
been imported from the mother country and trast to the way Mississaugans now live.

went on to flourish in Erindale and Streets-

75
 Chapter Five

the expanding
Suburban Frontier

headlines in The Streetsville Review for June 16, 1910,

The proclaimed: "Streetsville Getting Popular as Residential

Town" and ""Will Some Day Become Great Suburb of To-

ronto." Another article in the same issue was no less optimistic

about Port Credit's prospects, asserting that "the village is

about to go ahead with a rush" in the wake of "several prop-

erty sales of recent date in this vicinity." These forecasts would

prove prophetic as the automobile and improved roads brought

Toronto residents to the surrounding rural-urban fringe, partic-

ularly after World War I.

The June 16, 1910, issue of The Streetsville Review helps

explain why decades of rural depopulation and concentration of

industry in larger urban centres gave way to the "rush to the

suburbs" as the twentieth century progressed. Streetsville, the

front page article pointed out, offered many of the advantages

of country living. It was "beautifully situated" by the

These cottages on Pond
Street belonged to the
workers of Gooderham and
Worts Meadowvale Mills.
They were already about a
half-century old when this

picture was taken at the

turn of the twentieth cen-
tury. Courtesy, Louise
Southern and the Meadow-
vale Women's Institute
 —
MISSISSAUGA

Right: Ice cutting on the

Credit River was a popular
activity in the days before
refrigerators became a
common household appli-
ance. Blocks of ice, about a
foot thick, would be sawed
out of the river, loaded
onto wagons, hauled to a
nearby icehouse, and
packed in sawdust for even-
tual use during the sum-
mer. Courtesy. Region of
Peel Archives

Below: This 1912 Packard

owned by the St. Lawrence
Starch Company of Port
Credit was probably one of
the first trucks in the area.
The side of the truck ad-
vertises some of the com-

pany's popular products.

Courtesy, St. Lawrence
Starch Company Ltd.

"picturesque" Credit River where "one can years has made rapid progress in the im-
enjoy a few hours of good fishing, a pleas- provement of her roadways —granolithic
ant dip, or paddle two miles up the river walks now replace almost all old time
all of these little things help to make a wooden ones. A municipal electric light
town worth living in." This image was plant with a present capacity of 100 horse-
bound to appeal to many Toronto residents, power . supplies her citizens with light
. .

especially those who had recently migrated and electric energy at six cents per 100 kilo-
from the countryside. With the population watts.

of their city rising from about 86,000 in

1881 to over 522,000 in 1921, an increasing Another article extolling the virtues of Port

number of Torontonians were concluding Credit noted that Lakeshore Road "is in

that urban living was too hectic, over- pretty good condition" after being recently
crowded, and costly. "gravelled and rolled" from Sunnyside (ten
In addition to its rustic charm, a country miles to the east) to beyond the western
village like Streetsville was not lacking in limits of the village.

modern conveniences: Indeed, road improvement was to be the

key factor in promoting suburban develop-
Seven fast express trains each way a day on ment. The traditional road surfaces — dirt,

Canada 's premier line [the CPRJ places her macadam, and gravel —could not withstand

well within the proverbial "Forty minutes of the increasing volume of traffic from the
Broadway. ..." Streetsville [in] the last few heavy automobiles and trucks that appeared

78
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

after the turn of the century. Furthermore,

the deep ruts often formed by the combina-

tion of traffic and wet weather made for a

bumpy ride with considerable wear and tear

on the expensive vehicles. Responding to
growing public demand, the Ontario govern-
ment established a Highway Commission in

1913 (renamed the Department of High-

ways in 1917) to take over the construction
and maintenance of major arterial roads

from the county administration.

The first highway paving project in On-
tario started along Lakeshore Road from
Toronto to Hamilton in 1914 and was com-
pleted through Toronto Township by the
end of the following year. This route, also
known as Highway 2, was particularly busy
during World War I as it linked the leading
centres of war industry. Furthermore, Lake-
shore Road attracted a steady flow of
American tourists who would invariably
stop at the stores, gasoline stations, and
roadside fruit stands of Port Credit and
Clarkson. Within a few years there were
complaints that the cement was cracking
under traffic, and the road had to be

repaved. To relieve the heavy traffic pres-

sure along Lakeshore Road, Dundas Street

was straightened, widened, graded, and
paved shortly after the war ended and be-
Highway By which had inhibited settlement and indus- Top: In 1917 there were
came known as 5. the mid-
few cars on the dirt and
1950s, the continually growing stream of try. In contrast to the centralizing tenden-
gravel roads of Toronto
traffic between Toronto and Hamilton cies of the railways during the second half Township, but these two

prompted the provincial government to un- of the nineteenth century, the new paved cars managed to get in

each other's way. Courtesy,

dertake an even more ambitious transpro- highways fostered a gradual decentraliza-
Dixie-Burnhamthorpe Re-
vincial highway project. When completed tion of people and business activity into union Committee
through Toronto Township in 1937, the smaller towns and villages on the outskirts
Above: During the nine-
King's Highway (later called the Queen of the city.
teenth century Lakeshore
Elizabeth Way) followed the course of the Suburbanization was further aided by the Road was poorly main-
old Middle Road. The new highway had the development of an interurban commuter tained in comparison to

Canada's paved system. In 1905 the Toronto and York Ra- Dundas Street, three miles
distinction of being First
to the north. However, in
four-lane thoroughfare and the first to be dial railways extended a line along the lake-
the early twentieth century
equipped with night lighting. It also includ- shore to the St. Lawrence Starch Company Lakeshore Road came to

ed Canada's first "clover-leaF" highway in Port Credit. The electrically powered rival Dundas Street as a
major thoroughfare. Cour-
crossing at the intersection of recently paved trains, capable of speeds upwards of fifty
tesy, Harold Hare Collec-
Hurontario Street or Highway 10. miles an hour, made it easier for people to tion, Port Credit Public
Improved road travel effectively broke live in Port Credit and commute to work in Library and Region of Peel
Archives, Brampton
down the barriers of distance and isolation the city. Vacationers and tourists to the

79
MISS1SSAUGA

in 1915. The line, with stops at Cooksville,

Britannia, Meadowvale, and Churchville,
was useful in transporting milk from town-
ship farms to the city. However, the return
cargo seldom included more than the empty
milk cans, and thus it was unprofitable and
was dismantled in 1935.
In the final analysis, both radial lines fell

victim to the increasing use of automobiles,

trucks, and buses. After the demise of the
electric railways along the lakeshore, the

TTC continued to provide regular bus ser-

vice from Port Credit to the western end of
the Toronto-bound streetcar line at Long
Branch. By the 1940s private companies
such as Gray Coach Lines were providing
hourly bus service between Toronto and
Hamilton along Lakeshore Road and the
Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). There was
also regular but infrequent bus service to
Brampton along Hurontario Street, to
Streetsville along Mississauga Road, to

Malton along Sixth Line, and to Toronto

along Dundas Street.
Advances in air travel extended suburban
development into the northeastern reaches
of the township. In 1937 the Toronto Har-
bour Commission purchased 1,400 acres of
farmland south of the village of Malton and
constructed an airport. The large, flat, and
open area allowed effective landing from all

directions with ample room for future ex-

pansion, yet it was close to major lines of

Top: Shortly after World Lome Park, Clarkson, and Port Credit area transportation leading to Toronto. The air-
War Dundas Street was
I
also found it convenient to travel by radials. port opened with one non-paved and two
paved, and by 1940
Cooksville was regaining its
Unfortunately the line suffered from a com- paved runways and an old farmhouse which
stature as the leading com- paratively low passenger load in the winter served as a terminal as well as a communi-
mercial centre in the town-
months when the resort areas were closed. cations and weather service building. The
ship. Courtesy, Mildred
Belleghem and Region of In 1917 it was sold to the Ontario Hydro airport became the logical site for an air-
Peel Archives, Brampton Electric Power Commission (now Ontario craft manufacturing plant, and with the
Hydro) which, in turn, sold it to the Toron- outbreak of World War II in 1939, it be-
Above: Canada 's first

"cloverleaf highway cross-

to Transportation Commission (TTC) a de- came a base for the Commonwealth Air
ing was located at the cade later. The TTC decided that the line Training Plan. To facilitate travel between
QEW and Highway 10. was no longer financially feasible and closed the airport and Toronto, Sixth Line was
This circa 1945 photograph
it down and removed the tracks in 1933. paved during the 1940s. Almost overnight
provides an overview of the
still rural area. Courtesy, Meanwhile, a second Toronto Suburban the small farming community of Malton
Mississauga Central Public Railway radial line wound its way toward was transformed into a busy transportation,
Library
Guelph via the Credit River valley starting industrial, and military centre.

80
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

The Port Credit Railway

Station was a stop on the
Great Western Railway
which was incorporated
into the Canadian National
Railway system in 1920.

Courtesy, Region of Peel

Archives

The pre- World War I suburban migration fairs through three elected trustees. Five
focused on communities closer to the city of years later it was incorporated as an auton-

Toronto. Places such as Mimico, New To- omous village with its own municipal coun-
ronto, and Long Branch in southern Etob- cil intitially consisting of Reeve Charles

icoke Township, Swansea on the east side of Elliott and councillors George Gordon, W.T.
the Humber River along the lakeshore, and Gray, and R.W. Lackey.
northern York Township along Yonge Some of the shoppers in Port Credit were
Street were more directly linked to the city summer residents of the nearby holiday re-

by streetcar lines. Toronto Township was sort of Lome Park, which was beginning to
still considered a lengthy and sometimes un- look more like a self-contained community.
comfortable trip along a gravelled Lake- By 1909 there were about twenty-five cot-

shore Road. Besides, the automobile was tages in Lome Park, many of which were
still a "toy of the rich" so that many of the impressive two- or three-storey villas reflec-
earlier suburban migrants were affluent city ting the affluence of their owners. The
dwellers seeking to acquire "country es- small but closely knit community formed a

tates" for summer homes and cottages near Cottagers' Association in order to press the
the western limits of Port Credit as well as private owners of the park complex to pro-

the Lome Park and Clarkson area. vide more services. A succession of private
Port Credit was always busy in the sum- owners had become increasingly lax in

mer with vacationers and sportsmen who maintaining the parkland and roads, and
came to play at the Mississauga Golf and the recent closing of the magnificent Hotel
Country Club or to launch their yachts in Louise was a further indication of neglect.
the harbour. The livery stables and black- Continued dissatisfaction with private own-
smith shops gave way to filling stations and ership prompted six members of the Cot-
grocery stores to accommodate American tagers' Association to buy the parkland and
tourists. With a population exceeding 750 in unsold lots in 1919 and form Lome Park
1909, Port Credit became a police village Estates Limited to manage the affairs of the
and thus had some control over its own af- community. Lome Park remained principal-

81
MISSISSAUGA

Residents and guests at the

Erindale homestead of
Alfred Adamson, Sr., son
of Joseph Adamson, pre-
pare for a garden party to
raise funds for a new organ
at St. Peter's Anglican
Church about 1909. The
housestill stands on Old

Burnhamthorpe Road, now

Burbank Drive. Courtesy,
Adamson Collection and
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

ly a summer cottage area until permanent After World War I the newly paved
settlers began moving in shortly after World Lakeshore Road, the mass production of the
War II. automobile, and the availability of electric
With 100-acre farms reportedly selling railway service induced more Toronto resi-

for $10,000 to $15,000 in 1910, the Clark- dents to build or buy homes more cheaply
son area was also a prime location for a cot- in southern Toronto Township and Port
tage or country estate. For example, Mazo Credit while commuting to work daily in
de Roche spent some of her summers se-
la the city. By 1920 the subdivision of farm-
questered at Trail Cottage amid the beauti- land along the north side of Lakeshore
ful woodland setting of the Birchwood area Road across from the Rifle Ranges led to
of Clarkson where she began to write her the development of a "dormitory" type of
famous Jalna novels in the 1920s. Mean- settlement which became known as Lake-
while east of Port Credit near the township view. Within three years Lakeview had over
border, the Canadian government purchased 300 residents. During the 1920s affluent
360 acres of farmland (including part of the Torontonians continued to establish country
old Cawthra estate) along the south side of estates while middle income business and
Lakeshore Road to establish rifle ranges in professional people built smaller homes
1913 for use by the local militia. The Royal along or near Lakeshore Road in the Port

Air Force opened a Cadet Wing Camp next Credit and Clarkson area as well as along
to the Rifle Ranges five years later. Farm- Mississauga Road and Hurontario Street
land around Cooksville was selling for resi- south of Middle Road. By 1931 the popula-
dential subdivision at $1,600 an acre by tion of Toronto Township was 9,935, Port
1912. The Brampton Conservator December Credit 1,635, and Streetsville 661.
26, 1912, noted: "Evidently Cooksville has Population growth slowed down in the

awakened to the dawn of another and bright wake of severe economic depression in the
day and its further prosperity is almost as- 1930s, although some of Toronto's unem-
sured." The local newspaper in Streetsville ployed moved to the Lakeview area where
reported in 1910 that "many of Toronto's they could build a shack on cheap land and
influential citizens have located within her engage in subsistence gardening. The end of
boundaries during the past couple of years." the Depression and the outbreak of World
In the wake of all this activity, the com- War II brought even more people to Lake-
bined population of Toronto Township and view. In 1940 the Small Arms Company
Streetsville increased by a little over 1,000 opened a factory on the south side of Lake-
between 1901 and 1911. shore Road east of the Rifle Ranges. That

82
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

Autos lined the platform in

1915 as well-wishers
gathered to salute the

Streetsville Volunteers on
their way to the front lines.

Courtesy. Margaret
McClintock Raines and
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

same year the Canadian government erected Cooksville. With a population reaching

army barracks along Lakeshore Road near 3,500, Cooksville had regained its impor-
Dixie Road. Shortly thereafter wartime tance as a local shopping and service centre

housing, including trailercamps and bunga- for the surrounding dormitory settlement.
lows, was built west of the Rifle Ranges Likewise, Port Credit, with a population of
near Cawthra Road for workers at the small 3,643 in 1951, was emerging as the busiest
arms plant. After the war the army bar- retailing centre between Hamilton and To-
racks were used as emergency housing to ronto. South of Clarkson and Lome Park
accommodate the steady flow of people into along the lakeshore, the Meadowood subdi-

the Lakeview area. A number of returning vision with eighty-six building lots opened
war veterans were encouraged to settle in immediately after World War II.

Lakeview when Toronto Township council In the northern part of the township, the

granted them free building lots on Ogden airport and the war promoted suburban
Avenue. By 1950 the Lakeview subdivision growth around Malton. Many of the 900

contained over 9,000 residents, many of workers at the National Steel Car Company
whom were employed in industries in near- aircraft manufacturing plant decided to take

by Long Branch, New Toronto, and Mimico. up residence in the area, resulting in an im-
Meanwhile the QEW stimulated further mediate doubling of real estate values. In
dormitory settlement during the 1940s, no- 1942 the federal government took over the
tably the Birchview and Tecumseh Park National Steel Car operations and renamed
subdivisions northeast of Clarkson as well as it Victory Aircraft Company. The expansion
the Indian Valley Trail subdivision south- of its workforce to nearly 10,000 led to the

west of Cooksville, and the Cloverleaf subdi- development of a subdivision called Victory
vision near Hurontario Street and the Village. Located on the west side of Sixth
QEW. By 1950 newer homes along with Line north of the old village. Victory Vil-
older farmhouses lined Hurontario Street lage contained wartime housing units, a
almost continuously from Port Credit to four-room school, and recreational facilities

83
 ***• '4-^V

*«*** .
' -. .A.*"*,

77i/.s aerial view of the in- for the workers at the aircraft plant. Several the twentieth century. In fact, with the
tersection of Dundas Street
retail stores and a bank were established to opening up of the township by the automo-
and Cawthra Road, looking
southwest, shows the pre- serve the growing community. Malton's pop- bile, many crossroads hamlets ceased to
dominantly rural Dixie ulation which had been about 150 before function as local service centres. Places like
area in 1949. Cherry Hill
the airport opened exceeded 400 by 1950. Derry West, Britannia, Palestine, Mount
can still be seen in its origi-

nal location amid a cluster

There was even a movement growing within Charles, and Grahamsville consisted of little

of trees on the northwest the community, which had been a police vil- more than a store with a gasoline pump,
corner of the intersection. lage since 1914, to secede from Toronto perhaps a church or school still in use, and
Also visible is Cody Tav-
Township. a few farms or a small housing subdivision
ern, the third building east

of Cawthra on the south During the 1940s Streetsville also enjoyed nearby. Elmbank and Richview disappeared
side of Dundas. Courtesy, a growth spurt, and by 1951 its population with the growth of the airport. Along the
Mildred Belleghem and
stood at 1,139. The paving of Mississauga Credit River, Meadowvale still had a couple
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton Road as a county route had much to do of grain mills in operation, a church, a
with the revival of the village's fortunes. school, a train station, and a few shops and
Facing page, top: Em-
The road connected conveniently with Dun- houses whereas Churchville had but a
ployees a t the T. W. Hand
Fireworks plant in Dixie in das Street, Queen Elizabeth Way, and church and some summer cabin facilities to

1945 head for home upon Lakeshore Road, thereby encouraging new indicate that it had ever existed. Even in the
the completion of their
industry to locate in the area. The develop- southern part of the township, the original
shift. The company was

particularly busy during

ment of new subdivisions, however, was re- villages of Dixie, Summerville, Burnham-
World War II when it ulti- stricted by a lack of room for expansion as thorpe, Erindale, and Sheridan were no
mately employed 125 work- the village remained strung out along Mis- longer recognizable as business activity in-
ers, most of whom settled
sissauga Road confined by its nineteenth- creasingly concentrated in the more strate-
in the area to take advan-
tage of cheaper housing. century boundaries. Annexation of new land gically located communities of Port Credit,
Courtesy, DixieBurnham- would be necessary for continued growth. Cooksville, Lakeview, and Clarkson.
thorpe Reunion Committee
Outside of Streetsville and Malton, the Suburban growth stimulated and was
and Region of Peel Ar-
chives, Brampton northern part of the township (just beyond stimulated by the arrival of new industrial
Dundas Street) retained its predominantly enterprises. The Ontario National Brick
rural character throughout the first half of Company led the way, setting up operations

84
 —

V^ ^ t
N
V&
u ** *

^ • 'i

on the north side of Dundas Street west of

Hurontario Street at Mavis Road in 1912.

This location was chosen to take advantage

of a ready supply of shale and clay in the
area as well as the availability of transpor-
tation. By 1922 Cooksville Brick and Tile
had taken over and within twenty-five years
became the largest plant of its kind in Can-
ada.The plant covered almost 300 acres
and employing about the same number of
workers, as many as 80 percent of whom re-

sided in the township. A similar type of en-

terprise, Argo Block, was established along
Dundas Street about a mile east cf Huron-
tario in 1939. In 1950 American-based
Auto Motors, a leading manufacturer of
auto parts, opened a plant employing 150
workers across from Cooksville Brick and
Tile.

A country setting and a convenient loca-

tion attracted the T.W. Hand Fireworks
plant to the Dixie area in 1929. This com-
pany had been operating in the Hamilton
area since the 1870s but was forced to move forces. The plant covered some 100 acres City fire regulations and
lack of room for expansion
because of the city's extensive growth. The and regularly employed about 125 workers,
forced the T. W. Hand
explosive nature of its products meant the three-quarters of whom eventually resided Fireworks Company to
plant had to be located well outside city within the township. move from Hamilton to the

Dixie area in 1929. Cour-

limits but close enough to Hamilton where After the Second World War the federal
tesy, Dixie-Burnhamthorpe
most of the company's skilled workers lived. government leased the Victory Aircraft Reunion Committee
During World War II Hand Fireworks ex- complex at Malton to A.V. Roe Aircraft
panded its operation into military pyrotech- Company which continued to be the leading
nics, producing such items as flairs and employer in the area. In 1949 North Ameri-
smoke generators for use by the Canadian ca's first jet passenger plane — the Jetliner
85
MISSISSAUGA

was produced at the A.V. Roe plant. The

Used in the first feedings and now Small Arms Plant was built at Lakeview to

supply rifles to the Canadian Forces be-

Part of their REGULAR DIET cause of the proximity of the Rifle Ranges,

BEE HIVE GOLDEN CORN SYRUP a growing labour supply, and other war in-

dustries in Toronto and Hamilton. At the

peak of its operation the plant employed as
many as a thousand workers. The plant
closed down after the war, and in 1947 The
Canadian Admiral Corporation, one of the
leading manufacturers of radios and telev-
isions, leased a large part of the floor space.

Dominion Metalware Industries, Ltd., also

took up that location, moving to Port Credit

in 1952.
In Port Credit the St. Lawrence Starch
Company continued to expand its operation
by manufacturing popular products such as
Bee Hive Corn Syrup. St. Lawrence Corn
Oil, and Durham Corn Starch. By 1950 it

was still the village's leading industry em-

ploying 275 workers. With the oil business

beginning to boom because of the increased

use of the automobile, Lloyd's Refinery was

established in 1933 on the site of the old
„ 1(J .j .„,i_..^. : -..- o WHAT IS BEE HIVE?
Port Credit Brickyard which had closed
down in the previous decade. Good Rich Oil

Company purchased the refinery in 1937

and sold it to Regent Oil ten years later. In

BEE HIVE GOLDEN CORN SYRUP 1950 the Diversey Corporation, manufactur-
ers of chemical and sanitation compounds
for industrial use, opened a factory along
Bee Hive Corn Syrup gained Lakeshore Road in the west end of Port
international recognition in
Credit. The factory was described in The
the mid- 1930s as part of
Port Credit Weekly as "one of the most
the regular diet of the fa-
mous Dionne Quintuplets, modern of its type in Canada."
the world's first surviving Even more impressive was the $9-million
quintuplets. Courtesy, St.
complex built by the British American Oil
Lawrence Starch Company
Limited Refinery on a 300-acre site south of Clark-
son in 1943. This lakeshore location offered
access to both water and rail transport,

cheap land with relatively low taxes, and

proximity to a large urban market. By 1950
the refinery, the largest in Canada, had over
500 employees, half of whom resided in the
township. The company had even built over
fifty houses near the complex to accommo-
date its employees.

86
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

In Streetsville, long established Reid decentralization in southern Ontario. A helping hand from sons
and daughters was essential
Milling and McCarthy Flour and Feed Smaller towns and villages on the outskirts
to any family farm. In this
Mills continued to be prominent. The latter of a city offered many of the same advan- circa 1910 photograph

in particular had by 1950 expanded its op- tages as the city itself: good transportation Joseph Goldthorpe's daugh-
ters help harvest the wheat
eration to over forty employees producing facilities, particularly easy access to the
crop on the family farm
pastry flours to be trucked to Toronto. main east-west stream of highway traffic;
south of Dundas Street off
Streetsville Brick began operating in 1911, an abundance of hydro-electric power; and Cawthra Road. Courtesy,
becoming McFarren Brick in 1929. The Do- proximity to a large labour supply and con- Mildred Belleghem and
Region of Peel Archives,
minion Sash Company, which began in the sumer market. In addition, smaller centres
Brampton
mid- 1920s, employed sixty-five workers by had the advantages of more room for expan-
1950. The C.C. Meredith Company (now sion, lower land values and taxes, as well as

CTS of Canada, Ltd.), manufacturers of cheaper living costs for employees, since
specialized electronic equipment, arrived in they could live close to the factory.
1933. By the early 1950s the firm had The presence of a growing urban market
eighty employees and was on its way to be- also gave a considerable boost to agricul-
coming the village's major employer. The ture, the traditional mainstay of Toronto
Graham Bell Enamelling Company, em- Township's enconomy. To serve this urban
ploying ninety workers, opened just after market, farming in the twentieth century
World War II. followed a different course as wheat cultiva-
The location of such a wide range of in- tion declined to a minor role and the north-
dustries in Toronto Township, Port Credit, ern and southern parts of the township each
and Streetsville after World War I was typ- pursued their own areas of specialization.
ical of the general trend toward industrial Dairy farming thrived in the heavy clay

87
MISSISSAUGA

Above: Local farmers ex- soils north of Dundas Street where the major tivation. The range of produce included
amine farm implements be-
portion of occupied farmland was located. small fruits such as strawberries, rasp-
ing auctioned at Pleasant
View farms in Dixie in
Of particular importance was the grazing of berries, and black currants; orchard crops
1948. This farm had been Jersey cattle for breeding and milk produc- such as apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and
operated by the Pallett tion. Accordingly about 40 percent of the grapes; and vegetables such as tomatoes,
family since the 1850s.
township's total acreage was planted in field carrots, potatoes, corn, and asparagus. By
Courtesy, Dixie-Burnham-
thorpe Reunion Committee crops such as hay, oats, and other mixed mid-century, most fruits and vegetables
grains. Scattered throughout the dairy could be picked in the morning and trucked
farming area were orchards, and some along a paved Lakeshore Road or QEW to

wheat and barley were cultivated to supply markets in the Toronto and Hamilton area
the mills at Streetsville. In sharp contrast to by afternoon.
the previous century, these grains occupied As a result, the Clarkson area became
less than 5 percent of the township's total known as the "strawberry kingdom of Can-
acreage by 1950. ada" and eventually developed into a local

Farmers on the sandy soils of the Iroquois collecting and transshipment centre for

Lake plain in the vicinity of Dundas Street small fruits and market garden produce des-
and south to the lakeshore specialized in tined for city markets. With the opening of

fruit and vegetables. Although the farms in Sheridan Nurseries in 1912 the Clarkson
the southern part of the township were de- area also became an important horticultural
clining in size and number to make way for centre. After a long period of decline, the

new residential subdivisions, the proximity Dixie area, because of its convenient loca-
and improved access to an expanding urban tion along a paved Dundas Street likewise
market facilitated this type of intensive cul- emerged as a marketing centre for local

88
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

truck farmers. Roadside stands selling fruit, One of the first signs of impending mod-
vegetables, and flowers were a popular at- ernization in the township was the coming
traction not only for local shoppers but also of hydro-electric power. Electrification be-
for motorists from several miles away. gan in Streetsville where Reeve T.I. Bowie
Poultry farming gained in importance as arranged for the construction of a 190-foot
the century progressed, especially in the dam across the Credit River in 1906. The
lower part of the township. Oak Ridge dam provided a twelve-foot head of water
Farm in Port Credit was recognized as Can- while the old Gooderham and Worts mill

ada's largest poultry farm in 1927 with a was converted into a generating station

total stock of over 23,000. By 1950 six large which was in operation by the following
poultry breeding plants exported prize stock year. Increasing local consumption by 1933
and supplied the local as well as Toronto necessitated the incorporation of this small
markets with fresh eggs and poultry. generating station into the Niagara power
By 1950 Toronto Township, together with system operated by the Ontario Hydro Elec-
Port Credit and Streetsville, was truly a tric Power Commission. Another attempt to

community in transition. The population harness the water power of the Credit River
which had more than doubled in the past was made in 1910 when a private enter-
decade alone had suddenly reached 30,000, prise, the Erindale Light and Power Compa-
the size of a small city. Yet over 55,000 ny, built a 700-foot long dam standing forty
acres or about 85 percent of the total area feet above the riverbed. This venture, locat-
was still occupied farmland. The rapidly ex- ed just north of Dundas Street, failed by

panding suburban frontier south of Dundas 1917, and within five years the Ontario Hy-
Street was clearly distinguishable from the dro Electric Power Commission had taken it

relatively static rural frontier to the north. over and blown up the dam. The commis-
Even in the southern districts, century-old sion supplied the rest of Toronto Township
farms stood side by side with newly built with hydro-electric power when it opened a
housing subdivisions and industrial com- substation at Cooksville in 1912.
plexes, thereby reinforcing the curious blend The supply of water to the township was
of the rural past and urban future. somewhat slower in developing. In 1912
Toronto Township's transition from a ru- watermains and hydrants were installed in

ral to an urban community could also be Streetsville, and the hydro generating sta-

seen in the way people lived and the kinds tion was also used to pump water from the
of services they came to expect. When a Credit River to the households and business
dial telephone system was installed in Port establishments of the village. The village

Credit in 1937 the local newspaper hailed would not have a water filtration plant until

this as an obvious sign of progress: "Port 1946. The Port Credit waterworks system
Credit will have a telephone service compa- supplied by Lake Ontario was built in 1923,
rable in ease, speed and dependability with although the water filtration plant was not
that of large cities like Toronto and Hamil- completed until 1932. In the early 1930s the
ton." By mid-century the lifestyle of the township began to install watermains along
large majority of people in the township and Hurontario Street as far north as Middle
associated villages could best be described Road whenever residents agreed to assume
as "semi" urban. Life was still suspended the cost through a local improvement tax
between the rural world of the past and the levy. The rest of the township continued to
urban world that had been unfolding in To- rely on outdoor wells usually equipped with
ronto and Hamilton for quite some time and electric pumps to feed water indoors. Dur-
which was heading rapidly towards Toronto ing the 1940s serious water shortages were
Township. a fact of life because of the increasing de-

89
MISSISSAUGA

By the end of World War mands of new industries and homes. By burying your tin cans, etc., in your back-
II roadside markets selling
1950 the Port Credit waterworks system yard or probably throwing them over in
fruit, vegetables, and flow-
ers were common sights, had been expanded to a capacity which your neighbour's lot, as it occasionally
particularly along Dundas could supply a population of 10,000. In the happens, will soon be o'er." Burning or
Street in Dixie and
following year a S1.5-million waterworks burying garbage remained in practice
Cooksville as well as along
project was inaugurated that would be capa- throughout the rest of the township. By
Lakeshore Road in the

Clarkson area. Courtesy, ble of serving the entire township. 1943 petitions for garbage collection were
Mildred Belleghem and Sanitation measures were still in their in- circulated in the more heavily populated
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton
fancy at mid-century. Streetsville and Port Lakeview and Cooksville areas. An article

Credit were only beginning to install sani- in The Port Credit Weekly complained that
tary sewers and sewage disposal plants in it was "a menace to the health of the chil-

the late 1940s. There was talk about the dren to have garbage lying around to gather
needs for sewers in the rest of the township, germs." Within two years most of the
but for the most part septic tanks were still southern part of the township enjoyed week-
employed and even the outdoor privy had ly garbage collection, while the northern
not completely disappeared. districts, aside from Streetsville and Malton,
Weekly garbage collection was inaugu- would have to wait until the next decade.

rated in Port Credit in 1928 prompting the Township and village roads also reflected

local newspaper to remark: "The days of the coexistence of the rural and urban way

90
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

of life by 1950. While almost seventy miles One obvious sign that the rural age was
of road, mostly the main arteries, were coming to an end was the passing of the
paved, there were still over two hundred one- or two-room country schoolhouse. A
miles surfaced in gravel and about fifty in growing population, in addition to the pass-

dirt. Increased traffic along with a growing ing of the Adolescent School Attendance
population brought demands for greater po- Act which extended the age of compulsory
lice protection. A petition from Port Credit schooling from fourteen to sixteen in 1921,
businessmen and residents in 1930 urged significantly increased the number of chil-

that a second police officer be hired to di- dren attending school in the township. Con-

rect traffic and patrol streets at night, but sequently, from 1920 to 1924 no less than
village council decided that one officer was eight multi-room public schools were built

sufficient. A second full-time constable had in the township at a total cost of $390,000;
been added by 1944. and by the early 1950s not surprisingly seven of these schools were
the force consisted of four men. located in the southern part of the township
Toronto Township was served by county (including Port Credit) while the other was
constables until 1928 when the first town- in Malton. The extension of the compulsory
ship constable was appointed on a part-time school age also necessitated improvements
basis. Until 1945 the Toronto Township Po- in secondary education. Until the opening of
lice Department consisted of two constables, the two-room Forest Avenue Continuation
one to patrol the area south of Dundas School in Port Credit in 1917, students in
Street, the other to patrol the vast rural the township had to travel to Streetsville,
north. The police chief reported in 1950 Brampton, or Etobicoke for a secondary ed-
that the force had eleven members, two ucation. In 1928 another two rooms were
cruisers, and was hoping to get radio equip- added to the recently built Cooksville Public

ment in the following year. School to serve as a continuation school.

Firefighting remained strictly a voluntary The marvel of the age was the lavishly

function. By 1930 the township's fire equip- equipped Port Credit High School which
ment consisted of two cars belonging to vol- opened on Forest Avenue in 1930. This new
unteer firemen, and three extinguishers with building which cost $190,000 included ten
a capacity of two and a half gallons; there classrooms, two science laboratories, a li-

were still no hydrants anywhere in the brary, a large gymnasium, and an auditori-

township. Moreover, township firefighters um capable of seating 400. It seemed a

relied on help from the two-year-old but giant step forward from the days of the
better equipped Port Credit fire brigade country schoolhouse, but within three years
which in turn charged the township thirty- the enrollment stood at 360, and complaints
five dollars for attending fires. Private dona- were being made that the facility was over-
tions and proceeds from dances enabled the crowded.
township fire brigade to purchase a 1928 The education boom in the township
Model T Ford truck in 1936 and a 1929 would accelerate during the 1940s. By 1950
Chevrolet truck in 1942. Thereafter, town- over 7,000 children were attending eighteen
ship council provided the necessary fire public schools in Toronto Township, Port
equipment, although community fire halls Credit, and Streetsville. Among the largest

were still built by volunteer labour. By 1950 of the several public schools built or en-
the voluntary brigades of Cooksville, Lake- larged within the past five years were the
view, Port Credit, and Streetsville were each fourteen-room Cooksville Public School, the
about twenty men strong while smaller sixteen-room Queen Elizabeth Public School
forces had been formed in Malton, Church- in the Cloverleaf subdivision, and the ten-
ville, and Clarkson-Lorne Park. room Lakeview Central School, billed in

91
MISSISSAUGA

Right: The two-room For-

est Avenue Public and
Continuation School
opened in Port Credit in
191 7. It operated as a Con-
tinuation School until the
Port Credit High School
opened in 1930. Forest Av-
enue Public School was
eventually expanded and
continued to operate until
well into the 1970s. Cour-
tesy, Harold Hare Col-
lection, Port Credit Public
Library and Region of Peel
Archives, Brampton

Below: The Cooksville Pub-

lic and Continuation
School, built in 1921, was
expanded to fourteen rooms
by the late 1940s. Cour-
tesy. Mildred Belleghem

and Region of Peel Ar-

chives, Brampton

92
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

The Port Credit Weekly of October 1 2. funds. With the help of federal and provin-
1950, as "one of Ontario's most modern cial government grants-in-aid, local authori-

public schools." Another significant develop- ties endeavoured to provide some of the
ment was the opening in 1948 of the town- unemployed with work repairing roads and
ship's first separate school, the two-room installing watermains for which they were
Our Lady of the Airways Catholic School in paid thirty cents an hour. Lakeview workers
Malton. The old Streetsville Grammar protested that forty cents an hour was
School and the Cooksville Continuation required to maintain a subsistence living
School were closed down in 1 950, and the standard, and the Lakeview Workers' Asso-
students were transferred to the expanded ciation was formed in 1931 to discuss the
Port Credit High School. problems of workingmen and the unem-
Whereas local taxpayers were willing to ployed.
accept the high cost of education as a On the other hand, township council was
"necessary evil," they were less certain beseiged by complaints from farmers in the
about social concerns. Municipal expendi- northern districts who resented paying taxes
tures on social services were not substantial for unemployment relief. "We don't want
by 1950 as the full impact of the welfare these young lads talking this Communist
state had not yet hit the township. Only piffle" was one farmer's response to the

during the Depression of the 1930s when Lakeview workers' demands. Reeve Leslie
unemployment exceeded 20 percent of the Pallet agreed, noting on December 1931
labour force did the provision of public "Social Service is the duty of the Church."
welfare become a costly and controversial The issue came to head in May 1933 when
matter. A rural community like Toronto Lakeview relief workers refused to work for

Township had been unaccustomed to coping seventeen and a half cents an hour, which
with mass unemployment and the conse- was all a financially hard pressed council

quent need for public relief, since the large claimed it could afford to pay. On May 9,

majority of its inhabitants could at least 325 relief workers staged a strike which
maintain a subsistence living on the farm in ended in failure after three weeks. This epi-
times of economic adversity. sode exemplified the emerging clash of in-

Hardest hit by unemployment were Lake- terests between the northern farmers who as
view residents, many of whom worked in the major property owners had to bear the
Toronto where firms tended to lay off sub- larger burden of municipal taxation and the
urban workers first because they would not southern wage earners whose growing pres-
be a relief charge to city taxpayers. More- ence necessitated an expansion of municipal
over, township officials complained "Toronto services.

unemployed have very recently moved into Recreation was another public service
this township and are already seeking which received little attention prior to 1950.
aid" and that Lakeview in particular was There had always been such an abundance
"becoming the asylum for all and sundry of wide open space in the township that
who are driven from other places." Conse- public concern over parks and recreational
quently, nearly 800 people were registered facilities did not seem warranted. By the
on the relief rolls of the Lakeview Welfare late 1930s the township had five privately-

Board in January 1933. Welfare boards or owned golf courses, including the Missis-
committees, comprised of representatives sauga Golf and Country Club, which boasted
from local churches and charities, had been over 800 members and would often host the
established to assist the township council in Canadian Open golf tournament. The Port
raising private charitable donations and in Credit Yacht Club opened in 1936, and the
administering relief work and direct relief Port Credit Regatta became an annual Do-

93
MISSISSAUGA

minion Day event. Near its plant, the St.

Lawrence Starch Company operated St.

Lawrence Park where it built Canada's

largest outdoor public skating rink in 1939.

Not to be outdone, a group of Cooksville

businessmen constructed an outdoor public
skating rink complete with recorded music.
In 1947 the Toronto Township Hockey
League was formed, and within three years
it had grown to over forty-five teams with
over 800 members playing at different ages

and levels of competition. Community rival-

ry was featured with teams from Cooksville,

Lakeview, Malton, Streetsville, Dixie, Lome
Park, Erindale, Burnhamthorpe, and Port
Credit. The league received a considerable
boost with the opening of Dixie Arena in

1949. Built at a cost of $150,000, the arena

had a seating capacity of over 3,000 and its

ice surface was exceeded in size only by

Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. That local
government was beginning to take a more
active interest in recreational concerns was
indicated by the establishment of the Toron-
to Township Department of Recreation in

1947.
Other signs of modernization abounded.
The headline in The Port Credit Weekly of
November 23, 1937, announced: "Scores
Turned Away at Opening of New Theatre."
The 500 patrons who did manage to gain
admisssion to the Vogue Theatre, the area's
first movie house, were treated to a feature

film in "technicolor" titled "God's Country

and the Woman" starring George Brent and
Beverley Roberts. The Roxy Theatre opened
in Cooksville in 1951. That same year Lob-
laws, one of Canada's largest retail grocery
firms, announced plans to open an "ultra- more, a $150,000 addition to the Municipal
modern" store in Port Credit. Port Credit Hall in Cooksville had been approved by
and Toronto Township were in the midst of council. To control all this building activity
a construction boom as over fourteen million and the subdivision of land, the Toronto
dollars worth of building permits were is- Township Planning Board was formed by
sued in 1951, about six times more than the council in 1949.
amount issued five years before. Included in Because the pace of economic and social

this boom were three Port Credit apartment change had accelerated only in the past five

buildings which inaugurated a new age of years or so, the residents of Toronto Town-
highrise living in south Peel region. Further- ship, Port Credit, and Streetsville were still

94
 THE EXPANDING SUBURBAN FRONTIER

Ontario Premier Leslie

Frost presides over the
opening of Dixie Arena in
1949. The area's first arena
gave a considerable boost
to the Toronto Township
Hockey League (now the
Mississauga Hockey
League) which has become
the second largest minor
hockey operation in North
America. Mississauga's
premier hockey team, the
Dixie Beehives, has won
four Ontario Hockey Asso-
ciation Junior B and Tier 2
Junior A titles in addition
to producing over fifty

players for the National

Hockey League. Courtesy,
Region of Peel Archives,
Brampton

inclined to perceive their existence in rural

terms by the middle of the twentieth cen-
tury. They were scarcely aware that their
community stood on the threshold of rapid
and massive urbanization which would all

but obliterate its rural past. In retrospect,

the first half of the century had been a pre-
lude to the emergence of the modern city of

Mississauga.

95
 Chapter Six

j^_

The Modern City

TXkes Shape

the second half of the twentieth century Toronto Town-

In ship, Port Credit, and Streetsville enjoyed steady and

sometimes explosive growth which transformed them from

cozy suburban communities into one "big" city. Since 1950 the

population of the city of Mississauga has increased by about

twelve times, the number of industries by over sixty times, and

the annual value of new construction by nearly ninety times.

The initial attraction of Mississauga for many families was

the availability of affordable homes on spacious lots in well-

planned neighbourhoods of shopping centres, schools, churches,

and recreational facilities. Businesses and developers were lured

to the area by the abundance of reasonably priced land for in-

dustrial and commercial expansion close to the major traffic

arteries. In addition receptive municipal administrations of-

fered industry lower taxes and easier terms for building permits.

The new factories, shopping plazas, and office complexes

Clearing the land of its

trees again became a major

preoccupation in Toronto
Township with the rise of
the planned residential-
industrial subdivision in the
1950s and 1960s. In this

early 1 950s photograph the

orchards of the Robinson
farm make way for Apple-
wood Acres. Courtesy, Re-
gion of Peel Archives,
Brampton
Above: This housing subdi-
vision encroaching upon
farmland is a typical sight
inmodern Mississauga.
This barn has become a ca-
sualty of this Erin Mills
subdivision. Courtesy, Pro-
fessor Thomas Mcllwraith
Collection

Right: The Mississauga

TransitSystem was in-
aguratedin 1969 when
Charterways Ltd., with an
initial fleet of four buses,
was granted an exclusive
municipal franchise to pro-
vide service for the whole
town. Since becoming a
public utility in 1973, Mis-
sissauga Transit has grown
to encompass a fleet of 1 70
vehicles carrying over six-
teen million passengers a
year along thirty routes. In-
cluded in its fleet are artic-
created more jobs and therefore attracted only those which provided for internal ser-
ulated buses like the one
shown here. Courtesy, Mis- more people to Mississauga. Inevitably, the vicing of roads, sidewalks, hydro, water, and
sissauga Central Public Li- sudden transition to city stature introduced sewers. As competition among developers
brary
a host of concerns related to controlling ur- escalated, later projects weremade more at-
ban sprawl, providing the most up-to-date tractive by the inclusion of schools, churches,

public services for a constantly expanding parks, and community centres.

and diverse society, and fostering a greater Applewood Acres, among the earliest of
sense of community identity within such a the modern subdivisions in Toronto Town-
vast geographical area. ship, was established in 1952 on the QEW

The seeds of Mississauga's dynamic in the Dixie Road area. By 1955 G.S. Shipp

growth were sown in the 1950s with the and Son, Ltd., had built some 850 homes
emergence of planned residential and indus- and the Applewood Village shopping plaza.
trial subdivisions. Whereas previous subdivi- The firm then purchased the 165-acre
sions were small, random collections of homestead of former Ontario premier
homes built on lots carved out of recently Thomas L. Kennedy at the northeast corner

sold farmland, the new planned communi- of Dundas Street and Tomken Road to de-
ties included residential as well as commer- velop the Applewood Heights subdivision,
cial and industrial components. Moreover, which included 550 homes, a school, and a
local authorities increasingly attempted to large industrial site. Meanwhile, the Or-
control development projects by approving chard Heights subdivision on the QEW in

98
 —
THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

the Dixie Road area had been developed by accommodate a population of about 8,000.
1956. Only half the size of neighbouring By 1961 Toronto Township's population
Applewood Acres, it boasted one of Cana- was approaching 63,000. Throughout the
da's largest shopping centres, Dixie Plaza decade plans for residential-industrial subdi-

(now Dixie Mall); and one of its earliest visions abounded. In 1966, for example, fif-

residents was Marilyn Bell, who moved ty proposals for subdivisions, ranging from 5
there in 1955 shortly after her historic swim to 200 acres, were submitted to the Toronto
across Lake Ontario. Township Planning Board for consideration.

By the late 1950s, two subdivisions were By far the most ambitious and elaborate de-
being developed in the Streetsville area velopment scheme was introduced in 1968
Vista Heights to the west of the old village after years of deliberation and speculation.
and Riverview Heights to the north. These The vast area bounded by Dundas Street to

developments helped to raise Streetville's the south, the Credit River to the east,
population to over 5,000 by 1961. In Mal- Steeles Avenue to the north, and Ninth
ton the Ridgewood and Marvin Heights Line to the west was earmarked for develop-
subdivisions northeast of the old village pro- ment as two contiguous planned communi-
vided over 1,000 homes mostly for workers ties that would each form "a city within a

at the aircraft manufacturing plant. All city." The southern community, known as

these developments seemed rather modest Erin Mills, covered 7,000 acres purchased a
when compared to Erindale Woodlands on decade earlier by the noted Canadian entre-
the east side of the Credit River. This 468- preneur E.P. Taylor, who also developed

acre, $35-million project opened in 1957 Don Mills northeast of Toronto in the mid
and was designed to have nearly 800 homes, 1950s. The northern community, to be

over 600 apartment and multiple dwelling called Meadowvale, covered over 3,000
units, 150 acres of industrial buildings, a acres owned by Markborough Properties.
sizeable shopping plaza, and its own water The original prospectus called for comple-
purification and sewage treatment plant. tion of the two communities in fifteen years
Within six years, Erindale Woodlands had at a cost of $1.25 billion; Erin Mills was ex-

close to 8,000 residents and was being ex- pected to accommodate over 150,000 people
panded to house another 4,000. and Meadowvale about half that number.
Equally ambitious was the Park Royal The Erin Mills Parkway was approved by
subdivision located south of the QEW and Mississauga council in 1970 to extend from
northwest of Clarkson. Sponsored by the the QEW Highway 401 running through
to

United Land Corporation, this project en- the northern part of the city. As the 1970s
compassed a 300-acre industrial side, resi- progressed, it became obvious that the pro-
dential units for some 3,500 families, 36 jections for these communities were overly
acres for schools, 5 acres for churches, and ambitious. Despite the slower pace of devel-
additional acreage for parks and recreation- opment, by 1984 Erin Mills' population was
al facilities, a community centre, and a estimated at 25,000 while over 30,000 peo-
large shopping plaza. All hydro and tele- ple lived in Meadowvale.
phone cables were underground, and the site The popularity of the planned communi-
had its own $ 1 .3-million sewer system. ties, particularly those in southern Missis-
When it opened in 1958, Park Royal was sauga, was enhanced by improved commuter
hailed as "the most modern pre-planned transportation. The Metropolitan Toronto
townsite in Canada, even the North Ameri- and Region Transportation Study reported
can continent." North of Park Royal on in 1965 that only 158 commuters daily were
Dundas Street, the $35-million Sheridan using the CNR service from Port Credit to

Homelands project was launched in 1965 to Toronto. Following the study's proposal for

99
M1SSISSAUGA

a high-speed commuter train system, the

Government of Ontario inaugurated GO
Transit in May 1967. Henceforth, Missis-
sauga commuters could board hourly trains
at stations in Long Branch, Port Credit,
Lome Park (closed for lack of use in 1968),

and Clarkson. At speeds of up to sixty-five

miles an hour, commuters could be comfort-

ably transported to downtown Toronto in
less than half an hour.
Less than 10 percent of Mississauga's
commuters travel by GO Transit, however,
as the automobile is still by far the pre-
ferred means of interurban transportation.
Therefore, highway improvement continues
to be an important factor in Mississauga's
extraordinary population growth. The wid-
ening of Lakeshore Road to four lanes in

1967 and the QEW to a six-lane expressway

by 1970, as well as the construction of the
Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway 401)
by the late 1950s, has made Toronto even
more accessible. Likewise, north-south trav-

el has been greatly enhanced by the post-

1963 expansion of Hurontario Street to four

lanes, the 1971 widening of Highway 427 to

six lanes, and the construction of the Erin

Mills Parkway. To a large extent, Missis-
sauga remains a city built with the automo-
bile in mind.
While the proximity to Toronto is still a

stimulus to population growth, Mississauga

has emerged as a major business centre in

its own right. In 1953 Toronto Township

had 34 industries; by 1984 over 2,000 man-
ufacturers were located in the city of Mis-
sissauga.The city has over 9,000 businesses
employing more than 175,000 workers.
Once again, the major impetus for indus-
trial and commercial growth can be traced
back to the early 1950s. Toronto Township's
first Official Plan in 1953 designated almost
6,000 acres as strictly industrial subdivisions

to be serviced over the next twenty years.

Township council appointed the first Indus-
trial Committee headed by an industrial

commissioner, William Courtney, whose

main function was to promote the township

100
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

Facing page, top: Highrises

dominate this April 1968
view of Lakeshore Road
east of the Credit River in
Port Credit. Courtesy,
Harry Warren Collection,
Port Credit Public Library
and Region of Peel Ar-
chives, Brampton

Facing page, bottom: The

on the expanded
traffic flow

QEW. shown here looking

west at Cawthra Road, is
being directed increasingly
toward Mississauga as well
as toward Toronto. Cour-
tesy, Mississauga Central
Public Library

Left: St. Lawrence Cement

Company opened a $27-
million plant in Clarkson in
1956. It was Canada's larg-

est cement manufacturing

plant and was reputed to

as a favourable industrial location. officially opened in 1962, the station was re- have the tallest smokestack
in the entire British Com-
The first industrial subdivision to be pro- puted to be the world's largest thermal elec-
monwealth and Empire.
moted was the Dixie Industrial Area, a 900- tric generating plant. The twenty-storey Courtesy, Mississauga Cen-
acre site south of Dundas Street in the plant, with its 2,000-foot dock extending out tral Public Library

Cawthra and Dixie road area. Within two into the lake, cost over $250 million to

years, 750 acres had been sold to twenty- build.

five industrial firms, and by 1957 it was Sheridan Park Research Centre, one of
expanded to include 700 acres north of the world's largest industrial research com-
Dundas Street. plexes, opened in 1964 between the Park
Meanwhile the Clarkson Industrial Devel- Royal and Sheridan Homelands subdivision.
opment began in 1955 in conjunction with Situated on a beautifully landscaped 360-
the United Land Corporation's Park Royal acre site, the Sheridan Park complex was
subdivision. Already located in the area the brainchild of the Ontario Research
were National Sewer Pipe Company which Foundation which moved into its own $7.5-

had built a $1 .3-million factory in 1953 million facility there in 1967. It was joined
and the British American Oil Refinery (now four years later by Canada Systems Group
Gulf Oil Canada, Ltd.) which undertook a which opened a $21 -million computer centre
$56-million expansion programme in the employing over 300 workers.
mid-1950s. In 1956 St. Lawrence Cement In the early 1970s large firms began mov-
Company opened Canada's largest cement ing into the industrial subdivisions opening
manufacturing plant valued at twenty-seven up in northern Mississauga. For example.
million dollars. Chrysler Canada, Ltd., built a huge parts
Toronto Township purchased the 400-acre warehouse in the new Meadowvale Business
Rifle Ranges from the federal government Park that employed 300 workers. At the
and the city of Toronto for development as same location. Control Data Canada, Ltd.,

an industrial site in 1958. Later that year. erected an $1 1.4-million plant employing
Ontario Hydro began construction of the 600, the same number as are employed at
Lakeview Generating Station there. When it the nearby Dupont Canada, Inc., facility.

101
MISSISSAUGA

People marvel at the Avro To the east, the Dixie Industrial Area has build up the work force to 2,000 by 1984.
Arrow as it rolls out of the
been extended northward beyond Eglinton Furthermore, Hawker-Siddeley Canada,
hangar at Malton Airport
for the first time in 1957. Avenue. The major employer in that vicinity Ltd., has continued to operate the Orenda
The cancellation of the su- is the $67-million Gateway Postal Facility Engine manufacturing plant which employs
personic fighter jet by the
with over 3,000 workers. over 800 workers. The federal government
Diefenbaker administration
led to the demise of A. V.
Amid the constant influx of new indus- also provided additional employment oppor-
Roe Company which had tries were some noteworthy departures from tunities by investing billions of dollars to
employed up to 22.000 the local scene. Certainly the darkest mo- expand Pearson International Airport. Can-
workers. From Avro Arrow,
ment in Mississauga's industrial develop- ada's premier air transportation facility now
Boston Mills Press
ment was the demise of A.V. Roe Company employs over 10,000 workers.
in Malton. During the 1950s the aircraft The federal government also endeavoured
plant was the largest in the British Com- to revive Port Credit harbour in the late

monwealth employing upwards of 22,000 1950s with a $4.5-million harbour recon-

workers. When the Canadian government struction programme. In 1962 the Depart-

cancelled the supersonic CF 105 Arrow ment of Public Works leased the harbour to

Fighter contract in 1959 about 15,000 Canada Steamship Lines, and for the rest of

workers lost their jobs. The cancellation of the decade Port Credit returned to promi-

the "Avro Arrow" was a severe financial nence as a shipping centre. By 1967 over
blow to the A.V. Roe Company, and shortly 200 ships were docking at Port Credit, and
thereafter the plant was sold to McDonnell- over three million tons of coal destined for
Douglas Canada, Ltd., who were able to the nearby Lakeview Generating Station

102
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

were being handled. Unfortunately, Canada

Steamship Lines closed the dock in 1972,
leaving nearly 200 people out of work.
Port Credit suffered another loss when
Texaco Canada, Inc., which purchased the
old Regent Oil refinery in 1959, decided in
1978 to move its operation to a new refinery

in Nanticoke. The Canadian Admiral Cor-

poration, which had moved to Port Credit

from Lakeview in 1951, went out of busi-

ness in 1981, leaving 650 jobless. Missis-
sauga lost two other longtime enterprises
when Cooksville Brick and Tile Company
closed down in 1970 and Hands Fireworks,
Inc., moved to the Milton area in 1963 be-
cause the Dixie area was becoming too built
up for the operation of an explosives facto-
ry. The departure of any of these industries
would surely have dealt a crippling blow to

the economy of old Toronto Township. But

with its rapidly expanding and diversified
industrial base, the modern Toronto Town-
ship and later Mississauga was well-equipped
to cope with the occasional setback.
Furthermore, the south Peel region has
become a hub of commercial activity since

the early 1950s. Thousands of local resi-

dents turned out to experience the novelty

of shopping at themodern Loblaws store in

Port Credit on opening day in November

1952. They were likewise excited by the
opening, making McDonnell-Douglas Can-
opening of the Lome Park Shopping Centre za at the time of its it a
ada Ltd., the successor to
six months later. The township's first shop- busy regional commercial centre and a con-
A. Roe Company at
V.

ping plaza, which cost $300,000 to build, venient alternative to downtown Toronto Malton, is still among Mis-
boasted a supermarket, a department store, shopping. Over the next decade several sissauga 's largest em-
ployers. Courtesy, Region
a theatre, a bowling alley, a post office, a smaller plazas sprouted up in various new
of Peel Archives, Brampton
drugstore,and a few smaller shops. But its subdivisions. By 1967 enclosed shopping
prominence would be short-lived; the $2- centres were in vogue as the Westdale Mall
million Applewood Village shopping centre opened in Erindale Woodland. With fifty

with twenty-five stores opened in 1955. The stores and services, it was advertised as the

following year, the $3.5-million Dixie Plaza largest shopping centre between Toronto
with thirty-three stores opened on a forty- and Hamilton. Two years later Sheridan
six-acre site. Mall and Westwood Mall in Malton opened,
The rise of the multi-acre shopping plaza each eventually offering over eighty stores
went hand in hand with highway improve- and services.

ment and the emergence of the planned res- The ultimate in shopping malls would be
idential subdivision. Over 140,000 people Square One, which originated as part of a

lived within a ten-minute drive of Dixie Pla- plan devised by S.B. McLaughlin Asso-

103
MISSISSAUGA

ciates, Ltd., to develop a "City Centre" at creasingly reciprocal nature of the metropo-
Burnhamthorpe Road and Hurontario lis-hinterland relationship. Torontonians are

Street. The project culminated in 1973 with becoming more inclined to travel to Missis-

the opening of Canada's largest shopping sauga to work, transact business, and shop.
centre —and the third largest in the world. Between 1981 and 1983 more than 70,000
With 165 stores and services, parking for full-time jobs were eliminated in metropoli-
6,700 cars, and a price tag well in excess of tan Toronto while nearly 20,000 jobs were
twelve million dollars. Square One symbol- created in Mississauga from 1982 to 1984.
ized the magnitude of Mississauga's com- Many corporate headquarters have been at-
mercial growth since the opening of the tracted to Mississauga's prestigious business
Lome Park Plaza two decades before. By parks and to City Centre office devel-
1986 Square One will have an additional opments. And for Torontonians with easy
120 stores at a cost of thirty million dollars. access to the QEW or Highway 401, a
Of course, Mississauga's explosive demo- shopping excursion to Square One can take
graphic and economic growth has fostered a less than half an hour, with less traffic con-
flourishing construction industry. Over 80 gestion and parking difficulties than is asso-

percent of the city's nearly 120,000 private ciated with driving in Metro.
dwellings, ranging from elegant estate Mississauga's economic future points to a
homes to modern highrise apartments, have more balanced interdependence with Metro-
been built since 1961. Furthermore, the to- politan Toronto which will all but obliterate

tal annual value of building permits issued the old metropolis-hinterland relationship.

by Toronto Township and later Mississauga Furthermore, Mississauga is becoming a

rose from seven and a half million dollars in regional metropolitan centre for Peel and

1950 to a peak of $661.5 million in 1981; perhaps the eastern part of neighbouring
even with inflation, these increases are ex- Halton Region. The completion in 1981 of

ceptional. Highway 403 to link the QEW, the new

With all this activity, Mississauga has City Centre, and Highway 401 has rein-
emerged as a major centre of employment. forced Mississauga's strategic position at
Mississauga businesses employ approximate- the hub of a burgeoning north-south flow of
ly 80,000 local residents and 95,000 com- commerce and industry. In an economic

muters, over half of them coming from sense at least, Mississauga would seem to
metropolitan Toronto. On the other hand, merit its self-proclaimed designation as

about 80,000 Mississaugans work in Metro "tomorrow's city today."

Toronto and 20,000 commute elsewhere. In With large scale demographic and eco-
sharp contrast to the pre- 1950 era, a fairly nomic growth came an expansion in the
even flow of commuter traffic both into and scope of local politics and administration.
out of Mississauga takes place daily. Ac- Prior to the 1950s township and village poli-

cordingly, the image of Mississauga as a tics was a part-time preoccupation in which

commuter settlement or a bedroom suburb officeholders fulfilled an essentially care-

of Toronto is no longer appropriate. Missis- taking rather than policy-making role.

sauga is indeed a city that can control its Reeves, deputy reeves, and councillors were
own economic destiny, judging by not only for the most part acclaimed to office, and
the number and variety of businesses but the relatively few contested annual elections

also their size. The city has become a haven were apt to be based on personalities rather
for small business, most with less than 300 than issues. In a small rural community or
employees, and no single company has been even a growing semi-urban one, the princi-
able to dominate the economic climate. pal concern of a political candidate was to

This state of affairs also suggests the in- keep property taxes as low as possible.

104
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

was far outpacing the infu- Toronto Township Council

Previous success in business or farming pecially schools,
in 1950 consisted of (left to
was considered the key qualification for po- sion of new industry.
right) Anthony Adamson, a
litical office. Politicians were seldom faced Furthermore, the rural background of councillor who would serve

with issues that would dramatically alter most of the local elected representatives as reeve in 1953 and 1954;
Allan Van Every, a coun-
the destiny of their township or village be- kept them from seeing the new direction
cillor; J. Herbert Pinchin, a
cause municipal budgets were small and the that township administration had to take. former reeve and long-time
functions of government fairly limited and Such were the findings of the Provincial- clerk of the township; D.S.
Dunton, the reeve; Lloyd
straightforward. Municipal Audit Report prepared by the
Herridge, the deputy reeve;
After 1950, however, circumstances in- public accounting firm of John S. Entwhistle and Sidney Smith, a coun-
creasingly required local politicians to make & Company and released in November cillor who would serve as

1952. Undertaken in response to the vigor- reeve in 1951 and 1952.

decisions upon which the future develop-
Courtesy, Anthony
ment of their community hinged. In 1952 ous public outcry over soaring township
Adamson
many township residents were hit with exor- taxes, the Entwhistle report emphasized the
bitant property tax increases, ranging from need for industrial reassessment, better
80 to 300 percent over the previous year. planning and development of subdivisions
Some of this tax hike was endemic of sub- and the provision of essential services for

urban living. The commuting taxpayers them, as well as more efficient organization

wanted to maintain the tranquility of the of township administration. In the local

rural existence but with all the urban con- election campaign conducted the following

veniences: modern schools easily accessible month, candidate Anthony Adam-

for reeve

on concrete sidewalks, better surfaced, well- son contended "the township's method of
lighted streets, an ample supply of pure wa- running affairs is out of date." He proposed
ter piped directly into their homes, weekly engaging the services of an industrial com-
garbage collection, and a system of sewage missioner and an assessment commissioner
disposal. At the same time, suburbanites un- as well as establishing a Department of
derstandably had no desire for unsightly or Works and a Department of Planning and
noisy industrial establishments near their Development. Norman McKee, president of
homes. Yet industrial assessment is the the Toronto Township Ratepayers' Associa-
backbone of the municipal tax structure, tion (formed seven years earlier), concurred:

and herein lay Toronto Township's problem "The most serious problem faced by the res-
as an expanding suburban community. The idents of Toronto Township is the lack of a
demand for residential-oriented services, es- planned program for the orderly develop-

105
 .

MISSISSAUGA

ment of its residential and industrial areas." cording to Adamson, might be to join newly
The election in 1953 of Reeve Adamson created Metropolitan Toronto.
and Deputy Reeve Mary Fix, the first wom- By 1962 the township was paying nearly
an to sit on Toronto Township as well as two-thirds of the county assessment and was
Peel County councils, ushered in a modern allowed only four members out of twenty-
approach to municipal administration based nine on county council. While this inequity
on careful planning. It was a busy year for was still a bone of contention. Reeve Robert
township council: the South Peel Board of Speck viewed casting the township's lot with
Education was formed; the first Official its mighty eastern neighbour as a serious
Plan was adopted; the first industrial and threat to the township's identity. In a
assessment commissioners were appointed; speech to the Clarkson-Lorne Park Kiwanis
the Lakeview water plant was expanded to Club in January 1962, Reeve Speck urged
service thenew Dixie Industrial Area; a Port Credit and Streetsville to join forces
new pumping station was buiit on Missis- with the township to form a city.

sauga Road south of the QEW to service "Amalgamation," he asserted, "would be

Toronto Township's fore- the new Clarkson Industrial Development; some protection for us against being swal-
most political personality and a $1 -million plan for a sewage plant in lowed by Metro Toronto." Councillor
was Thomas Laird
Lakeview was proposed. Hyliard Chappell agreed, arguing that the
Kennedy, known as "Mr.
Ontario" for his lengthy
To control the development of subdivi- township's present name was fifty years out
and distinguished tenure in sions, approval was granted to only those of date and left the impression that the
provincial politics. Born in projects that provided for both a substantial township was "a sort of rural appendage . .

Dixie in 1879, he served as

reeve of Toronto Township
industrial site and essential services for resi- waiting for come when
its turn to it will be
before being elected to the dents. The major objective of council was to swallowed up by Metro." A more historical-
legislative assembly of achieve a more even balance of residential ly relevant name, he prophetically insisted,
Ontario to represent Peel
to industrial assessment than the prevailing would be Mississauga.
riding in 1919 when this

picture was taken. Cour- The Erin-

seventy-eight to twenty-two ratio. Amalgamation was also a safeguard
tesy, Dixie-Burnhamthorpe dale Woodlands and Park Royal subdivision against the annexation designs of Port Cred-
Reunion Committee
proposals, for example, were approved with it and Streetsville. By the end of the 1950s
residential-industrial assessment ratios of both communities were running out of room
sixty-forty and fifty-fifty respectively. The for expansion. Streetsville had already an-
goal of equalized assessment pursued by nexed about 500 acres and Port Credit an-
both Adamson and Fix, who was elected other 100 acres of township territory during
reeve in 1955, was achieved by 1961 when the decade, and both were enviously eyeing
the township's total tax assessment sur- more. The elevation to town status for Port
passed $100 million or almost ten times Credit in 1961 and Streetsville in 1962
what it had been in 1950. strengthened their bids for further annexa-
Urban growth and the need to provide tions to sustain growth. Whenever either

more services raised serious concerns about town applied to the Ontario Municipal
Toronto Township's (and later Mississau- Board to annex part of Toronto Township,
ga's) status as a viable municipal unit. the township would counter with an annex-
Reeve Adamson first raised the matter in ation request of its own. The township also
1953 when he suggested that the township considered the possibility of countering
would be better served by seceding from these attempts by becoming a town in 1962,
Peel County. The township, he complained, but found that it would forfeit over $700,000
was paying over $150,000 annually to cover worth of provincial road and education
half the expenditures of county councils but grants by losing its status as a rural munici-
was not getting adequate service in return. pality.

Another alternative for the township, ac- Amalgamation remained at the forefront

106
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

of political discussion throughout the 1960s a two-tiered system of regional government

and into the 1970s. Port Credit council re- which would join Burlington. Oakville.
jected the idea, fearing the prospects of Brampton, and the new town of Mississauga
higher taxes since mill rates in Toronto to form the Urban County of Mississauga
Township were considerably higher. Al- while the region to the north would become
though there was some favourable response the Rural County of Peel-Halton. Although
to the idea in Streetsville because it would the plan was never adopted, it had two im-
mean improved services, the fear of higher portant implications. First, it presupposed
taxes also prevailed. Mayor J.L. Fulton of the amalgamation of Toronto Township,
Streetsville dismissed amalgamtion as Port Credit, and Streetsville and elevated
"economic suicide" in 1964. the idea to something more than the ambi-
By 1965 Toronto Township council decid- tious design of township politicians. Second,
ed that the prestige and positive inducement the report assumed that south Peel's destiny

to business that came with town status lay outside the Metro Toronto municipal
outweighed the loss of provincial grants. orbit.

Therefore, the township applied for approval The Plunkett Report also gave added im-
from the Ontario Municipal Board to put petus to Toronto Township's renewed bid in

the question to a vote of local electors later 1967 for town status. Malton's protest had
that year. However, the police village of long been dismissed, but nearby Etobicoke,
Malton had other ideas. After Toronto aspiring to annex Malton and perhaps

Township had annexed 4.000 acres of To- Lakeview, made a last ditch effort to block Colonel Thomas Laird
Kennedy, shown here with
ronto Gore Township which included all of the new town. When Etobicoke's protest
a group of local schoolchil-
the new Malton developments in 1952, the was rejected, Toronto Township turned its dren in the mid- 1 950s. was
police village applied to PeelCounty Coun- attention to finding a new name since it Ontario minister of agricul-

could not rightly be called the Town of To- ture from 1930 to 1935 and
cil to secede from Toronto Township. Mal-
from 1943 to 1953 as well
ton was denied the status of independent ronto. Besides, Reeve Speck had long main- He
as premier in 1948. re-

village on the grounds that it could not pro- tained that the association of the township's tired as a member of the
vide adequate services. Ten years later, the name with Toronto was no longer an asset. provincial legislature in
1958. a year before his
community of 5,000 renewed its bid for au- The "name game" was on, with virtually
death. Courtesy. Mildred
tonomy. Malton felt economically and geo- every community arguing that its name was Belleghem and Region of
graphically isolated from the rest of the the most appropriate for the new town. Peel Archives. Brampton

township, and complained in particular that

the township administration used Malton
tax money to develop the southern part of
the township. Once again, secession efforts
proved futile. Realizing that all hope of ever
becoming a separate village would be lost if

Toronto Township became a town, Malton

protested to the Ontario Municipal Board
and ultimately stalled the decision-making
process long enough to prevent the matter
from being considered until the 1967 town-
ship election.
Meanwhile, in 1966. Montreal municipal
consultant Thomas J. Plunkett released his
Peel-Halton Local Government Review,
commissioned by the Ontario Department of
Municipal Affairs. The report recommended
MISSISSAUGA

Township council after lengthy deliberation and Streetsville to become the largest and
narrowed the choice down to two names: most powerful of the three municipalities to

Sheridan in honour of the newly constructed comprise the new Peel Region. Mississauga
Sheridan Research Park and the old village; was satisfied with the arrangement because
and Mississauga after the original inhabi- it offered the prospect of geographical unity
tants. The arguments against the latter were and consolidation of public services. Port

that it was hard to spell and that the In- Credit, increasingly plagued by financial
dians had not been involved with the new problems, was also happy because it could
town's modern development. The advantages now share in Mississauga's bright economic
of the name Mississauga were its historical future. Streetsville, fearing a loss of iden-

connotation and that it was a completely tity, was a most reluctant partner. Some
new name, thereby negating the potential measure of consolation was gained when the
complaint that one community had been two communities were added as distinct

favoured over another. In December 1967 wards to Mississauga's ward system which
Lou Parsons of Mississauga local voters decisively opted for Mississauga. had been expanded to seven in 1970. At
was chosen as the first
Accordingly, on January 1, 1968, the new long last, the old Toronto Township was re-
chairman of Peel Region in

1974. Mississauga has en- Town of Mississauga, with a population re- united as the new city of Mississauga on
joyed much more influence cently exceeding 100,000, was born. January 1, 1974.
in this large local body
In achieving town status, Mississauga Even before Mississauga became a city,
than could Toronto Town-
ship in Peel County be-
rendered amalgamation with Port Credit there were concerns about its explosive rate

cause the city has a clear and Streetsville less urgent. For both Port of growth. Reeve Speck, who would become
majority in representation. Credit and Streetsville, the options became Mississauga's first mayor in 1968, essential-
Courtesy, Region of Peel
Archives, Brampton
clearer but more limited — amalgamation or ly continued the policies of the Adamson
annexation. Because each town was having and Fix administrations — that to create an
difficulty attracting industrial assessment economically viable community, equalized
because of lack of land, the only way to assessment had to be maintained. Extensive
avert being absorbed by Mississauga was to promotional campaigns across Europe and
annex some of its territory. This was the North America drew attention to Toronto
platform on which Deputy Reeve Hazel Township and Mississauga as one of the

McCallion, the first woman elected to fastest growing industrial areas in Canada.
Streetsville council, was elected mayor of Residential development was earmarked for
the town in 1970. Streetsville then applied already serviced areas on an "in-filling" ba-
to the Ontario Municipal Board to annex sis. In particular, high density apartment
over 7,000 acres in the northwestern part of developments were viewed as desirable be-
Mississauga. In Port Credit, J.C. Sad- cause of their high assessment value and the
dington, who had a lengthy tenure as reeve relatively lownumber of school-age children
in the early 1950s and became the town's who tended them. Mayor Speck
to live in

first mayor, returned as mayor once again envisioned Mississauga as another Metro
in 1970 to lead the campaign to annex Toronto with a population eventually ex-
6,000 acres of Mississauga south of the ceeding one million.
QEW. Mississauga applied for city status in To help foster the image of Mississauga
order to stop these annexation efforts and as an impending world-class city, the mu-
countered with its own request to annex nicipal offices were moved to the evolving

Streetsville and Port Credit. City Centre site in 1969. Construction was
The battle became a foregone conclusion already underway on Square One plaza and
in January 1973 when the provincial gov- a number of other office complexes in the
ernment released its regional government area, so the location of the spacious. $1.25-
plan. Mississauga would absorb Port Credit million city hall there gave much impetus to

108
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

Mississauga city hall

the grand design of an eventual city core at Dr. Martin Dobkin as mayor in October 's

since 1969 will soon give

Highway 10 and Burnhamthorpe Road. 1973. way to an even larger com-
By the time of Mayor Speck's death in Mayor Dobkin, a novice to municipal pol- plex also within the City

1972 following heart transplant surgery, itics, took office on a "reform" mandate to Centre site at Hurontario
Street and Burnhamthorpe
there were some with second thoughts about restrict high density building, to limit the
Road. Courtesy, Professor
his legacy of continual growth with an em- influence of large developers, and to stress Thomas Mcllwraith
phasis on physical development. Various quality of living in the development process. Collection

ratepayer groups feared that Mississauga As laudable as these objectives may have
was emerging as a prime example of urban been, the Dobkin administration unfortu-
sprawl resulting from rapid physical growth nately became mired in various conflict-of-
without equal attention to social planning. interest wrangles, clashes with developers,

Too much farmland, parkland, and forest and protracted negotiations with regional
had been overzealously transformed into and provincial authorities, which effectively
residential and industrial subdivisions in the froze most major development in Missis-

name of progress. Lower density develop- sauga.

ment would avoid a proliferation of mam- Seeking to strike a balance between re-

moth apartment complexes such as the form and continued growth, city electors

so-called "concrete jungle" of Forest Glen chose Ron Searle over Dobkin in the 1976

in the Bloor Street and Dixie Road area. mayoral election, and Hazel McCallion over
More social, cultural, and recreational fa- Searle in 1978.The victory of the former
cilities were needed in high density areas. Streetsville mayor and ardent opponent of
Mississaugans clearly wanted single-family amalgamation, and her continued populari-
dwellings to remain the hallmark of their ty, demonstrates the willingness of Missis-
community, so they delivered a mandate to saugans to bury past differences and to

slow the pace of development by electing collaborate to make the new city work.

109
 Canadian Serving

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46 SO

$35 MILLION DEVELOPMENT APPROVED

Established 118 Years Ago, New Town To Be Bu ilt
Cooks vi lie Fall Fair Passes, In Toronto Townsh ip
Township Seeks To Buy Land Face-Lifting 1

Work Started At
.

, .

Erindale Dam

La keview Woman
Hurt In Crash
1 ,
.

OnLakeshorc Rd
.., ,
1

'

'- drain oi Mn.

Police To Enforce
.

Overnight Parking
On Lakeview Streets > - ' 'Mil pai Hi
ironta Tovnuhip ronitil (wins ,
.,.,, >;-!(, (,,(,, \, r
1
;
!•» Dualm i

Lalfpvitw .

lay i

n Monday
Cut Off Hydro .-. kioj r*.

If Wiring Bad Toronto Tp. Council ErindaleArea

Five A rested £ftcr
1
Beach ooth Robbery
PU.C. Advises * * 1 " u '

Boosts Trailer Fees, Land Frontages

'
...>,::. ,, H
Set At 150 Feet
.

'
"

Refuses Extensions
rOWl Ihip ...Mm ll I'm M 1 !
,.,'...
Thieves Bypass ......
New Golf Clubs.
|

"."!
r.v»MII£ht .
. r

aititc
....
ISO

im-Mimtnt ih. tnlra am V

.

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The headlines of this issue Estimates of the city's population growth Cooksville Fall Fair must have been aston-
ofThe Port Credit Weekly
capacity, outlined in the new Official Plan ished at the sudden and profound transfor-
record a poignant moment
of transition from the rural adopted in 1980, have been scaled down to mation taking place around them. On the
to the urban environment. 700,000 to be reached by about 2010. A other hand, most of the newcomers who
The award-winning Weekly major priority of municipal administration moved into Erindale Woodlands later in the
began as The Port Credit
News in recent years has been the evolution of a decade were likely to be unaware that the
in 1912. The Missis-
sauga News is now the distinct "city centre" or "downtown core" to fair or many other vestiges of old township
principal voice of the city. foster a greater sense of integration without life had ever existed.
Courtesy, The Port Credit
necessarily undermining the functioning of By the end of the 1950s, for instance,
Weekly
district and neighbourhood commercial newly-arrived residents in the evolving
centres. The Mississauga of the 1980s no planned communities of Toronto Township
longer aspires to become an urban giant like took for granted basic services that only a
Metro Toronto, but rather to be a well- few years before were either non-existent or
planned city of predominantly single-family provided in only a rudimentary form. The
homes with a thriving and diversified busi- newcomers likely did not realize that the

ness sector. township waterworks had not been complet-

On July 15, 1954, the front page of The ed until 1953 or that the Lakeview sewage
Port Credit Weekly ran two major news treatment plant had only begun operation in

stories which illustrated how pervasively the 1957. Some areas in the northern reaches of
traditional rural way of life was succumbing the township still had no water or sewage
to the modern urban existence. One story disposal service by the mid-1960s.
mourned the death of the Cooksville Fall The professionalization of the township's
Fair after 1 18 years of operation. Last held firefighting force was another innovation.
in September 1951, the fair had fallen vic- The volunteer fire brigades of Cooksville,
tim to urban development and "old-time Lakeview, Malton, Churchville, and
residents passing from the local scene." The Clarkson-Lorne Park joined forces in 1953
other story celebrated the birth of Erindale to form the Toronto Township Fire Depart-
Woodlands, then the latest in planned sub- ment. Three years later only ten out of
divisions. Those who had attended the last seventy members of the department were

110
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

regulars, but by 1966 the force consisted of the new St. Patrick's Roman Catholic
seventy regulars and fifty-two volunteers School at Dixie. By 1966 there were eleven
stationed at five firehalls. The Port Credit separate schools in the area with a total en-

and Streetsville brigades remained strictly rollment of almost 4,000. While the public
voluntary until they were integrated into the school system began to experience a drop in

city force in 1974. Ten years later the Mis- enrollment by the late 1970s, the local
sissauga Fire Department included 370 full- school system, incorporated into the Dufferin-
time members stationed at twelve fire halls. Peel Roman Catholic Separate School
An expanding police force was also essential Board in 1969, has continued to expand. In
to cope with the rise in traffic and crime fact, Dufferin-Peel is Canada's fastest grow-
that invariably accompanied rapid urbaniz- ing school board, with enrollment doubling

ation. The size of the force climbed steadily since 1976.

to about 200 before being integrated into Altogether, over 140 schools, with a total
the Peel Regional force in 1974. enrollment of over 75,000, were located in

The census of 1971 reported that over Mississauga by 1984. The city is also the

half of Mississauga's population was under home of Erindale College, a 224-acre cam-
nineteen years of age, which meant heavy pus on the scenic banks of the Credit River.
education demands. School construction Opened in September 1967 with an initial

continued at a furious pace during the enrollment of 200, the college has since ex-
1950s and 1960s, with each new structure panded its facilities and programmes to ac-

seemingly larger, more lavishly equipped, commodate over 5,000 students. Sheridan

and more expensive than its predecessors. College of Applied Arts and Technology,
Special education was given a boost in 1955 which originally opened in Oakville in the

with the formation of the South Peel Asso- late 1960s, also has three locations in Mis-
ciation for Retarded Children which began sissauga.
conducting classes for nine children in a The expanding school population has
room provided by Clifton Public School in stimulated the growth of the Mississauga
Cooksville. Five years later the association Public Library System. Only Streetsville
opened Red Oaks School in Cooksville. had a municipally-sponsored library when
Most public schools in Toronto Township the Port Credit Library was inaugurated in

(including Port Credit High School) re- 1952. Small private subscription libraries in
mained under the auspices of the South Cooksville, Lome Park, Clarkson, Mea-
Peel Board of Education from 1953 until dowvale, and Malton joined together in De-
1964 when the Toronto Township Board of cember 1956 to form the Toronto Township
Education was formed to oversee all town- Public Library. In 1957 the library systems
ship public schools and the high schools in of the township and the two villages had

Port Credit and Streetsville. By 1966 the less than 4,400 registered borrowers and
Toronto Township Board of Education oper- 17,000 volumes on the shelves. By 1984 the
ated thirty-nine elementary schools and Mississauga Public Library had expanded
eight high schools with a total enrollment of its holdings to 700,000 volumes to serve
over 26,000. Even so, some schools were op- 1 30,000 borrowers at the Central Library
erating on split shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to and its twelve branches.
1:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., be- Another important milestone on the road
cause of overcrowding. In 1969 all schools to modernization was the opening in 1958 of
in the Mississauga area were incorporated the South Peel Hospital at the southwest
into the Peel Board of Education. corner of Hurontario Street and the Queens-
Mississauga's separate school system be- way. Within six years the 1 25-bed facility

gan in 1954 with the school in Malton and was expanded by 275 beds as a result of a

111
MISSISSAUGA

Facing page, top: John $5.6-million building programme. A new acres of parkland and the Parks and Recre-
Wood celebrates his silver
100-bed psychiatric wing costing almost two ation Department's annual budget was ap-
medal-winning performance
million dollars opened in 1968, and eventu- proximately $10,000. But over the next
in the 500 meter C-I ca-
noeing race at the 1976 ally the hospital's capacity was increased to three decades the department built a parks
Olympic Games. Danielle 600 beds. Renamed Mississauga General and recreation system which is the envy of
and Silken Laumann cap-
Hospital, the facility has not been nearly most North American The opening
cities. of
tured a bronze medal in
double sculls rowing at the large enough to serve the whole city, so lo- the Huron Park Recreation Complex in
1984 Olympiad. Courtesy, cal residents have had to use hospital facili- 1967 was a major step forward. This $1.5-
The Mississauga News
ties in neighbouring Etobicoke, Oakville, milhon multi-purpose centre in Cooksville,

Facing page, bottom: Fred and Brampton. The new Credit Valley Hos- reputed to be the first of its kind in North
Stanfield, wearing number pital currently under construction in America, included a 1,000-seat arena, an
1 7 for the Buffalo Sabres
Erin Mills-Meadowvale is scheduled to open Olympic-size swimming pool, a 200-seat au-
in a game against the
Czechoslovakian national in late 1985 or early 1986. ditorium, and many other athletic facilities.

team, was one of over fifty Residents in the Mississauga area have Huron Park was the tip of the proverbial
players who graduated been served by a number of newspapers iceberg, as Mississauga's annual budget for
from the Dixie Beehives
over the past three decades. The Port Credit administering over 225 parks and countless
OHA Junior B team to the

National Hockey League. WeekJy, founded in 1938, developed into recreational and cultural services had risen
As a member of the Boston one of Canada's largest and finest commu- to almost twenty-seven million dollars by
Bruins, he played on two
nity newspapers. Winning many national 1984. Furthermore, the Mississauga Hockey
Stanley Cup winners in the
early 1970s. Courtesy. The and provincial awards, its circulation in- League (formerly the Toronto Township
Mississauga News creased from 5,000 in the early 1950s to Hockey League) has grown to over 300
about 60,000 in the late 1970s. Reflecting teams and 6,000 players, making it the sec-
its growing coverage area, the newspaper ond largest minor hockey operation in

was renamed The South Peel Weekly in North America.

1968 and The Mississauga Times the fol- The changing face of Mississauga is also
lowing year. Its major competitor was The evident in the social and cultural character
Streetsville Review until it merged in 1962 of its population. With growth in the second
with the Cooksville-based Toronto Township half of the twentieth century, the Missis-
News Review (founded in 1957). Thereaf- sauga area has ceased to be a white Anglo-
ter, the Review published separate editions Saxon Protestant bastion and has come to

for Cooksville, Erindale, Malton, and typify the multicultural nature of Canadian
Streetsville before fading from the local society. The British population declined sig-
scene in the late 1970s. Other newspapers to nificantly, from 88 percent in 1941 to 49
emerge during the 1960s and 1970s were percent in 1981. The post-World War II

the Streetsville Booster, the Malton Pilot, wave of immigration brought in cultural

and the Meadowvale World. The most suc- groups that were hitherto little represented
cessful newspaper has been The Mississauga in old Toronto Township, Port Credit, and
News which started as The Toronto Town- Streetsville: southern and eastern Euro-
shipNews in 1965. An award-winning com- peans; blacks from the United States, the
munity newspaper, The Mississauga News, West Indies, Central and Southern Amer-
which merged with The Mississauga Times ica, and Africa; Orientals, East Indians,
in 1980, became the city's primary news- Pakistanis, and other Asiatics. In fact, there

paper with a circulation exceeding 70,000. are about ninety different ethnic groups in

As the rural landscape gave way to urban Mississauga, yet the city has remained rela-
concentration, parks and recreational facili- tively free of the social problems and racial
tiesbecame increasingly essential. When the tensions that have plagued other centres of
township's first community centre opened at comparable size and diversity.

Malton in 1952, there were scarcely fifteen Despite being a rapidly growing, prosper-

112
113
 j^K &

m
WW

114
Facing page, top: A dedi- Anthony Adamson
cated fisherman tries his

luck on the Credit River. Above: The old Streetsville

Photo by Bill McLeod/The Grammar School opened in
Stock Market 1851 and became a new
high school in 1877 when
Facing page, bottom: John this main block was built.

Ca wthra 's cottage just west Closed in 1950, the high

of Cawthra Road in Port school became the Streets-
Credit, was among the first ville town hall in 1966, the
summer residences along police station in 1974, and
the lakeshore when it was the Streetsville Kinsmen
built about 1880. By 1920 Senior Citizen's Centre in
the house had been re- 1978. Courtesy, Professor
placed by a much larger Thomas Mcllwraith Col-
and more elegant villa lection
which became part of the
Adamson estate. Courtesy,

115
 ous, and cosmopolitan city, Mississauga
continues to suffer from an identity crisis.

Mississauga existed for so long as a rural

township in the shadows of a mighty me-
tropolis of the same name; it is a young
and diffuse city with many traditional com-
munity names associated with it; and it has
undergone such a sudden and profound
metamorphosis. These factors have undoubt-
edly delayed the widespread recognition of
Mississauga as one of Canada's major ur-
ban centres. But two recent developments,
quite independent from each other, have
helped to put Mississauga "on the map."
The first development was quite unplan-
ned and could just as easily have resulted in

the tragic destruction of the city. Instead,

the famous Mississauga railway disaster and
subsequent mass evacuation drew worldwide
attention. Just before midnight on Novem-
ber 10, 1979, twenty-four of 106 cars of Ca-
nadian Pacific Railway's Freight Number
54 eastbound from Windsor to Toronto
derailed just north of Dundas Street at

Above: Swimmer Marilyn

Bell gained national and in-

ternational acclaim in the

mid-1950s with her con-
quests of Lake Ontario and
the English Channel. For
her accomplishments she
was awarded the Lou
Marsh Trophy as Canada s
outstanding athlete in 1954
and became the first person
ever to be a warded the
keys to Toronto Township.
Courtesy, Archives of On-
tario, Toronto

Right: The Mississauga

News sports editor. Rick
Drennan (left), admires the
Stanley Cup and Canada
Cup rings won by Malton
native Paul Coffey in 1984.
The Edmonton Oilers star
was named the National
Hockey League's outstand-
ing defenceman during the
1984-1985 season. Cour-
tesy, The Mississauga
News

116
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

The post- World War II

settlement boom in the

Mississauga area brought
many immigrants from Eu-
rope, Asia, and other parts
of the world. By 1948 local
schools were offering eve-
ning classes in basic En-
glish for new Canadians,
and by the late 1950s the
local public library system
was building up a collection
of foreign language books
in response to many re-
quests. Courtesy, Dixie-
Burnhamthorpe Reunion
Committee and Region of
Peel Archives, Brampton

Mavis Road in the Erindale area. The cause struction to property in the vicinity.

of the derailment was common enough: a The chlorine tanker caught in the mael-
wheel-bearing on the thirty-fourth or thirty- strom of flames presented a very real and
fifth car overheated and seized. The wheel imminent danger, however. If it exploded it

locked, and the car jumped the track, send- could disperse the deadly gas throughout
ing a chain of cars tumbling with it. Mississauga, Oakville, and Metro Toronto,
Eleven of the twenty-four derailed cars an area populated by nearly three million
were jumbo tankers of explosive propane people. Throughout the night the firefight-

gas; another contained ninety tons of chlo- ing team, led by Chief Gordon Bentley,
rine, a deadly chemical also known as mus- Deputy Chief Art Warner, and District

tard gas when used in World War I. When Chief Ross Kelly, could only keep the
the trains derailed, two of the propane tank- flames under control and wait agonizingly
ers exploded immediately (a third exploded for the propane fire to burn itself out. The
during the ensuing fire) along with three firemen were under strict orders to stay at
other tankers also containing potentially least 1,500 feet away from the blaze. The
dangerous chemicals. The explosions sent strong odour of chlorine in the air gave the
entire tankers hurtling into the air, and first hint of the trouble that lay ahead. Not
could be heard and felt some thirty miles yet known to anyone near the scene was
away. The flames shot as high as 500 feet that the crippled chlorine tanker lay on its

and lit up the night sky over the city. The side with a three-foot-wide gash on its

huge inferno would have been a major ca- rounded top.

tastrophe had it not occurred in an indus- In the darkness no one could see the
trial area that was virtually abandoned on a clouds of chlorine gas drifting southwest-
Saturday night. Under these circumstances, wardly, fanned by light, variable winds. But
the fire was eventually brought under con- Peel Regional Police Chief Douglas Burrows
trol without loss of life or extraordinary de- was sufficiently impressed with the prevail-

117
Above: Dundas Street,
looking east toward Missis-
sauga Road with St. Peter's
church still adorning the
hill in the background, of-
fers a dramatically differ-
ent view in 1985 than in
1910. Courtesy, Professor
Thomas Mcllwraith Collec-
tion

Right: Homes in Missis-

sauga come in all shapes
and sizes, including these
attractive condominiums.
Photo by Trask/The Stock
Market

Facing page, top: Lake

Aquitaine in new Mead-
owvale is proof that mod-
ern subdivisions can be
beautiful. Courtesy, Missis-
sauga Central Public Li-
brary

Facing page, bottom: The

now
old Barbertown Mills,
McCarthy Milling Compa-
ny, is situated in the pic-
turesque Credit River
valley. Courtesy, Professor
Thomas Mcllwraith
Collection

118
m

119
MISS1SSAUGA

120
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

ing odour of chlorine to order an immediate and the environment, the decision was made Above: The chlorine gas
explosion triggered by the
evacuation of the 3,500 or so people who to extend the evacuation area to encompass
train derailment of Novem-
lived within 3,000 feet of the accident. By the Credit River, Lake Ontario, Etobicoke ber 10, 1979, sent huge

8:30 a.m. Sunday, with the fumes becoming Creek, Burnhamthorpe Road, and eventual- tanker cars hurtling hun-
dreds of feet along the
more intolerable and the deadly green ly Clarkson. Ultimately, almost two-thirds
track. Here a Mississauga
clouds more visible, the evacuation order of the city's area, encompassing a quarter- fireman stands inside a
had been extended as a precautionary mea- million people, was affected. fragment of one of the ex-
ploding tankers. Courtesy,
sure. Some 15,000 people in the immediate The largest evacuation in North Ameri-
The Mississauga News
vicinity were moved to high schools and can history was surprisingly orderly and
shopping centres which were conveniently without loss of life or other major incident. Facing page: The Missis-

empty on Sundays, and a fleet of ambu- The twelve evacuation centres set up needed sauga Fire Department
with assistance from other
lances evacuated 450 patients from the Mis- to accommodate only about 5,000 evacuees
fire-fighting forces from
sissauga General Hospital. Later in the since thousands of people outside the evacu- the surrounding area

afternoon following a meeting involving ation zone and in nearby cities offered space fought valiantly to keep the
blaze caused by the derail-
Mayor McCallion, Ontario Attorney Gener- in their homes. Others stayed with family or
ment under control. Cour-
al Roy McMurtry, and local police and fire friends or checked into the many hotels and tesy, The Mississauga

officials, as well as experts on chemicals motels in the surrounding area. News

121
 r r
^- >v-
++ r >
**-*:*-
*

Ml!
.*!£ 4
Facing page, top, far left:

The Shipp Corporation won

the Canadian Housing De-
sign Council award in 1975
for designing Applewood
Place. Courtesy, Missis-
sauga Central Public Li-
brary

Facing page, top, left: The

nation's largest airport con-
nects Mississauga with the
world. Photo by Greg
Locke/The Stock Market

Facing page, bottom: Port

Credit is the home of the
Great Salmon Hunt, the
largest fishing derby in
North America. Courtesy,
Mississauga Central Public
Library

Above: Markborough Place

is a striking new office

building. Photo by Derek

Trask/The Stock Market

Left: Skaters enjoy Lake

Aquitaine in Meadowvale.
Photo by Derek Trask/The
Stock Market

123
 *• ..

124
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

Experts from around the world later des- close enough to examine the nature and ex- Facing page: This view of
Burnhamthorpe Road look-
cended upon Mississauga to study why the tent of the damage. Within twenty-four
ing toward Dixie Road
mass evacuation had gone so smoothly, and hours a steel patch, four feet by six feet, shows a normally busy traf-

marvelled at the efficient network of roads had been devised to seal up the hole in the fic artery to be almost des-
erted during the great
and highways that enabled vehicles to move tanker. Wearing gas masks and acid-proof
evacuation of November
out so quickly. Mississaugans seldom find suits, Stu Greenwood's CHLOREP team 1979. Courtesy, The Mis-
themselves more than ten or fifteen minutes waded through the knee-deep acidic slush sissauga News
from a major expressway. The generosity of that had formed around the tanker. After
so many people and businesses was also im- two failures and two days of work the steel

pressive as donations of food, blankets, and patch was in place and the tanker stopped
other provisions poured in to an extent puffing the deadly green cloud. Convinced
greater than the actual needs of the eva- after twenty-four hours that the patch was
cuees. holding, the Greenwood crew with the help
Furthermore, American journalists cover- of local firemen embarked upon the task of
ing the disaster, as well as sociologists and pumping the twenty tons or so of the chlo-
urban experts, were amazed at the absence rine still left in the prone tanker into anoth-
of looting and the generally low crime rate, er tanker to be trucked away from the city.
given that by 4:00 a.m. Monday, November This operation was not completed until No-
12, Mississauga was a virtual ghost town. vember 19, nine days after the disaster
At least part of the credit belonged to the began.
600 Peel Regional policemen in addition to Mindful of their good fortune in that no
considerable reinforcements from the Metro one had been killed or seriously injured,

Toronto Police Force, the Ontario Provincial Mississaugans still could not help but feel

Police, and the Royal Canadian Mounted some anger. Why were such dangerous
Police, all of whom sealed off and patrolled chemicals being transported through such a
the evacuation area. Mississauga residents densely populated area? Could such a disas-
themselves equally deserved credit for their ter occur again? What had to be done to

good-natured cooperation in the face of ad- prevent its recurrence? Who should pay for
versity. With the help of many organiza- the costly inconvenience suffered by the
tions such as the Canadian Red Cross, The evacuees? CP Rail partly answered the lat-

Salvation Army, the Humane Society, Boy ter question by paying over $1.3 million to

Scouts, Girl Guides, and St. John Ambu- evacuees for out-of-pocket expenses. The
lance, they turned a potentially tragic story federal Department of Transport addressed
of chaos and disaster into a heroic adven- the other questions by appointing Justice
ture that will be often recounted as an em- Samuel Grange of the Supreme Court of
bodiment of the Canadian spirit. Ontario to preside over a public inquiry. His
Meanwhile, in the deserted city another ensuing 200-page report produced from
story of courage and perseverance was un- 23,500 pages of testimony not only clarified
folding as firemen continued their efforts to the whole sequence of events surrounding
reach the leaking chlorine tanker. They the disaster but also highlighted the out-
hosed down the tanker with special foam dated government regulations regarding the
coolants, but it burst into flames at inter- transportation of potentially explosive, flam-
vals. It was not until early Monday morning mable, and toxic chemicals through populat-
that Assistant Deputy Fire Chief John ed areas. The Mississauga derailment also
Hickey was able to escort two experts from pointed to the need for more comprehensive
the Chlorine Emergency Plan Team disaster plans and emergency response
(CHLOREP) of Dow Chemical, the compa- systems. Although relatively little would be
ny in Sarnia that owned the stricken tanker. done over the next five years to improve rail

125
 s '

Above: Rapid urban growth

has spared Mississauga s

beautiful inland lakes.

Lake Wabukayne, in the

southeast corner of New

Meadowvale, is one of
these small glacial lakes.
Courtesy, Mississauga Cen-
tral Public Library

Right: The Credit River,

shown here looking south
from Eglinton Avenue,
flows through the heart of
the city. It is no longer as
wide or as deep as in pio-
neer days but it retains its
beauty, and the fish have
started to return. Courtesy,
Mississauga Central Public
Library

Facing page, top: Nearby

Lake Ontario is a good
place for some exciting
sailing. Photo by Derek

Trask/The Stock Market

Facing page, bottom: The

lake also provides a beauti-
ful setting for quieter
moments. Photo by Myron
Zabol/The Stock Market

126
/<*<,<

-
&
§S$s am

-&*m
MISSISSAUGA

the television and view their city's misfor-

tune leading off the national news on both
Canadian and American networks. But one
evacuee, speaking to a reporter from The
Mississauga Times, aptly summed up the
feelings of many fellow citizens: "Having
Walter Cronkite do a voice-over while they
film your empty city somehow seemed like a

sign of legitimacy." Of course, there was

also the irritation of listening to various
mispronunciations of the city's name and
the occasional description of Mississauga as
a "suburb of Toronto." Nevertheless, for the
first time in its history Mississauga occu-
pied centre stage in a compelling human
drama.
A major railway disaster was indeed a
most unexpected and suspenseful way to

promote community identity. Mississauga

civic officials, however, were already in the
process of launching a more deliberate plan
for fostering greater community integration.

The so-called "City Centre Plan" dates

back to 1963 when S.B. McLaughlan Asso-
ciates, Ltd., outlined a plan for a city core

area on land it had been acquiring in the

Highway 10 and Burnhamthorpe Road area
over the past decade. By 1969 the $5-billion
plan included Square One (then known as

Greenfields), a $1.25-million city hall, and

25,000 housing units. Within fifteen years
the area was projected as a self-contained
city with a population of one and a half mil-
lion.

Square One and the new city hall were

eventually built, but the rest of the grandi-
ose scheme fell on hard times amid the
political climate of the 1970s. In 1975 Pro-
Xfississauga 's popular and safety, the formulation of comprehensive fessor Hans Blumenfeld in a submission to
dynamic Mayor Hazel
emergency plans would become the princi- the Central Ontario Lakeshore Urban Com-
McCallion presided over
the evacuation and visited pal legacy of the Mississauga rail disaster. plex study group argued: "The dispersal of

evacuation centres to bol- Finally, when life returned to normal, functions between these centres [Port Cred-
ster spirits. Courtesy, City combined with
Mississaugans could look back on the tu- it, Cooksville, and Malton]
of Mississauga Information
multuous events of November 1979 and feel easy access to Toronto would appear to pre-
and Public Relations De-
partment a great sense of pride in the response of clude the development of a major centre in

their city to the crisis and the widespread Mississauga." On the other hand, a special

acclaim that it generated. Certainly, it was report released that same year by consul-

unsettling for most Mississaugans to turn on tants Peat Marwick and Partners as well as

128
 THE MODERN CITY TAKES SHAPE

the IBI Group recommended moving the city's name, has the advantage of newness,
city centre from its Confederation Square so that it is less likely to revive the long-

site to the Square One vicinity. This Offi- standing rivalries among communities that

cial Plan Review of development strategy have inhibited previous efforts at integra-

until 1990 contended that Mississauga had tion.

to become a more diverse, self-contained After the turn of the twenty-first century,
municipality with a more balanced econom- Mississauga should have a well-established
ic base which resulted in more of the resi- downtown core. Just as the quarter million
dents working within their own city. newcomers who moved into the city in the

The new Official Plan adopted by council 1960s and 1970s were generally unaware of
in 1978 called for Mississauga to become a the rural character of old Toronto Town-
self-sufficient city by developing an expan- ship, the quarter million newcomers expected
sive city core around Square One. Two in the 1980s and 1990s will scarcely recall

years later, the city gave legitimacy to the the days when Mississauga had no city

City Centre concept by purchasing a ten- centre.

acre site in the vicinity of Square One at a With the passage of time, Mississaugans
cost of over five and a half million dollars. will become more accustomed to viewing
An international competition was held in their city as an integrated community rath-

1982 for the design of the new city hall. er than a loose federation of older villages
The Toronto firm of Jones & Kirkland Ar- and newer residential subdivisions. Presum-
chitects emerged victorious over 245 other ably, the story of Mississauga will ultimate-

competitors. Their design calls for the $56- ly parallel that of the nation in which it is

million complex to have the council cham- located. Over a century ago a widely dis-

bers towering above the ground like a grain persed group of communities, with seeming-
elevator on the prairies. According to Ed ly little in common, were drawn together by
Jones, the design is intended "to create im- political and economic expedience. Eventu-
pressions of where Ontario's agrarian past ally, the citizens of the smaller communities
and urban future merges." The new struc- learned to reconcile their limited local iden-
ture is scheduled to open in 1986. tities with a broader form of nationalism.
Meanwhile, the "City Centre Plan" was Likewise, the residents of Mississauga will
adopted by Mississauga council in 1979 and find comfort in being able to identify with

received official approval from the province both a long-standing neighbourhood and a
the following year. The expressed purpose of more recently conceived city.

the plan is "the development of a downtown To Mississaugans of the early twenty-first

commercial, cultural and civic centre for century, the novelty of city stature will
Mississauga" and in particular "to develop probably have worn off, and they will be
a strong mixed-use centre that will establish preoccupied with an assortment of concerns
an identity for Mississauga appropriate to common to the many "satellite" cities cre-

its role as a regional centre." The City Cen- ated in the second half of the twentieth
tre will be designed in a concentrated form century. Throughout North America and
similar to the downtowns of other major ur- Europe, the traditional metropolitan centres
ban centres. Besides being the focal point of have long reached the limits of their growth,
transportation, retail, office, recreation, cul- so the emergence of satellite cities like Mis-
tural, and administrative facilities, the City sissauga has been an inevitable part of ur-
Centre should create a visual identity for ban evolution. When Mississaugans fully

the city by encouraging distinctive architec- understand the inevitability of their city's

tural themes for the built-up environment. historical evolution, they will have truly dis-

The location of the City Centre, like the covered their identity.

129
 Chapter Sei'e/i

41^

Partners
In Progress
The groundwork laid by municipal authori- A proliferation of shopping centres, pla-
ties and developers who envisioned a boom- zas, malls, and retail strip locations offer

ing metropolis rising from the predominantly the resident population a complete range
small-town, pastoral setting of the early and selection of consumer goods. Hard by
1950s has paid rich dividends for the flour- the industrial and commercial parks where
ishing city of Mississauga in the ensuing they work and the residential subdivisions
thirty-five years. where they live, Mississaugans have access
All of those early planning studies and to 225 municipal parks, superb golf courses,

land-use concepts, keyed to the ultimate de- playgrounds, and trails for jogging, skiing,
velopment of a balanced urban economy and biking.
with emphasis on positioning the city at the The intellectual and physical well-being
heart of North American markets, are in of the community enjoys a priority, too. The
place today. In fact, the concepts of zoning, Sheridan Park Research Community, com-
transit links, and designations of residential, posed of more than one dozen corporations
retail, commercial, and industrial objectives on a 200-acre site, is internationally known
have been fulfilled all down the line. for research and development work. Erin-
Set back from the northwestern shore of dale College, a division of the University of
Lake Ontario and bordering on the western Toronto, completes a wealth of educational
fringe of Toronto — Canada's premier fi- resources including day nurseries, the full

nancial centre — the city of Mississauga range of elementary and secondary schools,
continues to be one of the fastest-growing special attention to exceptional and problem
communities in Canada. Its population is students, and Sheridan Community College.
rapidly surpassing the 350,000 mark, with Perhaps best exemplifying the partnership
projections calling for up to double that fig- in progress is the opening in 1985 of the
ure by the year 2,000. new $80-million Credit Valley Hospital,
No facet of convenience, comfort, and ac- marking the successful completion of a six-

commodation has been overlooked by the year campaign to design, build, and finance
public-spirited partnership at work in Mis- the facility. With first-phase accommoda-
sissauga. Every conceivable need has been tions of 366 beds, and ultimately a total of

met in the areas of commerce, community 534 beds, the sorely needed hospital will

service, recreation, and education. stand as a monument to the aspirations held

The city's multiple transportation network for their city by all levels of government
is a well-known major asset, reaching out to and private enterprise.
the world by air and to one-third of the Ca- The organizations whose stories are de-

nadian retail market within 100 miles of tailed on the following pages have chosen to
Mississauga's borders by super highway and support this important literary and civic
rail. project. They illustrate the variety of ways
 The blacksmith shop pro-
which individuals and their businesses vided an essential service
in
for local villagers and
have contributed to the growth and develop-
farmers from the surround-
ment of Mississauga. The civic involvement ing area who relied heavily

of the city's businesses, learning institutions, on horses, along with wag-

ons and carriages, for
and local government, in partnership with
transportation and their
its citizens, has made Mississauga an excep- daily work. Robert Parton.
tional place to live and work. shown here about 1918, op-
erated a blacksmith shop in
Summerville from 1907 to
1958. Courtesy, Region of
Peel Archives, Brampton
MISSISSAUGA

MISSISSAUGA CITY BOARD OF TRADE

In step with the rapid expansion of
itscommunity, the Mississauga City
Board of Trade has attracted a large,
representative base of support since
-«£2 ©
its formation in 1976.
Currently, the board serves the
needs and reflects the concerns of
1,900 members — an enrolment sec-
ond only to the Toronto Board of
Trade in Ontario. And its programs
touch on all facets of the retail, com-
mercial, industrial, and professional
life of the city. Through executive
leadership, an ongoing committee
process, publications, and promo-
tions, the board is an advocate of ad-
vancement for Mississauga on many
fronts.
Executive director Lois Gibson,
who administers all board programs
with a permanent staff of seven,
functions from a spacious modern of-

fice, replete with a 25-chair board- comprises an information folder out- Headquarters of the Mississauga City Board

and of Trade, in the Mississauga Executive Centre

room, in new Mississauga Execu-
the lining all board services activi-
at Four Robert Speck Parkway, Mississauga,
tive Centre at Four Robert Speck a monthly news bulletin, and
ties,
occupied since 1983.
Parkway. Occupied in 1983, the Focus on Mississauga magazine.
quarters afford prestige and exposure External projects embrace partici-
that were unattainable in the former pation in the Ontario and Canadian The Mississauga City Board of Trade's first

Square One office obscured behind chambers of commerce approaches to president, Elio Agostini (left), is sworn in by
then-Mayor Martin Dobkin (right) in 1977.
the Motor Vehicle License Office. government as well as a close alli-
James A. Allan, first vice-president, and
(The latter, operated by the board, ance with City Hall through the an- George Becher, second vice-president, also
remains in Square One with a staff nual appointment of the board's past took their oaths of office.
of three.) president to chair the advisory board
The escalation of the board in to the Mississauga Industrial Devel-
terms of numbers and activity is a opment Office. In the education
remarkable achievement. From an field, the board underwrites a schol- the fledgling chamber.
initial 400 members, the total in- arship fund at the University of Immediate concerns were the pub-
creased steadily to 700 in 1979, then Toronto's Erindale Campus for a lication of a business directoryand
soared dramatically to the present bachelor of commerce graduate stu- approaches to various levels of gov-

level by mid- 1982 in the wake of a dent. ernment for improved services. As
concerted membership drive. The status of the board in 1985 membership grew to thirty-three by
As the board flourished, its sphere can be readily appreciated by refer- 1967, the chamber aspired to a more
of endeavor widened. Today regular ence to its modest beginning in 1959, central location with a permanent
member service includes ten dinner when local businessman Bert Thomp- staff, an ambition realized on April
or luncheon functions annually with son organized the inaugural meeting 1, 1968, under the banner of the
high-profile guest speakers such as of the Clarkson-Lorne Park Chamber Mississauga Chamber of Commerce.
Premier William G. Davis of Ontar- of Commerce, held in Christ Church, Later, mutual interests led to the
io. A popular innovation is the Clarkson. Art Barstead was president merger of the original Clarkson-
monthly "Business After Hours" get- of the twelve-member group until Lorne Park Association with the
together for an informal exchange of 1961, when Allan Wood was at the Streetville Chamber of Commerce
products, services, and contacts. An helm to receive the charter on July and Port Credit Jaycees into the
ambitious communications effort 1 1 . Thompson served as secretary of Mississauga City Board of Trade.

132
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

CLARKSON GORDON

Clarkson Gordon, one of Canada's has available the resources of the Members of Clarkson Gordon's Mississauga
staff include (from left to right) David
premier accounting firms, has roots firm's full national and international
Doncaster, managing partner; Stuart Penay,
in Mississauga that are planted solid- organization.
Anne Edgar, manager; and
staff accountant;
ly in the —
community both from a The client list today comprises a Art Good, audit partner.
business standpoint and as a partici- diversified mixture of companies op-
pant in civic development. erating in a wide variety of industries
Clarkson's came to Mississauga in whose size ranges from in the Finan-
1976 when it established a small of- cial Post 500 through medium-size
fice to provide accounting and tax enterprises to the fast-growing area volvement not only in the business

services to an increasing number of of small entrepreneurial businesses. organizations but in the arts, and in
the firm's clientswho were located in The advanced-technology nature of sporting, educational, charitable, and
what was obviously becoming a fast- many Mississauga industries is re- other community-service organiza-
growing business community. flected in Clarkson's significant ori- tions.

As Mississauga grew in impor- entation toward serving the computer One such civic-minded partner is

tance as a business and industrial industry. David Doncaster, who has lived in
centre, Clarkson's expanded and was From the beginning, Clarkson the area since 1967 and established
one of the first businesses to move Gordon people have been deeply in- the office in Mississauga. He was
into the Square One office complex volved in the growth and develop- named the 1982 Mississauga Citizen
in 1979. Today the office has eight ment of Mississauga. They feel a of the Year, and is a former presi-
partners and a total professional and sense of responsibility and are anx- dent of the 1,900-member Missis-
support staff head count of almost ious to participate not only because sauga City Board of Trade.
seventy people, and has expanded its they live in the community but be- Thus, Clarkson Gordon as a ser-

services to provide what accountants cause of their strong belief that for vice organization puts to work the
describe as a full-service capability, Mississauga to be a vibrant and ex- professional skills of chartered ac-
including management consulting, in- citing city, it must develop the kind countants and the personal initiative
solvency,and computerized record- of community institutions associated of its people on behalf of both busi-
keeping. And this autonomous office with such a centre. That means in- ness and the community.

133
MISSISSAUGA

STARK-HICKS-SPRAGGE, ARCHITECTS
The interaction of a comprehensive
design philosophy with practical exe-
cution of a wide range of challenging
assignments has secured a young
Mississauga architectural firm in the
forefront of its profession.
Stark-Hicks-Spragge, Architects,
has flourished in concert with its

chosen community, having been

founded, as Stark Temporale, on
January 1, 1974, the date of city
incorporation. In the intervening de-
cade the firm has applied its exper-
tise to a variety of residential and
commercial work for the private sec-
tor as well as forgovernment build-
ings and municipal enhancement.
Today Stark-Hicks-Spragge its —
boardroom adorned with eleven ar-
chitectural design awards for excel-
lence — lays claim to an enviable
record in terms of public and profes-
sional recognition, an achievement
attributed by Stark to "concern for
and commitment to quality of design
and an improved city environment."
Mississauga will continue to com-
mand the principal interest of the
company, although it has carried out
projects across Ontario in recent firm is a member of the Pannell Kerr The Clarkson Galleria, winner of the 1981
And the addition in 1984 of
years. Forster Consortium, offering a full Mississauga Urban Design Award. (Stark
Temporale)
Thomas E. Spragge to the partner- range of management, design, and
ship has widened the horizons with a construction services to golf and
downtown Toronto branch. country clubs at the community
William R. Hicks, who has been level. Stark and Hicks have been in- ing science,and management consul-
associated with Stark for nine years, volved in planning studies conducted tants; general contractors;and major
functions closely with the other for Erindale and Meadowvale vil- subtrades and suppliers. Stark-Hicks-
members as ventures in Mississauga, lages and the Port Credit Secondary Spragge also places a premium on
Toronto, and other areas of the prov- Plan, with emphasis on the preserva- cost control, continuous consultation
ince are administered. Versatility and tion of historic and community as- with the client, and an unrelenting
flexibility have been cornerstones of sets. quest for energy efficiency in all de-
the partnership, involving it in a The company's design philosophy signs. A policy of the firm is that one
number of innovative enterprises. is based upon what Stark terms "the of the partners is always directly in-
With valuable experience in hous- multidisciplinary team," composed of volved in the total process.
ing and urban design, retail and of- in-house professionals in architecture, At the present time Stark-Hicks-
fice buildings, and restorations in its cost control, building construction, Spragge operates effectively with ten
portfolio, Stark-Hicks-Spragge is urban planning, programming, com- architects and two administrators,
actively consulting on the future de- munications, and graphic and interior calling on support staff as required.
velopment of sanitary landfill sites design. This team is supplemented by In Stark's view, containment of the
for recreational uses such as golf established mechanical, electrical, firm's staff has been instrumental in
courses, whether municipally or pri- and structural engineers; landscape meeting the special needs of clients
vately owned. In a related field, the architects; life scientists; cost, build- and the community.

134
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

TOUCHE ROSS

When Touche Ross first opened its tions that are resident in Missis- The seven partners in Mississauga's Touche
Ross are Lou Barbisan, Bill
(left to right)
offices in Mississauga over ten years sauga, Touche Ross has continued to
Humphreys, Don Mitchener, Bob Francis,
ago, the firm's partners and staff expand its staff and resource base in
Bruce Jenkins, Harold Bridge, and Alan Dick.
recognized that this rapidly growing this office to meet the challenges.
citywould be the hub of the major "We have grown very rapidly over
growth market west of Toronto. the past ten years in a business envi-
Leading the other major accounting ronment that has seen technological
firms, Touche Ross moved rapidly and business environmental changes tation of information systems, to

into this new market and, as Missis- unparalleled in the past. In the next name a few. These services can be
sauga grew, so did Touche Ross. decade we will see even more change, made available in Mississauga or at
Part of the key to the firm's suc- but at an accelerated rate," says any location in Canada, or in the

cess to date has been its emphasis on partner-in-charge Harold Bridge. eighty-seven countries in which
the owner-managed enterprise in the "Today, as a full-service office, our Touche Ross International operates.
Mississauga business community. partners and staff are prepared to Touche Ross, founded in Montreal
The extra emphasis on this one seg- meet this challenge, by offering a in 1858 by Philip Ross, has grown

ment of the business community has full range of services from a location from providing bookkeeping services
tied the firm's growth to that of the close to our clients. This has been the that were needed in that community
community. Having started with only key to our success across the country to providing a full range of financial
eight people as a satellite office, the in the past, and will be in the fu- and special services through its forty-
office is now a separate full-service ture." three Canadian offices. Together
office with over fifty-eight staff Touche Ross, Mississauga, is orga- with firms in the United Kingdom
members including seven partners, a nized to provide a full range of and the United States, it was a
tribute to the opportunities available professional services including ac- founding member of Touche Ross In-
in Mississauga. counting, auditing, tax, financial ternational, one of the eight largest
With its office in the heart of the planning, management consulting, public accounting firms in the world,
City Centre complex, the firm is in and trustee services. With the firm's and the only firm to operate under a
an ideal position to maintain its ability to draw on the full Touche Canadian name. It is through associ-
rapid and sustained growth record Ross resource base in the region, ation with cities like Mississauga
through the continually expanding nationally, and,where necessary, in- that this Canadian firm has grown to
opportunities presented in Missis- ternationally, the breadth of these be a major force in the Canadian

sauga. With a client list that reflects services can be expanded into the ar- and international scene, and it is
the desire and ability of the firm to eas of strategic planning, human re- with pride and dedication that it
service the many and varied needs of source management and executive serves the Mississauga community
both the owner-managed business search, marketing, operations plan- both professionally and through per-
and the large multinational corpora- ning, and the design and implemen- sonal service.

135
 MISSISSAUGA

NISSAN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY (CANADA) LTD.

Canadians have had something of a
love affair with automobiles manu-
factured in Japan. The penetration of

the Canadian car market by Japa-

nese firms for years was far greater
than their penetration of the United
States market.
Nissan Automobile Company
(Canada) Ltd., as the second-largest
automobile manufacturer in Japan,
m i

has been a leader

ceptability of
and trucks.
in building the ac-
Japanese-made cars m i 1

Nissan Canada is preparing for

the future, when Canadian quotas on
Japanese car imports might be lifted

m
and thus provide new opportunities to
grow in Canada.
A key feature of that preparation
was the decision to establish a per-
manent corporate headquarters in
Mississauga. Nissan moved to tempo-
rary quarters in Mississauga in \ — _*^_
August 1981. A large site has also
been purchased in Mississauga and
plans are being prepared for con-
struction of the headquarters to start
in 1985.

Nissan entered Canada in 1965,

quite logically through the western fl $. ....
:

jfl

gateway city of Vancouver. The port

city became Nissan's major distribu-
tion centre as expanded its sales
it

network eastward across Canada.

Growth had been spectacular until
the import quota system was put in Ik iB^« fl^ S
place. From a start with a staff of
six and eighty-four dealers, Nissan in
Canada sold only 1,400 vehicles val-
ued at $2.4 million in its first year, ers active in Canada are located in Y.K. Kawana, president.

Nissan now sells close to 50,000 the same general area to the east of
vehicles — cars and trucks — with a Toronto. "And most important, it's in the
value exceeding $400 million. Truck The choice of Mississauga is ex- middle of Canada's largest market."
sales have been increasing since they plained this way by Y.K. Kawana, That largest market is known as
are free from quota restrictions. The who arrived in Canada in 1965 and the Golden Horseshoe and takes in
staff now totals some 250 and a na- is Nissan Canada's president. about one-third of Canada's total re-
tional dealer network employs many "The future is in Mississauga, a tail sales. With an outstanding Cana-
more people. newly developed area. It has good dian growth record behind it, Nissan
Nissan selected Mississauga, which housing, good human resources, is Automobile Company (Canada) Ltd.
is to the west of the major city of close to Toronto's international air- is now placed in a strategic position
Toronto, despite the fact that the port, and is surrounded by a good to take advantage of future
three other Japanese car manufactur- transportation network. opportunities.

136
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

BECKETT PACKAGING LIMITED

From modest bread-wrapper and
a techniques. In recent years the firm's
-label operationlaunched in 1947, efforts have been recognized by sev-
Beckett Packaging Limited has flour- eral awards of excellence from the
ished through programs of innovation Packaging Association of Canada
and adjustment to technological and the Association of Industrial
change in the packaging industry. Metallizers, Coaters, and Laminators
Its five presses hum around the in the United States.

clock in a modern 57,000-square-foot As the highly competitive but in-

plant at 1580 Sismet Road in Missis- herently stable packaging business
sauga. Using both gravure and flexo underwent dramatic change, Beckett
printing processes, the firm produces moved in new directions. When the
miles of high-quality color wrapping advent of polyethylene signalled the
for a wide range of food and confec- decline of its major share of the
tions. More than one million dollars bread-wrapper market, the firm en-
worth of gravure cylinders, plus a tered the gravure printing field.
laminator, waxer, and three slitters, Beckett was soon attracting orders
serve suchbrand-name clients as from large manufacturers, the foun-
Wrigley, Cadbury, Laura Secord, dation for a strong position in the
Christie, Nabisco, Planters, Nielsons, trade today.
Rowntries, General Mills, McCor- A recent innovation of great prom-
mick, and others. ise was the design of the DEMET-
President Donald E. Beckett, who ALLIZER, a patented (in Canada
founded the venture with Norman and the United States) process for
Yorke and subsequently acquired Don Beckett, president. removing metal from metallized
ownership, has relocated three films, such as mylar, in register with
times — from the small original build- 16,000-square-foot plant in Stoney the printing to create decorative ef-
ing in Long Branch to a 10,000- Creek five years ago. Directing op- fects and windows.
square-foot plant on Newbridge erations with Beckett are his wife,
Road in Etobicoke in 1957 and then Doris, secretary/treasurer, and David
to the present 2.6-acre site in 1976. Wilson, vice-president and general
The head office and main plant of Beckett
A bag division serving the fast- manager. They supervise a total staff
Packaging Limited is in this 57,000-square-
food, bakery, and other retail indus- of 100, many of them skilled in man- foot facility at 1580 Sismet Road,
try requirements was acquired in a agement, marketing, and production Mississauga.

137
MISSISSAUGA

COOPERS & LYBRAND

"Our job is to help people make
money."
With those few words, partner
Michael Van Every sums up his
firm's philosophy of service. Coopers
& Lybrand is a relative newcomer to
the Mississauga area. Although ser-
vicing clients in the region for many
years, primarily from the Toronto of-
fice, not until 1981 was the decision
made to initiate the move.
"Our practice is to have offices
only in cities that can support a full-

service office," Van Every explains.

"With several competitors already in
Mississauga, we had to be sure that
Mississauga's rate of growth would
justify the expense of setting up a
separate office."
The results have more than met
expectations. Today five partners and
a staff of fifty-eight are kept busy
with a variety of clients, ranging
from giants like The Molson Compa-
nies Limited to individual entrepre-
neurs.
Such growth is all the more im- implementing an appropriate com- / Forbes Knight, Robert E. Lamoureux, and

pressive when the firm's timing of puter system. Michael R. Van Every (left to right), the first

A partners in Coopers & Ly brand's Mississauga

the move is considered. Van Every large percentage of Coopers & office.
remembers: "We came to Missis- Lybrand's clients are medium-size
sauga just before the big economic companies in the manufacturing and
downturn. In terms of building clien- distribution sector of the economy. to the area.
tele, there could not have been a This pattern is consistent among the It's basically a question of econom-
worse period. But in the past three firm's clientele served by offices ic conditions. The past few difficult
years our practice in the Mississauga across the country. years have virtually guaranteed slow-
area has maintained growth in the Michael Van Every good ex-
is a er growth in every community than
order of 13 percent annually —an ample of the reasons behind his orga- was seen during the 1970s. But
achievement of which we are indeed nization's success in Mississauga. Coopers & Lybrand is betting that,
proud. Originally from Hamilton, he has all factors considered, Mississauga
"Our staff has more than doubled lived in the Mississauga/Oakville will continue to be one of the fastest-
from the original twenty-five who es- area for most of his life. During fif- growing cities in Canada.
tablished the office, and we now have teen years of servicing clients for
five partners instead of three. In fact, Coopers & Lybrand, he has achieved
Richard C. Curtis discusses an engagement
we are the third-largest accounting an intimate understanding of the
with staff.
firm in Mississauga." problems and requirements of busi-
Coopers & Lybrand offers a vari- ness in and around the Mississauga
ety of services to its clients rang- area.
ing from accounting and auditing There is, he maintains, no shortage
through advice on personal finances of companies looking into the possi-
to financial management of business bilities of opening head offices in
operations. The firm even provides Mississauga. Some have already
expertise in the field of choosing and moved from larger centres in Canada

138
SHIPP CORPORATION
Shipp Corporation is one of the few $12,800 are now on the market at

businesses that can truly make the well over $100,000.

claim that it built Mississauga. "Applewood" has become a trade-
When the late Gordon S. Shipp mark for Shipp-built residences. No
founded the company in 1923, the longer limited to communities of sin- Harold G. Shipp, chairman and chief execu-
gle-family homes, the name appears tive officer of Shipp Corporation.
construction of custom housing in

Toronto was a central activity. on apartment buildings, condomin-

Now, more than sixty years later, iums, townhouses, and even an
Shipp Corporation has a hand in vir- automobile dealership, Applewood a focal point for the area with four
tually every aspect of construction, Chevrolet Oldsmobile. office towers, a hotel, and three high-
from the original single-family The latter part of the 1970s wit- rise apartments.
homes, through substantial multiunit nessed a surge of new activities for Shipp has also been active in

residential buildings, to office towers the company. An initial venture was neighboring Etobicoke with its land-

and other commercial units. made into the United States with the mark construction of the Shipp Cen-

Three generations of Shipp perfec- construction of Shipp's Landing, a tre office tower/shopping concourse
tionists have built an enviable repu- luxury resort condominium complex in 1981. Negotiations are in progress
tation for quality into their work. on the Gulf Coast at Marco Island, for another similar Etobicoke com-
One brick bearing the name "Shipp- Florida. mercial project, to be known as

Built" is part of every building as a At the same time, Shipp was kept Shipp Centre West.
signature of pride in craftsmanship. busy on a local level as Mississauga
Chairman and chief executive officer became the fastest-growing suburb of The Mississauga Executive Centre, featuring
Harold G. Shipp (son of the founder) Toronto. The Mississauga Executive four office towers, a hotel, and three high-rise

notes: Centre, opened in 1979, proved to be apartments, is a Shipp-built project.

"Few developers build under their

own name — that's why you get com-
panies such as ABC Developments,
or EG Builders. We're proud of the
work we do. Why not let others know
who stands behind their product?"
Shipp's first venture into what was
later to become Mississauga took the
form of a purchase of 200 acres of
land in Toronto Township in 1951.
Father and son envisioned an entire
subdivision on the property at a time
when the area was considered too re-
mote in relation to the city of Toron-
to. Financing was difficult to obtain.
But eventually the challenges were
met, and within four months plans
were approved, an infrastructure was
built, and the first furnished model

home was completed —with an at-

tached garage, of course, for was it

assumed that anyone venturing to

live that far out of Toronto would

need to commute by car.

Today this Applewood Acres area
is still known as one of the largest

and most successful residential areas

constructed by a single builder.
Houses that originally sold for
MISSISSAUGA

DIVERSEY WYANDOTTE INC.

have been processed in clean plants

using clean equipment.
Diversey foam systems illustrate
the thoroughness of modern cleaning
,.« # methods. Foam cleaning uses a mix-
ture of chemicals and foam additives

tEEfe miini^, applied with special equipment using

« compressed
can clean
air. The foam solutions
in areas not easily accessi-

ble to soaking, brushing,

pressure washing. Foam
and high-
cleaning is

widely used by bakeries, breweries,

canneries, cereal processors, cultured-
product plants, dairy and ice cream
plants, egg and poultry plants, phar-
maceutical plants, and seafood pro-
The expression "cleanliness is next to The Diversey Wyandotte Inc. head office at cessors, as well as industrial and pulp
godliness" is sometimes said to have 2645 Royal Windsor Drive, Mississauga. and paper applications.
been originally voiced by parents try- Diversey Wyandotte also provides
ing to encourage a reluctant child to specialized chemicals and services to
wash behind the ears. It recognizes We eat in restaurants with the as- such industries as metalworking, pulp
an important fact of life — that clean- sumption that the food served will and paper, and transportation. For
liness is important to good health. not make us ill. Diversey Wyandotte example, different Diversey chem-
Diversey Wyandotte Inc. has products are used by the restaurant icals degrease engine parts of a car
grown into a major international industry to maintain a clean kitchen and clean and polish the body.
company by leading in the develop- and to wash dishes and other uten- The company started in Chicago in

ment of products that assure cleanli- sils. 1923 with a single product used to
ness. Here are a few examples of Hospitals, hotels, and other facili- clean floors. In 1927 Diversol, a non-
how Diversey Wyandotte touches ev- ties where people gather are able to corrosive disinfectant, was intro-

eryone. maintain high standards of sanitation duced, launching a wave of growth

The firm's products and services with Diversey Wyandotte products that spread into Canada. Diversol
assure that the milk we use every used in cleaning and disinfecting combined, in a dry form, a cleansing
day is as pure and wholesome as pos- floors and equipment. Laundries use agent with a bactericide. It grew out
sible. The sanitation process starts Diversey chemicals to wash bedding, of the development during World
right at the farm, where Diversey shirts,and towels. War I of an antiseptic solution that
products are used to wash a cow's The public can purchase baked
udder, equipment is sanitized, milk is goods, meat, fish, poultry, and many
filtered, and containers are made other products of the food-processing Diversey Wyandotte's research centre, photo-
sparkling clean. Poultry raisers are industry with the assurance that they graphed on the day of its opening in 1969.

able to provide Canadians with clean

and healthy poultry with the help of
Diversey Wyandotte.
Think of all the bottled products
people consume — beer, wine, soft
drinks, and many others. Everyone
assumes that any such product is free
from contamination. Diversey Wyan-
dotte provides the products and
systems that permit us to have that
confidence, to know that these food
products are made and packaged un-
der the most sanitary conditions.

140
 a

PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

reduced mortality from wounds from

70 percent to less than one percent.
When used to wash eating utensils,
the spread of respiratory infection
among the troops was sharply re-
duced. Diversol was the first of many
products developed and patented by
the company.
A
Canadian sales subsidiary was
formed in 1937. The Diversey Corpo-
ration (Canada) Limited consisted of
a staff of two and a sales force of
four. Only ten cleaning and sanitiz-
ing compounds were available to Ca-
nadian customers. Manufacturing
was initiated in Canada in 1950.
Today there are more than 500
specialty chemical products provided
from the Mississauga and other Diversey Wyandotte's new MENTOR — Canada, Diversey Wyandotte Inc.
voice-communication chemical dispenser.
plants and offices across Canada. was formed as a result of a merger
MENTOR not only dispenses dish-machine
There are 250 employees at the Mis- joining Wyandotte Chemicals of
chemicals accurately, but also instructs the op-
sissauga facilities, of whom thirty- erator how to start up and shut down the dish- Canada Limited and Diversey (Can-
five concentrate on research and machine. ada) Ltd.
development in a separate research The corporate head office of the
centre. Diversey Corporation was moved in

Diversey Wyandotte is considered Diversey Corporation, was acquired 1981 to Canada from the United
the largest specialty chemical compa- by The Molson Companies Limited, States and is also located in Missis-
ny Canada. More than 95 percent
in one of Canada's oldest industrial or- sauga, in the City Centre office
of its products are manufactured in ganizations. complex.
Mississauga, and with branch plants In 1980 The Molson Companies
strategically located across Canada, acquired the specialty chemicals The firm's fleet of trucks assures fast and effi-

the firm can provide true coast-to- business of BASF Wyandotte. In cient delivery coast to coast.

coast service.
In addition to chemical products,
Diversey Wyandotte provides equip-
ment and systems to make certain its

products achieve maximum effective-

ness. This means a total systems ap-
proach to cleaning and sanitation
using the knowledge and experience
gained elsewhere and applying the
latest advanced technology.
The environment is a growing con-

cern throughout society. The public

focus on the quality of air and water
reflects increasingly complex sanita-
tion problems. Diversey Wyandotte
researchers see new opportunities in

improved chemical systems and the

reuse of chemicals to better control
chemical costs.
In 1978 the parent concern, the

141
MISSISSAUGA

ERINDALE CAMPUS-UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

T's certificate programs in business
or in personnel and industrial rela-

tions. The U of T's School of Con-

tinuing Studies also offers a variety
of noncredit courses on the Erindale
Campus from conversational French
to the use of microcomputers in busi-

ness.
The facilities available on campus
are excellent. They include a library,
which houses over 270,000 items and
a unique university-wide catalogue
system that permits students access
to more than four million volumes on
the downtown campus; a computer
centre; bookstore; health services;
athletic facilities; a career counsel-

In the early 1960s the University of The South Building houses many of the cam- ling and job placement centre; a
pus' excellent facilities, including the library,
Toronto, Canada's largest and best- teaching-learning centre; the conve-
computer centre, career counselling and job
known university, envisaged the need nience of a full-service bank; a tuck
placement centre, and the art gallery.
for a suburban campus in the west shop; and excellent city transit bus
end of Toronto. By April 1963 the service. Erindale also provides over

university had purchased the first 500 students with town house-style
parcel of land on what would be a munity receives all the academic living accommodations on campus.

224-acre campus along the banks of benefits of having in its midst a These unique four- and six-person
the Credit River in Peel County. university campus that allows its res- town house units are the most eco-
Thus, the Erindale Campus of the idents to attend a world-class institu- nomical university residences in On-
University of Toronto had its begin- tion without leaving the city limits. tario and, when not in use during the

nings in an area that would become All Erindale students earn Univer-
the city of Mississauga by 1974. sity of — Bachelor
Toronto degrees a

The campus officially opened its of Arts, a Bachelor of Science, or

doors in 1967 with one building and Bachelor of Commerce — and stu- Erindale's more than 5.000 students earn the
University of Toronto degrees of Bachelor of
only 200 students. Today there are dents have a choice of more than 50
Arts, Bachelor of Science, or Bachelor of
more than 5,200 undergraduates, 100 academic programs and 700 courses. Commerce. The campus is an integral part of
graduate students, and over 10,000 In addition to regular degree courses, the Faculty of Arts and Science of the Univer-

alumni. And like the city in which it students may study toward the U of sity of Toronto.

is located, Erindale is young, vital,

and growing.
Erindale has all the advantages of
a young, talented teaching staff and
modern facilities, as well as the bene-
fits associated with being a part of
Canada's oldest and most prestigious
university. It is the largest of the uni-
versity's nine colleges that make up
the Arts and Science Faculty of the
University of Toronto. Because Erin-
daleis part of Canada's largest and

most highly respected university,

Mississauga has a far better univer-
sity than any city with a population
of 333,000 could support. The com-

142
academic year, they are available to

the public through Erindale's Confer-

ence and Housing Office.
Erindale's most impressive assets
lie in the areas of teaching and re-
search. Five of Erindale's professors
have won the highly prized OCUFA
teaching award —
more than any raise $400,000 in the original time The Erindale Campus town house residences
arehome to its students in the winter, and in
other division at the U of T. Dr. J. frame.
the summer they are popular with conference
Tuzo Wilson, Erindale's second prin- Erindale's cultural and social re-
delegates who live on campus.
cipal, is a world-renowned geologist sponsibilities reach beyond its own
while current principal Paul Fox is student population to the Missis-
considered one of Canada's foremost sauga community. The campus pro-
political scientists. Professor Fergus vides the only fully accredited public
Craik, one of the country's promi- art gallery in Mississauga and many vide economical winter residence
nent psychologists, is helping to es- of Erindale's in-house facilities such rates for students and has supported
tablish the U of T as one of the top as the library, tuck shop, bank, ath- the building of new residences.
institutions in the world for research letics and recreation, and bookstore The University of Toronto's inau-
on human memory. Ron Pruessen of are available to the public. Many gural mandate for the Erindale
Erindale's History Department has public events and lectures are held Campus in 1963 was to meet the ac-
been nominated for the Pulitzer on the campus annually as well. ademic, social, and cultural needs of
Prize and Josef Skvorecky of the En- Erindale's Conference and Hous- its own students and of a growing
glish Department, an internationally ing Office offers complete conference community. Today Erindale is striv-
known author, has been nominated services on the campus. Seminar, ing to meet the changing demands of
for the Nobel Prize for literature and meeting, and teaching rooms can be the 1980s for its students and the
won the 1984 Governor-General's arranged as well as catering, audiovi- community. Its doors are open to stu-
Literary Award. sual aids, and overnight accommoda- dents and community groups who
The quality of scientific research tions. From May to September 1984 wish to use the opportunities Erin-
being conducted at Erindale has the town houses accommodated over dale has for them.
earned its professors major support. 3,000 people in the residences as well

In seven years external research as an additional 3,000 people partici-

The more than 200 professors teaching at the
grants awarded to Erindale's profes- pating in various conferences on
ErindaleCampus are actively engaged in both
sors have increased tenfold from campus. The income generated teaching and research. The J. Tuzo Wilson
$300,000 to $3 million. Erindale's through the summer conference and Research laboratories wing in the South
scientists are involved in major re- housing business has helped to pro- Building houses the science research facilities.

search projects which include the im-

provement of human nutrition in

northern Canada; oil exploration; and

increasing the productivity, variety,
and quality of mushrooms being
grown in Ontario.
Erindale has excellent students for
whom it feels a special responsibility.

In April 1983 Erindale launched its

major scholarship campaign.

first

With support from the private sector,

its alumni, the City of Mississauga,
and its own faculty, staff, students,
and associates, Erindale has not only
met the three-year goal of $250,000
in eighteen months but has launched

a second phase in the campaign to

MISSISSAUGA

ONTARIO BUS INDUSTRIES INC.

Don Sheardown believes in hiring the

best people for his competitive, high-
ly innovative company. Ontario Bus
is the sole Ontario manufacturer of
heavy-duty transit vehicles, em-
ploying 329 people in the Missis-
sauga plant and another eighty-nine
at its wholly owned subsidiary, Bus
Industries of America Inc. in Oris-

kany, New York. Its Orion Line of

busesis employed throughout North

America by medium-size transit

systems, including that of Missis-
sauga. The newly developed Orion II

line has put the business in the fore-

front of bus transportation for the

disabled.
The pattern of innovation and de-
sign development for which the firm
is now famous began with the origi-
nal owner, Arnold Wollschlaeger. He
established Ontario Bus Industries as
a subsidiary of his truck and transit
vehicle repair company, Ontario Bus
and Truck, which located in Missis-
sauga in 1972. Wollschlaeger be-
Orion does Founder of the company, the late Arnold
lieved that there was a market for a cles of this type, the II
Wollschlaeger, at far left, with employees (left
small (thirty-foot) transit vehicle. not require wheelchair lifts, and in-
to right) Richard Arndt, Chris Walkey. Ed
After Wollschlaeger's death in corporates a number of innovative
Schleer, and John Leether.
1979, company control was assumed features that facilitate ease of access
by Sheardown. Since that time, and safety.
growth in staff and expansion of Developed with the financial aid of
work space have soared. the Federal Department of Industry, system is often presented to potential

Building area has increased from Trade and Commerce, and construct- example of
clients as a successful

60,000 square feet in 1980 to the ed entirely in Mississauga, the Orion what Ontario Bus can provide for
current 1 16,000 square feet. An ad- II has world market potential. them.
ditional five acres has been pur- Ontario Bus Industries Inc. is the But the firm's involvement is not

chased behind the existing buildings only bus repair and refurbishing ser- limited to business concerns. Long an
to increase production capacity for vice in Canada. Although it is no active supporter of community activi-
the new Orion II bus. longer main source of revenue, the
its ties such as hospitals and minor
Productivity has zoomed from one firm continues to provide essential league sports, it has reached outside
bus per month in 1976 to the current services to the local market in partic- Mississauga to extend a hand to the
rate of seven per week. Of these, five ular. NHL Oldtimer's hockey league in its

are sent to the United States plant The solid relationship between On- successful efforts to raise funds for
for finishing and distribution to U.S. tario Bus Industries and the City of charitable organizations across
clients, while the other two remain Mississauga is based on many years Canada.
for use in Canada. of doing business together. The city's President Donald Sheardown de-

The company is justifiably proud own transit system operates the scribes Mississauga as a city sensitive

of one of its most impressive de- Orion line of buses and serves as a to the business community. "They
signs —the Orion II bus for transpor- working model of the type of medi- listen to you," he notes.
tation of the physically disabled. um-size transit system envisioned by Apparently, Ontario Bus Industries
Unlike other specially designed vehi- the company's founder. As such, the not only listens; it acts.

144
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

MEDTRONIC OF CANADA LTD.

Medtronic is a name that means life

to thousands of people who benefit
from some of the most sophisticated
medical technology available.
It was only about a quarter-cen-
tury ago that the public began to
hear about heart pacemakers. Devel-
opment of the life-sustaining pace-
maker created Medtronic Inc.
Today Medtronic is the world*s
leading producer of many kinds of
implantable medical devices — heart
pacemaker systems, neurological of the spine and even insertion of a The Mississauga head and manufactur-
office
ing plant of Medtronic of Canada Ltd. is a
systems, mechanical heart valves, steel rod in the back of a scoliosis
28,000-square-foot facility within 400 miles
and instrumentation for medical di- sufferer.
of 80 percent of Canadian hospital research
agnosis and monitoring. Heart pacemakers are the most fa- facilities.

The Canadian division, Medtronic mous Medtronic products. The com-

of Canada, manufactures pacemakers pany maintains a close relationship
and directs sales activities for the with both the doctors who insert the With health the basis of the com-
Canadian, Asian, and Pacific areas, pacemakers and the patients who pany, encouragement of good health
including Australia and Japan. Its wear them. Pacemaker patients visit among its own people is a corporate
Mississauga head office and manu- the plant to discuss their experiences policy. "We're into health in a big

facturing plant employs about seven- with the manufacturing staff. This way," observes Kenneth G.C. Jones,
ty of the 100 people in Canada. constant communication results in vice-president and treasurer. "We
Medtronic started in Canada in the improved products. earn our money from health. We also

1960s, as a distributor with eleven In the early years heart pacemak- believe in promoting physical fitness

people in a Vancouver office. ers were referred "hockey

to as among our employees." Medtronic
The 28,000-square-foot Missis- pucks" because of their size and has installed exercise facilities in the

sauga facility is close to its key mar- shape. Life was limited to about two plant, including a gymnasium and
kets. Some 80 percent of Canadian and one-half years. The pacemakers squash and tennis courts.
hospital research facilities are within now manufactured at the Missis- Staff members take this policy on
400 miles. sauga plant are smaller and lighter health out into the Mississauga com-
Canadians have played an impor- and have a lifespan of five to ten munity. Many are involved in health-
tant part in the development of im- years. related activities such as minor
planted medical devices. Toronto As always in any product made by league sports and fund raising.
General Hospital physicians Wilfred Medtronic, reliability is the vital
Bigelow and John Callaghan did pio- component. People depend on them
neering work with a National Re- for their lives. "Highest quality, life-
This miniaturized pulse generator, manufac-
search Council of Canada engineer, sustaining reliability" is the credo of tured by Medtronic of Canada Ltd., is used
Jack Hopps. the people of Medtronic of Canada. with a lead to pace the heart.

More Medtronic worked

recently,
with Dr. Walter Bobechko at the fa-
mous Hospital for Sick Children in

developing an implant to counteract

the effects of scoliosis. This is a se-
vere curvature of the spine that oc-
curs with distressing frequency in
young girls. The implanted instru-
ment transmits electronic impulses to
strengthen the lazy muscle that
causes the curvature. The traditional
treatment involved awkward bracing
MISSISSAUGA

DURACELL INC. (CANADA)

In 1962 a company then known as
the Mallory Battery Company of
Canada Limited opened a new plant
in Mississauga. This innovative facil-
ity set the tone for the future direc-
tion and growth of this firm.
The plant was the first in Canada
specifically designed for the manu-
facture of dry cell batteries — the
then relatively new alkaline batteries.
This facility was reported to be the
first totally air-conditioned industrial
plant. consumer products were emerging re- Duracell Canada's 134,000-square-foot Missis-
sauga plant is located in Sheridan Park.
A research facility was a key fea- quiring small, powerful batteries.
ture since the plant was located in Development of transistors, miniatur-

the Sheridan Park research commu- ized microscopic circuits, and the
nity. There were only thirty people space program has opened a whole in Canada and for the international

employed initially. new low-voltage world. organization. It provides expertise

At the time, this organization con- Duracell today provides sophisti- and development in highly special-
centrated on making batteries for in- cated and finely engineered batteries ized areas, some unique to the Cana-

dustry. Two years later the decision for a multitude of uses — toys, digital dian company.
was made to enter the consumer watches, flashlights, transistor radios, The head office, manufacturing,
market on a worldwide basis. A new cameras, radio rescue beacons, cas- and research facility in Mississauga
look and a new brand name helped sette recorders, walkie-talkies, paging is located on a ten-acre site. Product

to complete the transition and to in- devices, hearing aids, hand-held cal- distribution centres are in St. John's,

troduce the new products. culators, professional sound-recording Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, and
The result: Duracell as both a equipment, and many others. Vancouver.
product and corporate identification While concentrating on the devel- Duracell Canada is a subsidiary of

connoting long life, and the now opment and manufacture of alkaline Duracell Inc. of Bethel, Connecticut,
well-known copper-colored-top identi- batteries of high quality for the pre- which is a subsidiary of Dart &
fication for Duracell products. The mium market, Duracell also distrib- Kraft Inc., of Northbrook, Illinois, a
long-established Mallory name con- utes a wide range of other types of multinational food, consumer, and
tinues to identify batteries made for batteries, flashlight cases, and lan- commercial products company.
industrial use. terns.

Today Duracell has a staff of 400 A research and development de-

spread across Canada, and the Mis- partment of about twenty-five people Duracell provides sophisticated and finely en-
sissauga plant has expanded from is a significant resource for Duracell gineered batteries for a multitude of uses.

30,000 square feet to 134,000 square

feet.

The company has about 70 percent

of the market for alkaline batteries,
which is the equivalent of about 50
percent of the total Canadian battery
market. This is a strong position and
a significantly greater market share
than Duracell products have won in

any other country.

Keys to Duracell's growth over the
years were the firm's strong engi-
neering base and an innovative ap-
proach both to batteries and to the
changing marketplace where new

146
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

INTERCRAFT INDUSTRIES OF CANADA LTD.

People purchase the products of In- for every three Canadians. It is esti- Canada Ltd. is located
Intercraft Industries of

Canada mated that the average home has at 3440 Wolfedah Road, Mississauga.
tercraft Industries of for
pleasure — to decorate and beautify fifty to seventy-five framed items

their homes. hanging on the walls. The parent

Intercraft is an important division company has five manufacturing Intercraft's business.Photography in
of the world's largest manufacturer plants in the United States and one particular has shown strong growth
of photo frames, general-purpose in England. trends as families document signifi-
frames, and framed art — Intercraft Every appropriate raw material is cant events and leisure activities.
Industries Corporation, with its main used, including metal, wood, glass, Intercraft's success as the leader in

office in Los Angeles. paper products, and polystyrene. framed products reflects the attrac-
The Canadian division is head- In 1984 Intercraft Industries Cor- tion to the consumer of high-quality

quarters for all international activi- poration expected to achieve an an- products at a reasonable price and a
ties of the Intercraft group. In nual sales level of some $180 million, policy of favorable profit margins
addition, the Mississauga facility growing from less than $40 million in and full service to retailers.
directly supplies these decorative 1972. This reflects an outstanding Intercraft representatives visit each
products to the Caribbean, South performance. The Canadian opera- store at regular intervals, assuming
America, and the Middle East. It is tions were established in May 1971. major responsibilities for the success
considered unusual for a Canadian At that time Intercraft had about a of merchandise displays in attracting
subsidiary of a major multinational dozen employees and operated from impulse purchases. This emphasis on
organization to have such responsibil- a small, rented warehouse. full service to retail outlets underlies
ity for the growth of important inter- The Canadian company progressed the growth of the market for frames
national operations that normally quickly to an assembly operation and and framed art.
would be managed from the head then into a fully autonomous manu- As an organization keenly aware
office. facturing complex, initially limited to that its customers purchase its prod-
The Mississauga plant, spanning serving the Canadian market and ucts for pleasure, Intercraft supports
125,000 square feet on eight acres of subsequently moving outside Canada. community projects that give plea-
land, employs 175 people on a two- The trend in society to more lei- sure to people. These include spon-
shifts-a-day basis. These people man- sure-time activities and the growth of sorship of concert performances and
ufacture and sell about eight million photography, home decorating, and other cultural events and a home for

frames a year — approximately one home crafts underpins the growth of disabled and handicapped adults.

147
MISSISSAUGA

SURE-WAY TRANSPORT LIMITED

The distinctive shamrock green and of 70,000 to 96,000 pounds to and Sure- Way Transport 's customers are served by

white equipment of Sure- Way Trans- from the northern Ontario communi- a variety of flat-bed, low-bed, and rack trail-

ers; trombones; dry freight and heated vans;

port Limited identifies a specialized ties it also supplies with regular
and custom-built, six-axle trailers.
organization delivering heavy-weight shipments of soft drinks.

truck transport services to a wide As a carrier of commodities vital

spectrum of major industry. to the national economy. Sure- Way contrast to the industry's high turn-
Art Smitherman, president, holds a seven-day-a-week operating over rate — as a result of company
founded Sure- Way in 1967 on the licence,one of the few granted by policies assigning responsibility for

strength of fifteen years' experience the Canadian Transport Commission. trucks to individual drivers and total
in the transportation business. He To consolidate its position in the in- in-house control over maintenance.
concentrated from the outset on dustry, the company has assembled a Diversification, upgrading, and
meeting the demands of conveying fleet of sixty-five late-model vehicles modification of equipment are cited
heavy bulk products, especially goods operating from a fully equipped, by Smitherman for the growth en-
made or required by the principal in- nine-bay service garage on its 5.4- joyed by the firm. Client needs are
dustries of northern and western On- acre property at 7215 Torbram Road met by an array of flat-bed, low-bed,
tario. Associated with him in the in Mississauga. Originally, premises and rack trailers; trombones; dry
management of the company are were rented, first in Rexdale and freight and heated vans; and custom-
partners Stan Hughes, secretary/ then on Elmbank Road in Missis- built, six-axle trailers designed to
treasurer, who joined the firm in 1972, sauga, prior to acquisition of the carry one 74,000-pound steel coil

and John Izzo, vice-president, who present location just north of Pearson for Algoma Steel Corp., Sault Ste.
followed in 1974. Izzo is a director International Airport in 1976. Marie, Ontario.
of the Ontario Trucking Association. President Smitherman has seen his "Sure- Way has flourished in

Sure- Way is essentially a long- staff increase from thirty-five to Mississauga because we provide a re-

and short-haul carrier of big-tonnage ninety, the latter figure including liable, essential service to the com-
steel, pipe, paper, food products, sixty-five drivers, over the past eigh- munities that depend on Ontario's
building supplies, and lumber. Its teen years. Many of the early em- important resource-based industries,"
largest units routinely handle loads ployees are still on the job — in he observes.

148
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICA INC.

"There are still many severe prob- tools used to treat Canadians. These
lems for which there is no cure at all are the trademarked IMODIUM*
and for which effective drugs have to (loperamide), VERMOX* (meben-
be found quickly in the interest of all dazole), SUBLIMAZE* (fentanyl cit-

who are suffering. This is the way we rate), INAPSINE* (droperidol), and
see our duty here and we would like INNOVAR* (droperidol/fentanyl
to think that we have contributed to citrate).
the solution of some of these prob- Janssen concentrates heavily on re-

lems. And we will continue ... be- search, currently in five important
cause there is so much more that therapeutic areas —anaesthesia,
needs to be done." gastroenterology, mycology, immu-
Dr. Paul Janssen, founder of nology, and cardiovascular pharma-
the Belgium-based international cology. Drugs under study include
Janssen health organization alfentanil,domperidone, ketoconazole,
astemizole, and the cardiovascular
Janssen Pharmaceutica is an exciting agents lorcainide and ketanserin.
Mississauga success story. This While the names seem complex,
health industry organization was al- the functions are beneficial. For ex-
ready an international success in ample, alfentanil is a rapid, short- Dr. Paul Janssen, founder, on the occasion of

when became the newest his visit to Canada to accept the Gairdner
1982, it acting narcotic agent especially
Foundation International Award.
member of Mississauga's lengthy list useful for patient comfort in certain
of pharmaceutical organizations. operations. Every hay fever sufferer
Growth has been rapid since. From knows about the hazard of sleepiness While Janssen is famous for its pi-
a standing start, sales ballooned to from drugs taken to relieve that dis- oneering research, the company ac-
$6.5 million in 1983 and grew to comfort. HISMANAL* (astemizole) tively supports clinical investigation

over $10 million in 1984. relieves hay fever and rhinitis with- at sixteen major teaching centres
The initial staff of seventeen grew out sedation. across Canada — including the Royal
to seventy-five, including sixteen The first oral broad-spectrum fun- Victoria Hospital, McMaster Univer-
representatives with university back- gicide in the world, NIZORAL* sity, Toronto General Hospital,
grounds and skills required to report (ketoconazole), probably is the best- Sunnybrook Hospital, Vancouver
new developments to the medical known Janssen product. This drug is General Hospital, and the University
profession. also undergoing research as a possi- of Western Ontario.
The Janssen organization, founded ble treatment for certain cases of
in 1953, has achieved worldwide cancer of the prostate. *Trademark
fame as a pioneer of new therapeutic Another Janssen drug, sufentanil,
agents. In Canada, as in many other has potential for helping patients un-
Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc., the Belgium-
countries, Janssen previously was un- dergoing cardiac surgery such as the based international health organization,
known because its drugs appeared now well-established coronary bypass located at 6535 Millcreek Drive, Mississauga,
under the labels of other companies. operations. in 1982.

Doctors will be familiar with such

landmarks in treatment as haloperi-
dol, pimozide, fluspirilene, micona-
zole nitrate, and diphenoxylate, but
probably don't know that these re-

sulted from Janssen research.

That situation is now changing in
Canada. Five well-established drug
treatments carry the Janssen label.
While the names are hardly house-
hold words to the general public,
they are well known to the medical
profession and among the important
MISSISSAUGA

BARD CANADA INC.

In 1984 Bard Canada Inc. celebrated

its twentieth anniversary of making

high-quality medical products avail-
able to the Canadian health care
community. Over the course of the
firm's first two decades the Canadian
marketplace saw the presence of
Bard Canada Inc. grow from a single
representative who initiated a distri-
bution network for Bard products, to
a sales, marketing, and manufactur-
ing organization with an employee
force of over 120. A number of
changes and expansions have allowed
Bard Canada to evolve from a com-
pany relying 100 percent upon im-
ported goods to one that currently
manufactures approximately 50 per-
cent of the items it sells. Included in foot Mississauga facility in 1975 al- For twenty years Bard Canada Inc. 's principal
contribution to the medical profession has
this manufacturing activity is a line lowed Bard to increase its manufac-
been urologically related products such as this
of products that are exported to the turing capabilities. In addition to the
centre-entry drainage bag.
world marketplace. Techlem line of products, the oppor-
Health care requires the highest tunity was seized to increase the
possible standards of quality and reli- Canadian manufacturing base to in-
ability. A patient's life and comfort clude urological, respiratory care, Bard Canada has grown with the
often depend on many of the 2,200 and general health care products. widespread improvement in health
products provided by Bard. A major reorganization was under- care in Canada. Its future growth
Bard Canada Inc.'s parent compa- taken in 1982 to divide products into seems assured as the medical profes-
ny, C.R. Bard, Inc., is recognized in four distinct groups, each represented sion further improves its ability to

the medical profession as a pioneer by separate sales forces. This move serve the health care requirements of
in developing disposable medical was designed to provide technical Canadians.
products for hospital procedures. representatives with the opportunity
C.R. Bard, Inc., traces its origins to develop a greater level of expertise
Today the firm has added cardiovascular, sur-
back to 1907 and the introduction in within one or two areas of hospital
gical,and general health care products includ-
the United States of a French- activity. Bard representatives could ing the Techlem line of equipment used to
developed catheter for treatment of then concentrate their efforts as spe- facilitate the handling of patients. Shown is a

urinary tract problems. cialists in their defined areas. Techlem * 2000 mobile stretcher.

Urological-related products contin-

ue to be a major segment of the
business. These have since been
joined by cardiovascular, surgical,
and general health care products.
Bard Canada's special contribution
to hospital care throughout the world
is the Techlem line of equipment
used to facilitate the handling of pa-
tients. This includes the familiar
transport stretcher and a special, hy-
draulic stretcher. Bard Canada is the
sole supplier to the world of this
patient-handling equipment.
The move to a new 74,000-square-

150
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

ALKARIL CHEMICALS LTD.

A small chemical-blending operation 1975, to 55,000 square feet in 1979, The headquarters of Alkaril Chemicals Ltd. is

at3265 Wolfedale Road, Mississauga.

started in Mississauga in 1956 was and to 100,000 square feet in 1984-
the springboard for Alkaril Chem- 1985.
and diverse com-
icals Ltd., a large Rapid growth in volume of busi- ethoxylation and propoxylation facili-

pany serving a broad cross section of ness, staff complement, and product ties, and installations for such unit

North American industry. range over the past fifteen years is processes as quaternization, amida-
By 1969 the firm founded by reflected in the rise of gross sales tion, phosphation, esterification, and
Joseph Papp was still relatively un- from $400,000 in 1969 to $30 million sulphonation.
known, employing only three to four in 1984. Of the eighty to eighty-five become an increasingly
Alkaril has
people. Then Victor Hubeny bought employees, one-third are engaged in important manufacturer of surface
out Papp and was joined in partner- research and development, a key active agents as well as other special-
ship by Milan Verkonik (now presi- strength of the company. Further ex- ty chemicals for North American in-

dent) in 1970. Five years later pansion has occurred, too, through a dustrial uses. In all, several hundred
Verkonik and then-sales manager Ian joint venture with Quaker Chemical different products are synthesized in
Anderson (currently vice-president of Corporation of Conshohocken, Penn- its plants, among them surface active
sales) purchased all of Hubeny's in- sylvania, establishing Alkaril Chem- agents (surfactants), including wet-
terests. icals Inc. in the United States in ting agents, emulsifiers, dispersants,

The Alkaril plant at 3265 Wolfe- 1980. The firm opened a new plant and detergents; polypols, produced
dale Road was built in 1971 to in Winder, Georgia, in 1982 and two for rigid urethane foams; and poly-

replace the inadequate original prem- years later the Canadian partner electrolytes, used as flocculants or

ises on Mavis Road. Covering 24,000 bought out Quaker's interest. flocculating agents in municipal and
square feet at the outset, the struc- Both modern plants are equipped industrial water treatment and in the
ture has since been enlarged in three with efficient, large-scale, high-tem- mining, oil, and pulp and paper in-
stages — to 35,000 square feet in perature and -pressure reactors, dustries.

151
MISSISSAUGA

REID MILLING
A DIVISION OF NABISCO BRANDS LIMITED

The modern homes and offices of

present-day Mississauga give the im-
pression of a just-built community.
In one form or another, however, the
area has bustled with activity since
the early 1800s.
Reid Milling has been part of that
activity for ninety years, but the
flour mill has been part of the com-
munity for over 150 years. Nestled in

the heart of Ontario's wheat-growing

farm community and blessed with A view of Reid"s mill and elevators from One of Reid Milling's bulk- flour trucks —
across the Credit River Valley. the modern method of delivering flour.
ample hydro power from the Credit
River, the area has always been a
popular centre for milling activity.
Duncan Reid, an experienced miller
from St. Catherines, purchased one
of the original mills in public auction
in 1895, to establish what is today
the country's largest producer of soft
wheat, custom-milled flours.
Although Reid Milling is a divi-
sion of Nabisco Brands, it operates
independently and counts among its
clients most of the major bakeries in
the biscuit and cake flour industry.
Each client has different require-
ments which can be met only by cus-
—
tom milling the careful combination
of exactly the right flours and wheat
blend to produce a desired texture or
taste. As vice-president Ken Silk
notes, "Milling today is as much a
science as anything else."
Cereal chemists work together Unloading wheat at one of Reid Milling's ele- ons — but the principle is the same."
vator receiving stations.
with the clients to meet their varied Throughout the year some two
and often complex requirements. As million bushels of wheat are kept
noted in the company logo, Reid spe- stored in controlled conditions inside
cializes in the processing of soft win- the company's modern concrete
ter wheat, about 70 percent grown in feed and other nonhuman consump- elevators.
southern Ontario and the rest trans- tion. Mississauga has proven an ideal
ported from the country's bread bas- President Frank Reid, grandson of location that has assured healthy
ket in Western Canada. the founder, acknowledges that the growth over Reid Milling's long his-

There is very little waste in such milling business has changed over the tory. As Frank Reid points out,
an industry. By-products from the years. But some elements are time- conditions are perfectly suited to the
processing of cake flours; pastry, bis- less. company's activities: proximity to a
cuit, waffle, and wafer flours; and "If you come by the mill in early major market in Toronto, direct ac-
cracker and breading flours include August," he remarks, "you'll see cess to the CPR railway line, excel-

food-grade bran and wheat germ, trucks loaded with wheat stretching lent highway facilities, plentiful
which are increasingly popular for nearly a mile as farmers and hydro power, and an enthusiastic lo-
among cereal consumers. Anything grain dealers come to sell us their cal work force —
many of whom, he
left in the process is used for animal wheat. Once it was horses and wag- notes, live "just down the street."

152
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

FOODS DIVISION OF NABISCO BRANDS LIMITED

A modern, self-contained pet food-
manufacturing plant on the south-
western fringe of Mississauga sup-
plies the Canadian market with
upwards of fifty million cans of
brand-name products annually.
This Pet Food plant of Nabisco
Brands Limited is a highly automat-
ed plant, blending, cooking, labeling,
and packaging canned pet food.
From the company shipping docks
more than two million, 24-can cases
of pet food are transported each year
by and truck to the Prairies, On-
rail

tario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.

Founded in downtown Toronto in
1938, the business was acquired by
Standard Brands in 1955. The plant
at 2463 Royal Windsor Drive was
opened in 1969, and by 1978 all of
the Toronto operation had been
transferred to the Mississauga site. A Through a 1982 merger of Standard Brands Besides being the leader in its field,
and Nabisco, this modern facility became the
merger of Standard Brands and Nabisco was the first pet food manu-
major pet food-manufacturing location of
Nabisco took place in 1982, by facturer to join the certification pro-
Nabisco Brands Limited.
which time the original Mississauga gram in the mid-1970s.
building of 60,000 square feet had Fisher regards the Mississauga
undergone three expansions to occu- the certification is invaluable to the base as ideal for Nabisco in terms of
py 100,000 square feet. Over 100 company. As Fisher sees it: "We are access to markets, shipping conve-
people currently staff the plant. able to use a seal on our products nience, and the planning controls,
Quality control is of paramount saying they are enjoyable to the pet including beneficial landscaping cri-
importance in the plant, both to hold and meet all nutritional standards." teria, applied by the city government.
and expand the market for brands
such as Dr. Ballard's, Miss Mew,
Alpo, Romar, Tops, and Perky, and
to meet industry standards. The con-
tents of Nabisco pet foods are under
constant scrutiny in its well-equipped
laboratory, while the certification of
Dr. Ballard's and Miss Mew prod-
ucts by the Canadian Veterinary
Medical Association entails constant
monitoring plus a regular inspection
of the plant by the CVMA.
In the view of Brian F. Fisher,
vice-president of manufacturing, and
plant manager Kenneth Thompson,

Some of the many products familiar to dog

and cat owners that are manufactured at the
firm's Mississauga plant.

153
MISSISSAUGA

ONTARIO HYDRO
LAKEVIEW THERMAL GENERATING STATION
The Lakeview Thermal Generating
Station of Ontario Hydro is an awe-
some sight, perched on the shore of
Lake Ontario in Mississauga.
Four 490-foot-high stacks reach
high into the air from the large pow-
erhouse containing the eight power
units. A large dock extends 2,000
feet out into the water.
Ontario Hydro is the provincial
government utility with responsibility
for providing electrical power to
homes and industry. As the name in-

dicates, the utility was founded on

the basis of using water power to
generate electricity. But as the prov-
ince grew, other sources had to be
developed and so Ontario Hydro ex-
panded into thermal and nuclear forth across borders through this net- The Lakeview Thermal Generating Station of
Ontario Hydro has a capacity of 2.4 million
generation. work, making certain that the wheels
kilowatts, greater than the combined capacity
Lakeview is especially significant of industry hum smoothly and homes
of all Canadian power plants at Niagara Falls.
for Ontario Hydro as the first station and streets are well lighted. Ontario There are eight power units. At full capacity-
in which Hydro did its own engineer- Hydro exports large quantities of each unit burns 103 tons of coal per hour.
ing. The complex is coal fired and power to the United States, about 40
operated by a staff of 450. It is one percent of production during the
of the largest coal-fired power sta- summer of 1984.
tions in North America. Construction In turn, the Lakeview generating nace takes up a space approximately
started in 1958 and the first electric- station uses U.S. coal as its fuel. 190 feet high, 70 feet wide, and 40
ity was generated in 1961. Construc- This low-sulphur coal results in very feet deep.
tion continued until the eighth and low acid gas emissions, a key part of This high-temperature steam
final unit was completed in 1968. the operating programs and facilities drives a complex of turbine genera-
The eight generating units are en- emphasizing strict environmental tors to obtain electricity at 16,000
closed in a powerhouse 1,200 feet controls in all areas — air, noise, and and 18,000 volts for transmission into
long, 190 feet high, and 293 feet water. the grid at 230,000 volts.
wide. This coal is brought by ship to the Where once it nestled in quiet
Its cost was $274 million. To re- dock, which can simultaneously han- countryside, Lakeview Thermal Gen-
place this plant today would require dle two self-unloading vessels of 27- erating Station today is located in
a much larger expenditure. Yet pow- foot draft and up to 750 feet in the heart of the community, surround-
er technology is moving so rapidly, length. The dock's coal-handling fa- ed by homes and industry. Its man-
especially in the use of nuclear fuel, cilities have a capacity of 5,000 tons agers strive to avoid creating any
that Lakeview may play only a minor an hour. Coal is moved to a storage disturbance to the community. Every
part, if any at all, in providing power area with a capacity of 2.5 million practical step has been taken to min-
in the future. tons. This coal is transported at a imize air pollution, including special
This generating station, with its rate of 1,000 tons an hour into the sprays to prevent dust blowing off
capacity of 2.4 million kilowatts, can power station. the coal-storage area and electrostat-
produce enough power meet the
to The eight power units, operating at ic precipitators to remove up to 99.5
needs of 1.6 million homes. That full load, consume a total of 824 tons percent of fly ash particles. The tall

power flows into Ontario Hydro's of coal an hour. The eight boilers are chimneys disperse flue gases high
high-voltage power grid, which is each capable of producing two mil- into the upper atmosphere. The one
linked to other similar networks in lion pounds of steam per hour with million gallons of water a minute re-
eastern Canada and the United superheat and reheat temperatures of quired at full operation for cooling is

States. Electricity flows back and 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Each fur- returned to Lake Ontario unpolluted.

154
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

GULF CANADA LIMITED

Gulf Canada Limited is a pioneer in
Mississauga with two important ac-
tivities firmly established in the com-

—
munity a large petroleum refinery
complex and a major research and
development facility.
The Clarkson Refinery, a well-
known landmark on the shore of
Lake Ontario, traces its origins back
to 1943 when a small facility started

providing fuel during wartime. At

that time what is now Mississauga
was rural farmland.
In its early years Clarkson Refin-
ery was a self-contained community
with its own housing — Marigold Vil-

lage. These fifty homes were located

in an old apple orchard and were Clarkson Refinery manufactures 400 Gulf $213 million. At that time the lubri-
Canada products and processes 60,000 barrels cating production facilities were
necessary because there were no resi- oil
of oil daily.
dential districts in the immediate vi- replaced by a HydroTreating plant.

cinity of the refinery. The growth of Using an ultramodern HydroTreating

Mississauga has eliminated that con- process developed by the Gulf Oil
cern. But the refinery continues to 400 products ranging from the oils Corporation of the United States, the
function as a small city in other used in cars and trucks to wax for refinery now manufactures almost all

ways, operating its own fire depart- dining room candles. This large, effi- lubricants sold by Gulf Canada.

ment, water and sewage treatment cient facility covering 428 acres has Surrounded today by the many
facilities, health centre, power plant, a capacity to process 60,000 barrels residentialcommunities developed
and security system. of oil daily. It operates around the over the years since the end of World
Today the Clarkson Refinery is a clock with a staff of 600. War II, the refinery staff is keenly
sophisticated complex specializing in Clarkson has grown and changed aware of environmental and safety
the production, blending, and pack- over the years. The largest change is considerations. Operations are moni-

aging of lubricating oils and greases. the latest, occurring from 1975 to tored constantly to ensure that
It is one of the few refineries in 1979 and involving an expenditure of appropriate air, water, and noise

North America with the appropriate standards are maintained.

facilities for this high-tech segment The Gulf Canada Research and
of the oil and gas industry. The Gulf Canada Research and Development
Development Centre, on forty acres
The refinery manufactures over Centre in Sheridan Park. of park-like grounds about a mile
north of the refinery, encompasses
five buildings totalling 156,000
square feet. The facilities include
laboratories, an extensive library, fa-
cilities for testing engine fuels and
lubricants, and a pilot plant for sim-

ulating refining processes.

Gulf Canada Limited has been a
member of the Sheridan Park Re-
search Association since its inception
in 1965 as a campus-like community
where scientists from corporate and
government research centres could
work independently, yet be close
enough to exchange ideas.

155
 —
MISSISSAUGA

ASHLAND CHEMICALS
Ashland Chemicals is a specialized
organization that manufactures and
markets chemicals to Canadian in-

dustry. Many products are developed

locally, but the company also ac-
cesses technology from around the
world in order to customize products W
to meet Canadian needs.
Ashland's manufacturing, research,
*
and administrative headquarters in
Mississauga includes the most mod-
ern plant of its type in Canada, in-
corporating the latest in safety and
environmental controls.
The Mississauga location is vital to

Ashland Chemicals' activities. This is

the heart of many of the markets Ashland Chemicals' customers. Ashland Chemicals carefully researches coat-
ing products for a wide variety of home and
served, notably the automotive indus- These include such items as decora-
industrial uses.
try, the paint industry, and the rein- tive art and wall decor, electrical ap-

forced plastics industry, which are pliances, and boats. With polyester
major users of the firm's products. resins, Ashland Chemicals is at the stery, and outdoor furniture are other
Ashland Chemicals' products are start of the fabrication process that common applications. Technical ser-
essential in modern industrial opera- brings the products of the automo- vice — Ashland people working with
tions. The firm's research specialists tive, electrical, recreational, and users to find the appropriate resin to
work closely with customers to find other industries to the public. meet a specific paint or coating re-
and develop the specialized chemical The paint industry is another ma- —
quirement is an essential activity.
for a specific application or to meet a jor user of Ashland Chemicals' prod- Ashland Chemicals is also a lead-
new problem. To provide the neces- ucts. Coating and specialty resins of ing distributor of chemicals to indus-
sary service across Canada, the Mis- the highest quality find their way try. Industrial chemicals and solvents
sissauga base is supplemented by into Canadian life in countless ways. are widely used in Canadian indus-
salesand distribution facilities in Inks, adhesives, and appliance and try. Ashland Chemicals' broad line

Montreal and Vancouver. household paints employ the firm's of distributed products ranges from
Ashland Chemicals' products are products and technical expertise. inorganic acids, chemical solvents,
divided into several broad areas Varnishes for floor coatings, uphol- and alcohols to plasticizers.

foundry products, polyester resins, In some respects, Ashland Chem-

coating and specialty resins, and in- icals can be said to be virtually ev-
The firm practises strict quality control, and
dustrial chemicals and solvents. works closely with its clients to meet their spe-
erywhere. The products developed
The company is a leader in serving cific needs. and made in Mississauga and spe-
the requirements of the foundry in- cialized products of the other inter-
dustry. In particular, Ashland sup- national companies it represents are
plies sand binding compounds that vital in facilitating daily life.

are essential to the production of Ashland Chemicals is part of the

castings used in automotive, truck, international Ashland Oil, Inc.,
and aircraft engines, and farm, min- which marked its sixtieth anniversary

ing, electrical, and forestry equip- in 1984. Established in Canada since

ment. New products are constantly 1945, Ashland Chemicals is well
being introduced to provide energy rooted in the Mississauga area, and
and cost savings and to improve the many of the members of its work
ecological and workplace environ- force live in the community. The
ment. company is proud of its support of
Polyester resins are more familiar local sports as well as its own active
to the public in the end products of sports program.

156
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

FATHOM OCEANOLOGY LIMITED

The world of Fathom Oceanology ex- diversifying through the acquisition of a measure of depth and the under-
tends from the depths of the oceans of complementary subsidiaries. standing of problems.
to the challenges of outer space. A part of the Fathom group is A lengthy period of research and
This Mississauga-based technology Tokola Fathom Ltd., in which Fath- development lay ahead. Support was
company is best known throughout om has a 51 -percent interest. Based received from the Canadian and On-
the world as a designer, developer, on Canada's Atlantic Coast at Dart- tario governments. In 1970 financing
and manufacturer of products for use mouth, Nova Scotia, this partnership was obtained from public investors
in the waters of lakes and oceans. was created to join the North Sea oil through sale of shares.
Its specialized services and prod- experience of Tokola Offshore Inc. The first corporate profit was
ucts are used for sophisticated mili- with Fathom's Canadian experience. achieved in the 1976 fiscal year,
tary, scientific, and commercial Fathom has its origins in a special- when sales reached $1.7 million.
purposes — in such applications as ized consulting firm, Hale and Asso- With growth accelerating, the found-
offshore drilling and sonar systems ciates, formed in January 1961 by ers recognized the need for expert
for Navy surface ships and subma- professional engineers Neville E. professional management. In 1978 an
rines. Hale and Kenneth Gardner. In 1968 engineer, John B. Stirling, was ap-
Extensive research and thorough the major decision was made to man- pointed as president and chief execu-
testing are essentials in designing ufacture variable-depth sonar towing tive officer.
and developing these products for use systems for the world market. The Larger facilities were required. In
on or under the seas. Fathom devel- senior management group had been 1982 Fathom moved into the 50,000-
oped an expertise in building and strengthened with the addition of square-foot Mississauga manufactur-
working with scale models that are Robin Fjarlie, an engineer from Ca- ing plant and head office where it

as sophisticated in their high technol- nadian Navy headquarters, and a fi- has the resources to manufacture me-
ogy as the finished products. It was nancial specialist, Ben F. Tanner. chanical structures, hydraulic and
this scale model department that The name "Fathom" came in at electronic systems, and acoustic and
brought Fathom out of the seas of that time, with its dual connotation optical assemblies.
planet Earth into outer space.
The firm produced a working
model now-famous Spar
for the
space arm, which is proving a vital
tool in placing satellites in space and
in catching those needing repairs.
Fathom today is a public company
in Canada with its shares listed on
the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the
1985 Fiscal year Fathom expects to
reach a record annual sales level of
some twelve million dollars, about 80
percent in export markets.
Reflecting the growth achieved in

recent years and the international

character of the business, Fathom is

Viewed through a winch drum during the offi-

cialopening of the Campobello Road facilities
are (left to right) Michael Burke, vice-presi-
dent and manager. Bank of Montreal; Don
Blenkarn, federal member of Parliament, Mis-
sissauga South; Lois Gibson, executive direc-
tor, Mississauga City Board of Trade; Hazel
McCallion, mayor of Mississauga; and John B.
Stirling, president and chief executive officer
of Fathom Oceanology Limited.

157
 —

MISSISSAUGA

CUSTOM CONVERTERS-PRINTERS LIMITED

The walls of the reception area at Custom Converters-Printers is a plant in St. John's, Newfoundland,
Custom Converters-Printers Limited young enterprise started in 1969 by opened in 1978.
are lined with awards from the Pack- three men —
Ken Wasylyk, Peter The Mississauga plant can design,
aging Association of Canada. These Seniuk, and Don Stagmire. Their ini- and make huge quantities of a
print,
awards mark the special contribution tial idea was to become a "con- wide variety of flexible packages.
of this rapidly growing organization verter's converter," providing other These bags are manufactured from
to improving the attractiveness and printers of flexible packaging with a several varieties of polyethylene, cel-
effectiveness of flexible packaging. specialized service for small printing lophane, foil, and other flexible pack-
Flexible packaging is everywhere runs and overflow work. Their timing aging materials. Custom Converters-
in the plastic shopping bags im- coincided with an explosion in the Printers is introducing facilities to

printed with retail store names and use of plastic film. manufacture its own polyethylene
advertising messages, in the bags The dramatic growth achieved is film.
protecting a variety of foods includ- illustratedby the jump in annual The widespread use of flexible
ing breads and foil-packed potato sales from an initial $45,000 to more packaging reflects an increasing so-
chips, holding motor oil, frozen vege- than $11 million, with 15 percent of phistication in production and print-
tables, insecticides, and hot chocolate sales exported to the United States. ing technology, which has increased
mix. In the recording industry, the This growth is mirrored in a series the appeal and marketing impact of
high-density polyethylene sleeve to of moves from 5,600 square feet of the packages. Higher-speed equip-
protect records was pioneered by space to two large facilities in Can- ment, the use of electronics, a six-
Custom Converters-Printers. ada, the Mississauga plant of 50,000 color press, and customized photo
Soon the firm will be introducing a square feet and a 20,000-square-foot engraving providing better-quality
new process for labelling rigid glass, color are among the many devel-
plastic, and similar containers under opments that are part of the base for
a joint venture with the French de- Custom Converters-Printers Limited's Missis- the continuing rapid expansion of
veloper of the technology. sauga plant —one of two facilities in Canada. Custom Converters-Printers Limited.

*#,

158
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

XEROX CANADA INC.

It started as one man's inspiration: to

develop a device that would produce
copies of documents in seconds. From
that idea, deep during the Depression
years, came the technology —xero-
graphy — that laid the foundation of

the international Xerox Corporation.

Today millions of businesses around
the world benefit from Xerox prod-
ucts and their contributions to pro-
ductivity.
Xerox Canada Inc. opened its first

office in Canada in 1953. Since that

time its operations have expanded to
more than fifty cities across the na-
tion.
Growth of activities has made Xe-
rox Canada a significant member of
the business community in Missis-
sauga, where operations involve some
1,000 people in a manufacturing
plant, national distribution centre, re-
search centre, and two retail stores.
The company selected Mississauga
as the home of these major opera-
tions for two important reasons. The
area offered Xerox Canada access to
talented and skilled people, and is an
important source of essential sup-
pliers for the firm's manufacturing Mississauga was chosen as the site of the skills range from fundamental chemi-
Xerox Research Centre of Canada at
activities. cal engineering up to and including
2660 Speakman Drive.
Xerox Canada is best known for pilot-scale production, as well as con-
its xerographic copiers and duplica- trol and systems engineering for full-
tors,from tabletop to console models scale production.
and speeds from ten to 120 copies Through its new retail centres, Xe-
per minute. As a leading participant The document handlers are de- rox Canada is able to provide service
in the development and sales of prod- signed to expedite the copying pro- and information to business and indi-

ucts for the information age, Xerox cess by providing easier high-speed vidual customers in the Mississauga
Canada also sells and services office document feeding and sorting. Near- area. The stores carry Xerox copiers,
systems equipment, including highly ly 450 people are employed at this word processors, personal computers,
advanced electronic printers, word plant. Some 100 suppliers provide electronic typewriters, and related
processors and interconnect systems, the plastic, metal, and other parts supplies as well as a complementary
electronic typewriters, facsimile and components required to build the line of products from other highly re-
transceivers, and microcomputers. document handler equipment. garded manufacturers.
At its 200,000-square-foot Missis- Research activities are housed in Xerox Canada Inc. is 85-percent
sauga plant, Xerox Canada manufac- Xerox Canada's futuristic location in owned by Xerox Corporation of
tures copier document handlers for Sheridan Park. This laboratory Stamford, Connecticut. The Canadi-
Xerox equipment used worldwide. As employs about 120 individuals, in- an company sold shares to Canadian
a result of this world product man- cluding technicians and research investors for the first time in 1984.
date, Xerox Canada is a major Ca- scientists,and is considered one of Financing services are available for
nadian exporter to countries around the most advanced chemical research Xerox products through a subsidiary
the globe. laboratories in Canada. Research credit corporation.

159
 —
MISSISSAUGA

AMDAHL COMMUNICATIONS INC.

(TRAN COMMUNICATIONS LTD.)

Tran Communications has to be one product line to the Canadian opera-

tran communications ltd.
of the most exciting corporate growth tion.

developments borne out of the oppor- As the technology improved to

tunities being created by modern meet the expansion of the Dataroute
computer and communications tech- service, Tran Communications found
nology. This is a high-technology world markets opening for the ad-
organization providing innovative vanced communications equipment
products and services that facilitate it developed and then marketed

the movement of essential informa- through the worldwide Amdahl sales

tion. and service force. Several technologi-

Tran has a relatively brief history, cal breakthroughs were achieved as

starting in November 1973 as a Ca- this pattern of expansion accelerated.
nadian subsidiary of the Computer The firm's annual growth rate has
Transmission Corporation of the been an impressive 30 to 50 percent.
United States. Computer Trans- Yet the opportunities for tomorrow
mission had contracted with Bell appear even greater as a result of the
Canada to supply the basic com- In 1974 these were eight of the total ten Tran explosion of the use of computer ter-
munications equipment for a new employees at the original Shawson Drive minals, business computers, and per-
office.
digital data communications network sonal computers.
now well known as "Dataroute." The For example, it is estimated that
four people in the first office were to sophisticated computer communica- there are more than five million per-

provide support and service to the tions equipment resulted in the sonal computers currently in use that
eight Canadian telephone companies initiation of a Canadian design engi- have communications capabilities.
participating in Dataroute. neering group that delivered its first Canadians operating such computers
From this base, Tran Communica- product to Bell Canada in 1976. Un- have access to some 150 public data
tions has grown into an integrated til that time, manufacturing in Can- banks as a result of Tran Communi-
high-tech organization developing, ada consisted of assembling kits cations' specializednetwork products.
manufacturing, marketing, and ser- supplied by the parent company. The firm's business is facilitating

vicing its own Canadian-developed Developments came rapidly with a communications between computers,
products as well as the products of decision by the parent to transfer all and this is the age of the computer
its parent organization. In 1980 Tran manufacturing of one specialized in business and in the home.

became part of The Amdahl Corpo-

ration, a well-known California-based
computer organization.
This growth over ten years is illus-
trated by the 430 employees who
moved into new facilities an admin- —
istration building of 45,000 square
feet and a manufacturing facility of

75,000 square feet in the Mea-

dowvale industrial park area in Mis-
sissauga —
in 1984. On January 1,

1985, Tran Communications Ltd.

changed its company name to Am-
dahl Communications Inc.
New requirements of Canadian
telephone companies for increasingly

Amdahl Communications had 430 employees

at the new Meadowvale plant complex in
1985.

160
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

SKF & DORMER TOOLS OF CANADA LIMITED

SKF & Dormer Tools of Canada il-

lustrates the strong international fla-

vor of Mississauga's industrial and
business base as well as the impor-
tance of advanced technology.
The letters "SKF" are well known
throughout the world as representing
a Swedish company famous as a de-
veloper and manufacturer of essential
ball bearings. This international or-
ganization has three Canadian enter-
prises, including SKF & Dormer.
AB SKF of Gothenburg, Sweden,
today means more than bearings, as
SKF & Dormer Tools illustrates.
The Mississauga company distributes
and manufactures cutting tools and
related accessories.
SKF & Dormer is considered to
have the most comprehensive line of
such equipment available for the
metalworking industry. Users range
from the do-it-yourself hobbyist to

industries involved in the latest ex-

periments in aerospace technology.
These tools are sold through a na-
tionwide network of industrial dis- In February 1982 a new manufac- The head office and warehouse of SKF &
turing plant was added to SKF & Dormer Tools of Canada Limited is at 1691
tributors supported by a technical
Matheson Boulevard, Mississauga.
sales force that acts as advisors and Dormer's Mississauga facilities. This
consultants. plant is fully equipped to custom-
A large inventory of several mil- make high-speed steel and indexable house established by Dormer Tools of
lion dollars worth of tools and acces- carbide tooling. Canada in November 1972 to pro-

sories is maintained at all times to The firm, in its modern context, vide high-speed steel-cutting tools.

permit a same-day-service policy. In- had its origins in Canada in a ware- This warehouse employed twenty
coming orders are filled on the day people. In 1975 the British parent of

they arrive. With the international Dormer Tools was acquired by the

airport nearby, the company can re- Swedish-based international corpora-

spond favorably to emergency re- tion. In 1977 the new name, SKF &

quirements. Dormer Tools, appeared a few

This effort to provide quick service months before the company moved to

so that essential metalworking equip- its present location with an enlarged

ment can be maintained in operation range of products reflecting the rapid
was tested in 1980, when a nearby growth achieved.
power substation suffered an explo- Today SKF & Dormer employs
sion that damaged the company's sixty people. Expansion provides new
building. Other than some temporari- opportunities, and staff development

ly upset nerves, services were main- is an ongoing process. The firm is

tained without interruption. committed to meeting the require-

ments of the Canadian metalworking
industry through continued product
The firm manufactures and distributes one of
the most comprehensive lines of cutting tools
development and by anticipating and
and related accessories in the industry. reacting to the industry's needs.

161
MISSISSAUGA

KARWALD INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Karwald Industries brings fine by Gottwald under the traditional
craftsmanship in the European tradi- apprenticeship system for a cabinet-
tion to the manufacture of a basic maker in Germany and the appli-
necessity of countless numbers of cation of that skill in developing
—
homes the wooden staircase. modern production methods.
Every week during the nine Emphasis on providing the best of
months of the year when weather service to homebuilders is also vital.
permits maximum activity in the Close relationships with builders
construction industry, Karwald In- have been nurtured so that much of
dustries manufactures about 120 the company's growth has been a re-
circular and 350 straight wooden flection of repeat business.
staircases. The company also installs Another important influence has
staircases. One section of the large been the changing taste of the home-
facility is set aside for the manufac- purchasing public. The staircase is a
ture of staircases for the custom- basic requirement in almost all hous-
home market. ing. Its construction must follow cer-
This woodworking enterprise has tain specifications of the Canadian
made the architect-designed wooden national building code.
staircase its specialty to the extent The staircase traditionally was
that Karwald has designed and reno- The European tradition of fine woodworking is considered as a strictly functional
vated trucks especially suitable for evident in the staircase produced by Karwald part of a house, usually made by car-
Industries Limited.
holding and transportation of the penters on-site during construction.
staircases. But in more recent years the stair-

The name "Karwald" reflects the to be active in the manufacturing case has become a sales feature,
family nature of the business and the plant. A partnership late in 1971 while still performing its basic func-
three generations active in Bruno it. with his son-in-law, Gerry Karker, tion of providing access between
Gottwald, the skilled cabinetmaker introduced thename "Karwald." floors. Architects now incorporate
who came to Canada in 1952, was Karker concentrates on sales and ad- specially designed staircases in their
building staircases as early as 1961. ministration, guiding the firm's plans, even for the more modest sub-
At seventy years of age, he continues steady growth from twelve people to division housing.
the 110 now working at the 36,000- Karwald developed methods for
square-foot manufacturing facility. the full manufacture and assembly of
Located on Maingate Drive, Karwald Indus-
tries is in the heart of the Oakville-Missis- Keys to Karwald's success include the staircases in its plant. This
sauga area. the knowledge and experience gained means that only the final installation
stage is done at the job site.
The company's location has also
been important in bringing growth.
Mississauga is home to many of the
finer houses in the greater Toronto
area. Even before the recent surge of
growth in industry and housing, lead-
ing businessmen and professionals es-
tablished their residences in the area
while commuting to downtown To-
ronto. And today the Oakville-Mis-
sissauga area is Karwald's largest
market.
By concentrating on a specialized
product, Karwald Industries is esti-

mated to have secured about half the

market for new staircases within a
forty-mile radius of Toronto.

162
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

MARKS & SPENCER

Marks & Spencer, one of the world's
oldest retail organizations, has put
down deep roots in the young and
fast-growing Mississauga community.
The company sells clothing for the
entire family and a range of fresh
and frozen specialty foods.
Marks & Spencer is a merchandis-
ing giant in Great Britain with a his-
tory going back a century to 1884,
when now-famous "Penny Ba-
the
zaar" opened in Leeds Market.
first

The firm's founder, Michael Marks,

was an innovative merchandiser of
the day —
all the goods he sold were

priced for one penny and were dis-

played in open baskets instead of be-
ing hidden under a counter, as was
the custom.
Marks & Spencer came to Canada Michael Marks (left) and Thomas Spencer. Marks & Spencer is the largest di-
in 1972, establishing its executive of- vision of Marks & Spencer Canada
fices in Mississauga, just north of Inc., a publicly owned company with
Pearson International Airport. At had opened nearly sixty stores across shares traded on the Toronto and
this location over 300 people are em- —
Canada from St. John's, New- Montreal stock exchanges. There are
ployed in the buying groups, admin- foundland, in the East to Victoria, two other divisions, both well-known
istrative offices, and the quality- British Columbia, in the West. These Canadian retail chains — Peoples de-
control laboratories. It is also the site stores enjoy total sales exceeding partment stores and the D'Allaird's
of a large distribution warehouse $115 million, with clothing compris- division, which specializes in wom-
through which goods are shipped to ing about 75 percent and specialty en's fashions.
Marks & Spencer stores across convenience foods accounting for 25 The Marks & Spencer store in the
Canada. percent. Square One mall, the first large
"St. Michael" is the brand name shopping centre to be opened in Mis-
of Marks & Spencer. All of the sissauga, has been recently renovated
goods that Marks & Spencer retails and extended and is one of the firm's
carry this exclusive label. The com- The first Marks & Spencer store. premier locations.
pany specifies and rigidly enforces
high manufacturing standards with
its merchandise suppliers to guaran-
tee quality products. An important
Marks & Spencer policy has been to
encourage and support the economic
community in which it trades. Pres-
ently over 70 percent of the clothing
products sold in Marks & Spencer
stores are Canada,
manufactured in

and nearly 50 percent of the food

products are manufactured here.
Although clothing and food are a
somewhat unusual product mix for a
retail store in North America, it has

proven to be highly successful. By

the end of 1984 Marks & Spencer

163
MISSISSAUGA

A.M.I. STEEGO
A DIVISION OF McKERLIE-MILLEN INC.

A.M.I. Steego Division can trace its power generation, pulp and paper,
roots to a $500 investment made in mining, petroleum and petrochemical
1932 by each of three partners to refining, chemical, food and bever-
start a business making small steel age, and steel mills. Customers also
products such as blacksmith tongs, include aircraft manufacturers, the
funnels, and U-shaped manhole automotive industry, cement produc-
steps. ers, and the communications in-

These partners had to use $900 of dustry.

their slim capital to improve the wir- Products of A.M.I. Steego's cus-
ing in the small shop they rented. In tom fabrication division are in two
those early years the few shop work- broad areas. Process equipment in-

ers (who included the owners) were cludes heat exchangers, pressure ves-
paid only for the actual hours spent sels, refinery heaters, and towers. Early products when Plate & Structural Steel

work began operations.

on making a given item. If General platework takes in such
wasn't available, they waited patient- products as large bins and silos,
ly until new job was obtained.
a smokestacks, and tanks. These and ment to carry, shape, cut, punch,
The George Davis, Sr.,
enterprise related products are completed and and weld permits in-shop
roll, drill,

Charles Fisher, and William Wood- erected on-site as required. fabrication up to the maximum sizes
land began has grown into one of The large eight-acre property in and weights for transportation to a
Canada's foremost metal fabricators. Mississauga includes a main plant of site where erection and fabrication

The company confidently undertakes 80,000 square feet and a rail line. can be completed.
multimillion-dollar projects for a va- The complex of cranes and equip- During World War II Plate &
riety of industries and purposes. Structural Steel Ltd., as it was then
A.M.I. Steego designs and fabri- known, fabricated such equipment as
A.M.I. Steego Division's plant when it was
cates a wide range of products from funnels and depth-charge racks for
purchased from Dixie Steel Ltd. in the mid-
carbon steels, low-alloy steels, stain- 1960s. Note that Haines Road is gravel and the Canadian naval ships, the Cor-
and aluminum. These are
less steel, there no development northwest of Dundas
is vettes.

required by such major industries as and Cawthra. A 1948 fire destroyed the original
plant, and during clean-up and re-
building employees were retained at
full pay. A smaller fire in 1967,
which destroyed the office, accelerat-

tr*. jc* ed plans to move to the present site.

Canadian La France Fire Engine

and Foamite Ltd., a subsidiary of
Sterling Precision Corporation of the
United States, purchased the assets
of Plate & Structural Steel in 1964.
The name was eventually changed to
Amalgamated Metal Industries Ltd.,
comprising two divisions —
La France,
and Plate & Structural. With the
sale of the La France Division,
Amalgamated Metal Industries re-
mained and became commonly
known as A.M.I.
The U.S. parent company, now
based in West Palm Beach, Florida,
became Steego Corporation in 1981
and this led to the combination of
A.M.I, and Steego for the naming of
the Canadian operation.

164
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

HAMMERSON CANADA INC.

In 1984 Hammerson, an internation- four major anchors —The Bay, Sears, term plans for the Centre.

al property company based in Lon- Woolco, and Dominion — and 180 As a complement to these plans,
don. England, acquired more than other stores and services. Hammerson is working with the City
180 acres of land in Mississauga Square One is showing strong of Mississauga in developing its City
City Centre, including the Square growth, with research indicating a Centre land-use guidelines and trans-
One Shopping Centre and four adja- pent-up demand for additional retail portation needs.
cent office buildings. Through this space generally and specific demand In addition to its City Centre
acquisition, Hammerson owns a large in some categories in which the cen- lands, Hammerson participates in the
portion of the core of the City of tre is under-represented. Hammerson Traders Associates joint venture with
Mississauga, a unique opportunity to recently began a major renovation Guaranty Properties Ltd. Traders
participate in the continuing develop- and expansion program to give Associates manages and develops the
ment of one of Canada's first fully Square One a new image and a 2,000 acres comprising the Brittania
integrated, planned cities. broader merchandise mix. The enclo- Industrial Park and the Hurontario
Within the next twenty years Mis- sure of the existing garden courtyard residential community of Missis-
sissauga, with a current population of will be the main feature in the new sauga.
340,000, is expected to double in Square One, which forms part of this Hammerson is active in real estate
size. This would make it comparable first phase of Hammerson's long- development and investment in the
Calgary or Edmonton.
in size to United Kingdom, Europe, Australia,
Within the City Centre is the New Zealand, and the United States.
Square One Shopping Centre complex (centre
Square One Shopping Complex. foreground), under Mascan management, cov-
Its Mississauga property represents
Square One, opened in 1973, encom- ers 1.5 million square feet of retail and service the largest and most valuable prop-
passes one million square feet with space in the heart of Mississauga. erty asset in the group's portfolio.

165
MISSISSAUGA

ONTARIO CHRYSLER LTD.

Canada's leading Chrysler dealer has lots and five floors continued to sentation of thirty-three cars in the
made anumber of astute business plague the organization. In one mas- showroom," the president and owner
decisions on his way to the top, but sive weekend transfer, Ontario says of the advantages of Missis-
none has proved more immediately Chrysler Ltd. occupied the 50,000- sauga. "Also, we are operating with
rewarding than the relocation of his square-foot General Supply building a staff of 1 15 here, whereas in down-
agency to Mississauga early last year. at 5280 Dixie Road on February 27, town Toronto where we required car
K.G. "Casey" Togtema has never 1984. jockeys we employed 135."
looked back after emigrating from If Bay Street was a fast lane, Mis- Togtema finds the community spir-

his native Holland in 1951. After sissauga has been a speedway for it and positive outlook on the econo-

working for the Dutch Immigration Ontario Chrysler. Sales soared to six- my refreshing: "People have a pride
Department for two years, he was at- ty million dollars in 1984 from forty in living here and I notice it." Al-

tracted to the automobile sales field million dollars in 1983, representing though Mississauga's strict controls

in Ottawa. Establishment of a used- 3,700 new and 2,000 used cars and on planning cost the company some
car business in 1960, followed by a trucks. The figures solidified the $40,000 for landscaping and stipu-
Chrysler agency in the capital in company's position as the number lated an acre of grass in front of the
1965, led to the purchase of Ontario one Chrysler dealership in the coun- used-car lot, he views the end result
Automobile Ltd. at 1011 Bay Street, try. Togtema believes it is the largest as well worth the expense.
Toronto, in 1975. (The Toronto firm agency in Canada, irrespective of Many of the staff, including a
had been founded in 1929 as Toronto make. large number of long-time employees
Packard Company. Togtema re- "The nine-acre property and with up to forty years' service, have
named it Ontario Chrysler Ltd.) building afford ample parking, con- moved out to Mississauga. Ontario
The concern prospered for several venience to customers, and the pre- Chrysler is a member of the Missis-
years on Bay Street, where Togtema sauga City Board of Trade and spon-
weathered the 1980 Chrysler crisis, sors minor hockey, baseball, and
President and owner, KG. "Casey" Togtema,
but the combination of high taxes in the new office of Ontario Chrysler Ltd. on soccer awards among its community
and a business scattered over six car Dixie Road. activities.

166
 —
PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

MARKBOROUGH PROPERTIES LIMITED

One of the outstanding features of opment and 65 percent of the Mea-
Mississauga is the continuing growth dowvale Business Park south of
and evolution of a community within Highway 401 are completed. The
a community identified under the construction of the business park
name of Meadowvale. north of Highway 401 is currently
Markborough Properties Limited, under way, with the announcement
one of Canada's largest real estate that the Du Pont of Canada and
and development companies, is the Syntex corporate headquarters will
nurturing parent of Meadowvale, be located there.
which has come to represent a spe- Lake Aquitaine is an example of
cial life-style as well as visible evi- the advance work and investment re-
dence in buildings and other facili- quired by Markborough. This twelve-
ties. acre lake was created as part of the
The Meadowvale idea was first ex- engineering required to deal with
plored in 1953. In 1954 the first storm water runoff. Today the lake is
Meadowvale Town Centre includes 400,000
stage, acquiring land around the pic- a central recreational facility offering square feet of retailing space now serving
turesque Credit Valley, began. sailing, paddling, and fishing. A some 100 merchants.
The idea was daring at the time large community centre with indoor
to apply the "new town" concept of swimming for the winter months sits
Europe in an effective way that on its shoreline. phase of a 1,200-acre business park
would provide employment oppor- The Meadowvale Town Centre is a provided the link of the residential
tunities, homes, schools, and recrea- major focal point. This includes a areas to the principle of providing
tion facilities within an integrated recreation centre, a complete auto- job opportunities within the commu-
community. Land, some 3,000 acres, motive service centre, offices, a medi- nity. The firstmajor industry arrived
is the base of what is now an out- cal-dental centre, and some 400,000 in 1971 — the Canadian head office
standing community expected to square feet of leaseable retailing of the Control Data organization.
reach a population of 35,000 in 1985. space now used by more than 100 Meadowvale Business Park is in
Meadowvale came off the drawing merchants. two sections, bisected by Highway
boards of planners and engineers, Early development of the first 401. For business and industry, the
moving from concept to construction location approaches perfection. Pear-
in 1969, only one year after the town son International Airport is nearby.
of Mississauga had been created.
Markborough Properties Limited conceived
A labor force can be drawn from
Ninety-five percent of the residential and developed Meadowvale, a complete com- some 60,000 people within ten min-
component of the Meadowvale devel- munity with a population of 35,000 by 1985. utes' driving distance. This business
park is not only functional, but also
attractive; 15 percent of each prop-
erty is required to be landscaped.
Markborough Place provides a
central office complex for the busi-
ness park. Its first phase, which is

completed, is 150,000 square feet.

Two additional office buildings can

be added in future phases to bring
the total complex to 500,000 square
feet. Across from Markborough
Place, at the focal point of the Mea-
dowvale Business Park just south of
Highway 401 on Mississauga Road,
is Delta's Meadowvale Inn, a luxuri-
ous hotel developed and owned by
Markborough Properties Limited and
managed by Delta Hotels.

167
 —

M1SSISSAUGA

BOART CANADA INC.

Canada is known throughout the

world as a major source of metals
and minerals. The process of finding
and then producing these essential
raw materials for world industry re-
quires the products and expert
knowledge of Boart Canada Inc.

Boart's contribution is at the drill-

ing stage — in the drilling of holes

into hard rock. These holes permit
sampling of the rock to determine its

mineral content. And when packed

with explosives and blasted, they are
the first step in the process of sepa-
rating minerals from waste rock.
Well known to the mining, con- sten carbide bits — the cutting tips of Boart Canada s main office and plant
has been located in Mississauga since 1961.
facility

and quarry industries,

struction, rock drills. Two small companies
Boart makes and distributes tungsten serving the mining industry from
carbide percussion bits, drill steel, their base in Noranda, Quebec, were try. Subsequently, other companies
rock drills, and related accessories. acquired. were consolidated into a single orga-
One division has been active in the In 1961, when the uranium indus- nization serving North America.
mining industry for almost thirty-five try entered a slump, manufacturing The Canadian corporate head of-
years, actually drilling the blastholes of these important products was fice and the manufacturing facility

in many mines. moved to Mississauga to be closer to of the Drilling Tools Division are at
The firm is part of an internation- customers in the construction indus- the Mississauga location. This divi-
algroup that came to Canada in sion exports to the United States,
1957 to participate in the uranium South America, Europe, Australia,
development boom in the Elliot Lake A miner at Cullaton Lake gold mines. North- and the Far East.
area of Ontario as a supplier of tung- west Territories, operates a Boart Secan drill. Boart is known to industry as a
pioneer of a push-on system that re-
duces to a minimum the time re-
quired to replace a drill bit when its

effectiveness wears out. Only the tip

is removed. (In other methods, a

length of drill steel that links the
cutting tip to the percussion source
has to be changed.) After being re-

moved, the can be resharpened

bit

and Boart makes the sharpening ma-

chines.
Because of the tough work done
by Boart products, reliability and ex-

tensive testing of effectiveness are es-

sential. Ground conditions vary at
different locations. Boart technical
specialists carry out testing in Can-
ada, where ground conditions vary
more than anywhere else in the
world. These tests determine the best
combination of drilling equipment to
get the job done in the most effective
and economical manner.

168
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

ORLANDO CORPORATION
Immigrant Italian bricklayer Carlo
Fidani built houses and apartments
in Toronto during the 1920s, then
survived the Depression by establish-
ing the Toronto Macaroni Company
when the building market collapsed.
By 1950 the food business had been
sold and Carlo was back in the con-
struction business as mentor to sons
Orey and Eddie and son-in-law
William Bartolini.
In a rising economy, C. Fidani and
Sons, general contractors, completed
a number of apartment and indus-
Then came another
trial buildings.

pivotal move in 1963 with the forma-

tion of Orlando Realty Corporation "
Limited and the purchase of 600
acres adjacent to the present Pearson Cornerstone laying for the American Can in a swift fourteen weeks from design
Canada, Inc., plant in Mississauga in 1966 is
International Airport in Mississauga. to occupancy notwithstanding a win-
carried out by Orey Fidani (bending), then-
This site is now Airport Business ter starting date of mid-February
Mayor Robert Speck (centre), and Ontario
Park, including Orlando's head office Education Minister William G. Davis (far 1984.
structure. The corporation, headed right), later premier of the province. As well as the Toronto area, Or-
by chairman of the board and chief lando Corporation has undertaken
executive officer Orey Fidani, is a building projects in several smaller
leading Canadian real estate develop- several notable buildings in the To- Ontario cities; Calgary, Alberta;
er and builder, employing a work ronto area, among them the Spar Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec;
force of up to 400. Aerospace Limited research and de- and Moncton, New Brunswick. The
Orlando experienced dramatic velopment centre in North York, firm's Airport Business Park has
growth from 1964 to 1971, when its where Canadarm was assembled and earned international recognition, win-
industrial and commercial footage in- tested for the United States Space ning the American Industrial Proper-
creased from 200,000 to twelve mil- Shuttle Program; the largest public ties Report Bicentennial Environment
lion square feet while gross revenue warehousing building in Canada for Award for "promoting sound envi-
soared from three million dollars to Kuehne & Nagel International Ltd. ronmental planning in the industrial
forty million dollars. Along the way, at Brampton, Ontario, comprising park/office field."
it developed expertise in the design 671,000 square feet or the equivalent
and execution of "total environment" of twelve football fields; and the
business parks, and the "total pack- 252,000-square-foot Beaver Lumber Orlando Corporation's office development in

age approach" to the development of warehouse in Mississauga, completed Airport Business Park.

industrial and commercial buildings.

The corporation's portfolio of
twelve million square feet of build-
ings includes nine shopping centres in
Ontario, an interest dating from its

acquisition of Select Properties Ltd.

in 1970. One of the centres, Bayview
Village in Toronto, is among the
country's top fashion complexes.
En route to an annual pace of pro-
ducing two million square feet of

industrialand commercial space, Or-

lando has designed and completed

169
MISSISSAUGA

PRICE WATERHOUSE
When the internationally known ac- teleand potential new business. president of the Ontario Chamber of
counting firm of Price Waterhouse Webster cites community involve- Commerce. Rounding out the part-
branched out from its traditional big- ment on the part of PW and a local nership are tax partner Douglas
city base toMississauga eight years government attuned to the need for a Saunders and Peter Johnson, the lat-
ago, it met with ready acceptance of balanced residential-industrial mu- ter with expertise in government fi-
the full range of services offered by nicipality as factors in his firm's nancial-assistance programs. Very re-
the firm. progress. cently the office has been further
From an original staff of twenty- Mutual aspirations of the private strengthened by the addition of three
five professionals, the roster has and public sectors have surfaced in more partners: Grant Hale, Don
nearly tripled to seventy, while the such projects as the new $80-million Ross, and Larry Huizingh.
volume of business has increased pro- Credit Valley Hospital. Opened in Founded in London, England, in

portionately. Occupying 18,500 October 1985, with eventual accom- 1850, Price Waterhouse opened its

square feet — the entire sixteenth modation for 534 patients, the hospi- first American office in New York in
floor at Two Robert Speck Park- tal has commanded a great deal of 1890. The American firm opened a
way — Price Waterhouse serves a Webster's time in his capacity as branch in Montreal in 1907, followed
wide spectrum of the business com- vice-chairman of the board, a posi- by a small Toronto office in 1910. As
munity in the specialties of account- tion held since 1979. Mississauga Canadian business grew, a separate
ing, auditing, taxation, insolvency, Hospital is also served by a PW Canadian partnership was formed in
and consulting. Its clientele includes partner, David Scott, as vice- 1914. Today Price Waterhouse in
multinational corporations, local chairman. Partner David Grant has Canada is wholly owned by its 194
owner-managers, and individuals. been treasurer of the United Way of Canadian partners with approximate-
Partner-in-charge Gordon B. Peel Region for the past four years, ly 1,600 professionals working out of
Webster recalls that the opening of while partner Bernie Wilson is vice- twenty-two offices. Although expan-
the office resulted from the percep- sion has occurred largely within the
tion of Mississauga as a full-fledged firm, there have been a number of
The partners in Mississauga's Price Wa-
city seeking an identity. There, the local mergers and in 1981 it did
terhouse are (seated, left to right) Gordon
firm reasoned, it could cultivate per- Webster, partner-in-charge; Peter Johnson;
merge with Jarrett, Grould & Elliott,
sonal contacts with clients and enjoy and David Scott. Standing are Doug Saunders, a national accounting firm with sev-
greater accessibility to existing clien- Bernie Wilson, and David Grant. en offices across Canada.

170
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

ALCON CANADA INC.

Located in the fast-growing Mea- manufacturing plant in Don Mills. Their timing was superb, and within
dowvale community of Mississauga, Alcon places a premium on prod- ten years they had built a thriving
Alcon Canada Inc. has completed a uct quality, which is achieved in a pharmaceutical business, complete
quarter-century of operation in this controlled atmosphere with rigid ad- with research laboratory. Internation-
country as a subsidiary of Alcon herence to cleanliness and sterile al marketing followed in 1962 with
Laboratories, a worldwide corpora- handling. In the words of John expansion into Europe, South Amer-
tion based in Fort Worth, Texas. Goldsmith, director of personnel, ica, and Asia.
The Canadian division is geared to "We are super clean in order to meet Technological advancements and
the needs of the practice of ophthal- our own quality-control standards the demands of a global network led
mology, American parent
like its and government health require- to the establishment in 1982 of the
which markets products in more than ments." The firm sponsors education- William C. Conner Research Centre
100 countries. From the development al seminars, maintains a film library, on the 175-acre corporate headquar-
of a wide range of solutions and aids and makes grants to speakers in sup- ters campus in Fort Worth. There,

for the diagnosis and treatment of port of the industry. In the communi- 350 chemists, biochemists, micro-
ophthalmic disorders, the company ty, its employees are active in service biologists, toxicologists, pharmacists,

has moved into the related areas of work, church, and sports life. physicians, and laboratory techni-
ophthalmic surgery, contact lenses, A small Texas pharmacy was the cians have at their disposal the most
and dermatology. launching pad for Alcon in 1945, sophisticated laboratory equipment,
Alcon introduced its lines to Can- when owners Robert Alexander and instrumentation, and access to re-
ada by opening a sales office and William C. Conner perceived an op- search from all parts of the world.
warehouse in Don Mills, Ontario, in portunity to serve a largely ignored Between 1982 to 1985 the company
1959. A new office and manufactur- medical group, the ophthalmologists. will have spent more than $100 mil-
ing complex was built on the present lion on research and development.
Mississauga site in 1975, originally The Canadian subsidiary plays a
comprising 32,000 square feet and significant role in the overall Alcon
The modern 54,000-square-foot plant of Alcon worldwide operation, producing and
expanded to 54,000 square feet in
Canada Inc. on Kitimat Road in Meadowvale
1981. Today the Canadian subsidiary investing millions of dollars at the
services Canadian ophthalmologists, dermato-
employs 140 at Mississauga and an logists, and eye care solutions for the contact
Alcon Canada Inc. location for do-

additional thirty at its contact lens lens industry. mestic and export markets.

171
MISSISSAUGA

TAKARA BELMONT COMPANY CANADA

It's very likely that most Canadians
at some time have come into contact
with the products of Takara Belmont
Company Canada.
This Mississauga-based firm and
its more than forty employees are
part of an international group of
companies supplying an estimated 95
percent of the special chairs used in

barber shops and beauty salons

around the world.
Applying its expertise in hair-styl-
ing comfort to other fields, Takara
Belmont has designed a wide range
of products for the dental and medi-
cal professions with features accom-
modating both patient and doctor.
Anticipating advances in dental tech-
niques, the company's international
network of offices maintains close

Hidenobu Yoshikawa, founder.

Takara Belmont's manufacturing plant, lo-

cated in Shiga, Japan, employs the latest

technology.

contact with practising professionals

through which its 300 engineers plan

and perfect systems to meet virtually

any equipment need. As a result, Ta-
kara Belmont offers a comprehensive
line of dental operatory systems,
including specialty units for ortho-
dontic and pedodontic practice. All
components, from the advanced X-
ray, lighting, and dental consoles to

the totally automated chairs, repre-

sent the optimum in professional con-
venience and patient comfort. In
addition, a complete planning service
is available to private and clinical
practices.
In Canada and the United States,
Takara Belmont's self-contained den-
tal operatory was patented in 1979.

Economically designed to make the

doctor's work and time more effec-
tive, all of the products reflect a high
priority on quality and durability.
Quality is built in by meticulous de-
sign to harmonize the equipment

172
 PARTNERS IN PROGRESS

St. Louis, one of America's leading

manufacturers. In the 1960s Takara
Belmont drew on its advanced hy-
draulic technology to commence the
manufacture of dental chairs, a move
leading to the development of other
medical and dental equipment.
Today the Takara Belmont world-
wide network embraces distributors
in eighty countries and subsidiaries
and factories in seven other coun-
tries. Annual sales have passed the

$600-million (U.S.) mark.

Its products having been distribu-

ted in Canada for several years prior

Founded was the company's orig-
in 1921, this Takara Belmont is a Japanese to 1966, the firm then established a
inal manufacturing plant in Osaka pre- World
company, founded in 1921 by plant of 25,000 square feet on a
War II.
Hidenobu Yoshikawa to manufacture three-acre site at 2076 South Sheri-
equipment for barber shops and dan Way in Mississauga. Here, prod-
with the people who use it — the cus- beauty salons. In the 1950s the com- ucts for the barber shop, beauty
tomer and the professional (doctor, pany expanded its operations to es- salon, and dental divisions are assem-
dentist, or beautician) —
on the prem- tablish plants in the United States, bled and manufactured for distribu-
ise that matching man with his Canada, Europe, and South America. tion to all major Canadian cities
equipment minimizes fatigue. The Control of a large share of the U.S. through fiftyindependent dealers.
products are extremely durable, market for barber and beauty equip-
made to last many years before re- ment was secured by the acquisition The firm's programmable, totally electronic

placement. of Koken Manufacturing Co., Inc., of barber chairs also feature the latest in design.

173
MISSISSAUGA

MEDIACOM
Diversification and market develop- Backlight Graphics Division at 5181
ment have elevated Mediacom to the General Road is staffed by thirty-

forefront of the Canadian outdoor five people with extensive expertise

advertising business. The acknowl- in all phases of big-scale screen
edged leader in its field, the company printing. The facility is complete
has fine-tuned its printed products with full-size outdoor projection as-
and backlight graphics to illuminate semblies for testing finished signs in
the landscape of several metropolitan terms of colour, appearance, and ef-

cities in conjunction with municipal fectiveness.

planners, transit authorities, and pri- When this division opened in 1979,
vate enterprise. itwas the first of its kind in North
Mediacom's colourful, high-quality America. The screen printing press,
billboards, mall posters, and transit then the world's largest, permitted
shelter designs represent in-depth four-colour production of ten- by thir-
planning, creativity, and, in relation ty-foot Lumiflex panels and met the
to civic bodies, a co-operative and demand for Backlights — billboard
participatory approach. The firm size, full-colour translucent posters il-

contributes in excess of one million Mediacom designs advertising for billboards, luminated internally and described as
mall posters, and transit shelters. These shel- "television screens in the sky." Prior
dollars per year to public service
ters provide security and protection to riders
projects throughout Canada. And its to 1979 such panels were imported
at no cost to the city.
government relations program, in- from Italy. Today Mediacom sup-
volving close consultation with coun- plies Backlights to a large share of

cilsand planners, occupies a high the North American market and ex-

priority under the direction of senior among his many other boards and ports to countries in the Middle East
vice-president Frank Paznar, who, committees, is also a member of the and to Japan.
Business Development Advisory At 830 Lakeshore Road East, Me-
Board for the City of Mississauga. diacom's Print Division employs fif-
With thirteen sales offices and six ty-five people in a similar-size plant
The Backlight Graphics Division's ten- by thir-
production facilities in nine prov- where posters, mall posters, transit
ty-foot screen printing press was designed and
engineered by Mediacom employees and is the inces, the company employs a total shelter advertisements, as well as
largest in North America. of 550 people. In Mississauga, the promotional and large display work,
are produced by lithography and
screen process printing. Here, Media-
com places a premium on paper and
ink selection and accurate proofing
to capture design and protect against
the ravages of outdoor exposure. Five
Harris sheet-fed offset presses serve
the Print Division, including a re-
cently installed five-colour press.
The advantages of Mississauga
have attracted these two new divi-
sions of Mediacom, making Mis-
sissauga the capital of outdoor
advertising production for Canada.
Originally the E.L. Ruddy Compa-
ny in 1904, successive mergers and
acquisitions have brought Mediacom
under the banner of the Gannett Co.
Inc. of Washington, D.C., one of the
top four communications companies
in the United States.

174
PATRONS
The following individuals, companies, and Mississauga Library Systems
organizations have made a valuable commit- Moss, Hammond, Reininger
ment to the quality of this publication. Nissan Automobile Company (Canada)
Windsor Publications and the Mississauga Ltd.*
City Board of Trade gratefully acknowledge Ontario Bus Industries Inc.*
their participation in Mississauga: An Illus- Ontario Chrysler Ltd.*
trated History. Ontario Hydro*
Lakeview Thermal Generating Station
Action Industrial Products Inc. Orlando Corporation*
Alcon Canada Inc.* Peel Engine Service Co. Ltd.
Alkaril Chemicals Ltd.* Price Waterhouse*
Amdahl Communications Inc.* Reid Milling*
(Tran Communications Ltd.) A Division of Nabisco Brands Ltd.

A.M.I. Steego* Thorne Riddell

A Division of McKerlie-Millen Inc. David B. Searles Surveying Ltd.
Ashland Chemicals* Shipp Corporation*
Bard Canada Inc.* SKF & Dormer Tools of Canada Limited*
Beckett Packaging Limited* Stark-Hicks-Spragge, Architects*
Don Blenkarn, M.P. Mississauga South Sure- Way Transport Limited*
Boart Canada Inc.* Syntex Inc.

City of Mississauga Takara Belmont Company Canada*

Councillor David L. Cook Touche Ross*
Councillor Frank J. McKechnie Xerox Canada Inc.*

Councillor Larry Taylor Zonta Club of Mississauga

Clarkson Gordon*
Consumers' Gas *Partners in Progress of Mississauga: An Il-

Coopers & Lybrand* lustrated History. The histories of these

The Credit Valley Hospital companies and organizations appear in

Custom Converters-Printers Limited* Chapter 7, beginning on page 130.

Robert Dahlke
Diversey Wyandotte Inc.*
Duracell Inc. (Canada)*
Erindale Campus-University of Toronto*
Fathom Oceanology Limited*
Foods Division of Nabisco Brands Limited*
Glenn Grice
Gulf Canada Limited*
Hammerson Canada Inc.*
Hyde Houghton, Chartered Accountants
Intercraft Industries of Canada Ltd.*
Jacal Lighting Maintenance Co., Ltd.
Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.*
Karwald Industries Limited*
Markborough Properties Limited*
Marks & Spencer*
Mediacom*
Medtronic of Canada Ltd.*
Mississauga Industrial Association

175
 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following list of newspapers, special Port Credit. Auditor's Reports. Public- At the Mouth of the Credit.
collections, government records, books, Archives of Ontario. Cheltenham: Boston Mills Press, 1977.
articles, and theses is by no means a Port Credit. Council Minutes. Peel Re- Cook, William E. Meadowvale and
complete bibliographical reference on the gional Archives. Churchville: A History. Cheltenham:
history of Mississauga. Selection has Streetsville. Auditor's Reports. Public- Boston Mills Press, 1975.
been limited to the most useful or readily Archives of Ontario. Craig, GeraldM. Upper Canada: The
accessible sources for the general reader. Streetsville. Council Minutes. Peel Re- Formative Years, 1784-1841. Toronto:
gional Archives. McClelland and Stewart Limited,
1. Newspapers Toronto Township. Abstract Index of 1963.
Deeds, 1807-76. Public Archives of Crawford, K. Grant. Canadian Municipal
The Brampton Conservator Ontario. Government. Toronto: University of
The Mississauga News Toronto Township. Auditor's Reports. Toronto, 1954.
The Mississauga Times Public Archives of Ontario. Dean, William G. "Toronto Township: A
The Port Credit News Toronto Township. Council Minutes Peel Geographical Reconnaissance." B.A.
The Port Credit Weekly Regional Archives. thesis, Department of Geography, Uni-
The Streetsville Review versity of Toronto, 1949.
The Toronto Township News 3. Books, Articles, and Theses Filby, James. Credit Valley Railway.
Cheltenham: Boston Mills Press, 1974.
2. Special Collections and Government Adamson, Anthony. "Growing Pains in Gagan, David. Hopeful Travellers: Fami-
Records Municipal Administration." Municipal lies, Land and Social Change in Mid-

World (My 1955): 239-43. Victorian Peel County, Canada West.

The Barnett Scrapbooks. Mississauga Adamson. Jean. The Crook of the Credit. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
Central Public Library. Erindale, 1967. 1981.
Census of Canada. 85 1 - 1 98 11 Banks, John. "The Reverend James Ma- Glazebrook, G.P. de T. Life in Ontario:
Credit Valley Conservation Report. To- grath: Family Man and Anglican Cler- A Social History. Toronto: University
ronto: Ontario Department of Planning ic." Ontario History 55, 3 (September of Toronto Press, 1968.
and Development, 1956. 1963): 131-42 A History of Peel County to Mark its
Entwhistle, John S. and Co. Provincial- Barnett, Major John and E. Blanche. Centenary as a Separate County,
Municipal Audit Report. November Relic of Old Decency. Clarkson, 1963 1867-1967. Brampton: Corporation of
27, 1952. Bird, Marcia et al. A Village Within a the County of Peel, 1967.
Local Press Clippings Scrapbooks. Mis- City: The Story of Lome Park Estates. Hathaway, Ernest J. "The River Credit
sissauga Central Public Library. Lome Park Estates Historical Commit- and the Mississaugas." Ontario Histor-
Mary McNulty Fix Scrapbooks. Missis- tee, 1980. ical Society, Papers and Records. 26
sauga Central Public Library. Bull, William Perkins. From the Boyne (1930): 432-444.
Mississauga. Clerk's Department. Coun- to Brampton. Toronto: George J. Jones, Peter. History of the Ojebway In-
Minutes.
cil McLeod, 1936. dians. [1861]. Toronto: Canadiana
Mississauga. Finance Department. Cur- . From Brock to Currie. 2 vols. House, 1973.
rent Annual Budget. Toronto: George J. McLeod, 1935. Jones, Robert Leslie. History of Agricul-
Mississauga. Planning Department. City . From Medicine Man to Medi- ture in Ontario, 1613-1880. Toronto:
Centre Secondary Plan. 1985. cal Man. Toronto: George J. McLeod, University of Toronto Press, 1946.
Mississauga Historical Anthology. Mis- 1936. Lynch, John. Directory of the County of
sissauga Central Public Library. . From MacDonell to McGui- Peel for 1873. Brampton, 1874.
Mississauga Political Scrapbooks. Missis- gan. Toronto: The Perkins Bull Foun- Manning, Mary. A History of Street-
sauga Central Public Library. dation, 1939. sville. Streetsville: Streetsville Histori-
Morrison, Clarke. "The Growth of a . From Rattlesnake Hunt to cal Society, 1976.
City: Mississauga 1930-1974." Missis- Hockey. Toronto: George J. McLeod, Inns and Hotels and Streets-
sauga: Mississauga Judicial Enquiry, 1934. ville, 1824-1924. Streetsville Historical
1975. From Strachan to Owen. To- Society, 1977.
Peat, Marwick and Partners and the IBI ronto: George J. McLeod Ltd., 1938. Street: The Man, the Family,
Group. Mississauga Urban Develop- Cahill, Jack. Hot Box. Markham: Paper the Village. Streetsville: Streetsville
ment and Transportation. November Jacks Ltd., 1980. Historical Society, 1983.
1974. Careless, M.S. The Union of the Cana-
J. A Village Library: The Story
The Perkins Bull Collection. Public Ar- das: The Growth of Canadian Institu- of the Streetsville Library, 1854-1959.
chives of Ontario. tions, 1841-1857. Toronto: McClelland Streetsville: W.G. Tolton, 1973.
Plunkett, T.J. Peel-Halton Local Govern- and Stewart Limited, 1967. McEvoy, J.M. "The Ontario Township."
ment Review: A Report. Prepared for Clarkson, Betty. Credit Valley Gateway: University of Toronto, Studies in Polit-
the Ontario Department of Municipal The Story of Port Credit. Port Credit: ical Science, vol.1, 1889.

Affairs, 1966. Port Credit Library, 1967. Mississauga as a City. Mississauga Jay-

176
 cees, 1974. on the North Shore of Lake Ontario to
Mississauga Heritage: The Formative 1860." Ph.D thesis. Department of
Years, 1798-1879. Mississauga: Recre- History, University of Toronto, 1975.
ation and Parks Department, 1983. Spelt, Jacob. Urban Development in
Patterson, Donald M. "A Study of Mal- South-Central Ontario. Toronto:
ton." University of Toronto Quarterly, McClelland and Stewart Limited,
vol. 26, (January 1957): 244-55. 1972.
Pope, J.H. Illustrated Historical Atlas of Stamp, Robert M. The Schools of Ontar-
the County of Peel. Toronto: Walker io 1876-1976. Toronto: University of The appearance of this
and Miles, 1877. Toronto Press, 1982. farm in Mount Charles in
St. Peter's Church Erindale. 1825-1967. Stevenson, Ellen. A History of Cooksville 1933 would have changed
Erindale: St. Peter's Church, 1967. United Church. Cheltenham: Boston little over the previous half-
Schull, Joseph. Ontario Since 1867. To- Mills Press, 1975. century. The brick farm-
ronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1978. Wetherell, Alice. "The Diary of Augus- house and the large, well-
Scully, Angus et al. Malton Memories: tus Silverthorn." Ontario History, vol. constructed barn and other
Pioneers to Airport. Malton, 1981. 45, (1953): 75-81. outbuildings signified a
Smith, Donald B. "The Mississauga, Pe- "The Joseph Silverthorn Ac- successful farmer. Cour-
ter Jones, and the White Man: the Al- count Book." Ontario History, vol. 43, tesy, Perkins Bull Collec-
gonkians' Adjustment to the Europeans (1951): 93-106. tion, Archives of Ontario

4^*s^^g^5^*9^ w^w.** *;- '? >3j4

177
 1

MISSISSAUGA

INDEX GENERAL INDEX

Adamson, Alfred, 82
See also Gulf Oil Canada Ltd.
See also Gardner's
Brittania, 44, 70, 84.
Corners
Brown, Henry, 54
Adamson, Anthony, 105, 105, 106, 108 Brown, James, 44
Adamson, Joseph, 35, 36, 82 Buffalo Sabres, 112
PARTNERS IN PROGRESS INDEX Adamson, Peter, 31-32, 35, 36 Bulletin& Semi Weekly Register, 72
Adolescent School Attendance Act, 91 Burnhamthorpe, 29, 31,' 70, 84
A.M.I. Steego Agriculture, 19, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51. 52, Burnhamthorpe Road, 124, 125
A Division of McKerlie-Millen Inc., 52-53, 74, 87, 87; dairy farming, Burrows, Douglas, 117
164 52-53, 87-88; livestock, 50, 52-53, 88; Buses, 80, 98, 98
Alcon Canada Inc., 171 orchards, 53, 87; poultry, 89;
Alkaril Chemicals Ltd., 151 vegetables, 87, 88; wheat, 50, 52, 87
Amdahl Communications Inc. Aiken, James C, 66 Cadet Wing Camp, 82
(Tran Communications Ltd.), 160 Airlines, 80, 202, 122, 123 Canada Steamship Lines, 102, 103
Ashland Chemicals, 156 Allan, William, 14 Canada Systems Group, 101
Bard Canada Inc., 150 Amalgamation, 106-107 Canadian Admiral Corporation, 86. 103
Beckett Packaging Limited, 137 American Revolution, effects of, 13 Canadian Gazeteer, 56, 60
Boart Canada Inc., 168 Ancaster Circuit, 67 Canadian Housing Design Council, 123
Clarkson Gordon, 133 Ancient Order of United Workmen, 38 Canadian National Railway, 81, 99
Coopers & Lybrand, 138 Anderson, James, 66 Canadian Open, 93
Custom Converters-Printers Limited, 158 Applewood Acres, 97, 98, 99 Canadian Pacific Railroad, 30, 58, 59,
Diversey Wyandotte Inc., 140-141 Applewood Heights, 98 61; crash of 1979, 116-117, 120, 121,
Duracell Inc. (Canada), 146 Applewood Place, 122, 123 121, 125, 128
Erindale Campus-University of Toronto, Applewood Village, 98, 103 Carter, Joseph, 23, 44, 68
142-143 Aquitaine, Lake, 119, 123 Caslor, Hiram, 55
Fathom Oceanology Limited, 157 Architecture, 51, 51, 70, 71, 11, 77, 118, Cataraqui, 12, 14
Foods Division of Nabisco Brands 122, 123, 123 Cawthra, Henry, 18
Limited, 153 Argo Block, 85 Cawthra, John, 18, 115
Gulf Canada Limited, 155 Automobiles, 79, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 100 Cawthra Road, 84
Hammerson Canada Inc., 165 Avro Arrow, 102, 102 C.C. Meredith Company, 87. See also
Intercraft Industries of Canada Ltd., 147 A.V. Roe Aircraft Company, 85, 102 CTS of Canada Ltd.
Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc., 149 Central Ontario Lakeshore Urban
Karwald Industries Limited, 162 B Complex, 128
Markborough Properties Limited, 167 Bank of Upper Canada, 43 Centre Road, 23. See also Hurontario
Marks & Spencer, 163 Barber, Robert, 40 Street
Mediacom, 174 Barber, William, 40 Chappell, Hyliard, 106
Medtronic of Canada Ltd., 145 Barbertown, 38, 40 Cherry Hill, 29, 84
Mississauga City Board of Trade, 132 Barber Woollen Mills, 38, 40, 41, 55, 61, Chlorine Emergency Plan Team, 125
Nissan Automobile Company (Canada) 118 Chrysler Canada Ltd., 101
Ltd., 136 Barnhart, Jabez, 72 Church, Amaziah, 23, 44
Ontario Bus Industries Inc., 144 Barnhart, Jesse, 38 Churchville, 27, 42, 43-44, 55, 67, 84
Ontario Chrysler Ltd., 166 Barnhart, John, 23, 38, 67, 67, 72, 73 City Centre, 103, 104, 108, 109, 128.
Ontario Hydro Barnhart, Solomon, 72 129
Lakeview Thermal Generating Station, Beatty, John, 23, 42 Clarkson, Warren, 18, 32, 34
154 Bell, Marilyn, 99, 116 Clarkson, William, 32, 34
Orlando Corporation, 169 Bentley, Gordon, 1 17 Clarkson, 18, 32, 34, 35, 36, 59, 70, 84
Price Waterhouse, 170 Bethune, Charles James Stewart, 68 Clarkson Industrial Development, 101,
Reid Milling Birchview, 83 106
A Division of Nabisco Brands Ltd., Blumenfeld, Hans, 128 Clarkson-Lorne Park Kiwanis Club, 106
152 Bowie, T.I., 89 Claus, William, 16, 22
Shipp Corporation, 139 Bowsfield Home, 51 Clifton Public School, 1 1

SKF & Dormer Tools of Canada Bradley, Louis, 37 Cloverleaf, 83

Limited, 161 Bradley House, 37 Cody, Phillip, 18, 30, 64, 67
Stark-Hicks-Spragge, Architects, 134 Bradt, Jacob, 55 Cody Tavern, 84
Sure-Way Transport Limited, 148 Brampton, 37, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 59, 67 Coffey, Paul, 116
Takara Belmont Company Canada, Brampton Conservator, The, 31, 41, 43, Colonial Advocate, 38
172-173 72, 82 Comfort, William, 55, 65
Touche Ross, 135 Brampton Times, 75 Commercial Hotel, 8-9
Xerox Canada Inc., 159 Brant, Joseph, 16, 16 Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 80
Bristol, Richard, 22 Communication, 14, 36, 48, 60, 89;
British American Oil Refinery, 86, 101. telegraph, 36, 48, 60; telephone, 60, 89

178
 1 1

INDEX

Commuter Lines, 56. 79-80, 81, 82, 98, Dundas, Henry, 14 Graham Bell Enamelling Company, 87
99-100 Dundas Street, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, Graham, George, 44, 46
Conservator, 31, 41, 43, 72, 82 23, 29, 31, 36, 57, 59, 66, 78, 79, 80, Graham, Thomas, 23, 44, 46, 73
Control Data Canada Ltd.. 101 84,118 Grahamsville, 44, 46, 84
Cook, Andrew, 30 Dunton, D.S., 105 Grand River Reserve, 25
Cook, Jacob, 30. 30 Dupont Canada Inc., 101 Grand Trunk Railway, 36-37, 41, 43, 44,
Cooksville, 29, 30-31, 32, 55, 58, 60. 67, 46, 59
70, 80, 82, 83, 84 Grange, Samuel, 125
Cooksville Brick & Tile, 84-85, 103 Edmonton Oilers, 116 Grant, Sara, 18
Cooksville Fair, 71, 74, 110 Education, 24,41,69-71,91-92, 111. Gray Coach Lines, 80
Cooksville Public & Continuation School, 117 Gray, W.T., 81
91, 92, 93 Eglinton Avenue, 17 Graydon, John, 38
Corduroy, 57, 57 Elliott, Charles. 81 Graydon, Robert, 38
Corn Laws, 50 William, 65
Elliot, Graydon, William, 38, 39
Cottager's Association, 81 Elmbank, 44, 84 Great Salmon Hunt, 123
Court of Quarter Sessions, 64 Embleton, John, 71, 72 Great Western Railway, 31, 32, 36, 41,
Courtney, William, 100 Energy, 87, 89, 101 59, 81
Crawford, James, 42 Entwhistle Report, 105 Greeniaus, Sebastian, 35
Credit Mission, 25 Erindale, estate of, 32, 33, 82 Greenwood, Stu, 125
Credit River, 7, /;, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, Erindale, town of, 29, 30, 32, 33, 70, 84 G.S. Shipp & Son Ltd., 98
21, 23, 25, 36, 37, 48, 55, 56, 78, 89 Erindale College, 1 1 Gulf Oil Canada Ltd.. 101
Credit River Indian Reserve, 16, 21, 23, Erindale Light & Power Company, 89
24, 25, 31, 36, 70 Erindale Woodlands, 99, 103, 106, 110 H
Credit Valley Hospital, 112 Erin Mills, 98, 99 Halliday, Richard, 46
Credit Valley Railway, 30, 31, 41, 58, Erin Mills Parkway, 99, 100 Hamilton, James, 60, 61
58, 59 Etobicoke Creek, 16, 21, 30 Hamilton, 47, 50, 89
Crombie, John, 74 Exchange Hotel, 32 Hammondsville, 35. See also Sheridan
Crooks,Adam, 71 Hammond, William Ranson, 35
CTS of Canada Ltd., 87. See also C.C. Harris, Daniel, 18, 30, 53, 56, 64, 67
Meredith Company Farmers' & Mechanics' Institute, 41, 71, Hawker-Siddeley Canada Ltd., 102
72 Head, Francis Bond, 64
Farming. See Agriculture Herridge, Lloyd, 105
Dairy Farming, 52-53, 87-88 Fifth Line Church, 69 Hickey, John, 125
de la Broquerie, Boucher, 12 Firefighters, 91, 110-111, 120, 121 Highway 10, 23, 80, 80. See also
de la Roche, Mazo, 82 Fix, Mary, 106, 108 Hurontario Street
de Lery, Chaussegras, 12 Flannery, William, 69 Historical Atlas of the County of Peel,
Department of Highways. 79 Forest Avenue Continuation School, 91, 31
Department of Planning & Development, 92 Home District, 17, 64
105 Foster, Joseph, 4 Howland, William P., 66
Department of Public Works, 102 Fort Frontenac, 12 Huron Park Recreation Complex, 112
Department of Transport, 125 Fort Toronto, 12 Hurontario Street, 23, 29, 31, 36, 44, 79,
Department of Works, 105 Frost, Leslie, 94-95 80, 82, 83, 100. See also Centre Road
Derry West, 44, 68, 70, 84 Fulton, J.L., 107
Depression, 82, 93 Fur Trade, 12, 13. See also Trade I

Development, 94, 98-99, 104, 105, 108, Immigration, 17-19, 20-22, 23, 24-25, 26,
109 44, 50, 53,62, 67, 75, 112
Diversey Corporation, 86 Gable, Henry, 35 Indians, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16. 22, 23-25;
Dixie, Beaumont, 30 Gardner, Joseph, 44, 44 Iroquois, 12, 16; Mississauga, 7, 10.
Dixie, 29, 30, 68, 69, 70, 84 Gardner, Robert, 44 11, 12, 13, 16, 22, 23-25; Ojibway 10;
Dixie Arena, 94, 95 Gardner's Corners, 44. See also Brittania 23
treaties, 13, 16, 22,
Dixie Beehives, 95, 112 Gateway Postal Facility, 102 Indian Valley Trail, 83
Dixie Industrial Area, 101-102, 106 Glendinning, James, 23, 38 Industrial Committee, 100
Dixie Mall, 99, 103 Goldthorpe, Joseph, family of, 87 Industrialization. 57, 78, 83, 84-85,
Dixie Union Chapel. 30, 56, 57, 67, 68, Gooderham & Worts, 38-39, 41, 42, 43, 86-87, 89, 91, 100-102, 108, 109
69 44, 54, 61, 77, 89 Industry, 42-43, 83, 84-85, 86-87,
Dobkin, Martin, 109 Goodison, T.H., 72 101-103, 104; lumber, 36, 42, 45, 48.
Dominion Metalware Industries Ltd., 86 Good Rich Oil Company, 86 53, 54; milling, 43, 45. 54-55; oil, 57,
Dominion Sash Company, 87 Gordon, George, 81 86; quarrying, 56; shipbuilding, 42;
Don Mills, 99 GO Transit, 98, 100 starch extraction, 57; tanning, 55;
Drennan, Rick, 116 Government, 28, 62, 64-67, 104, 106 textiles, 38, 55
Dufferin-Peel Roman Catholic School Government House, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, Ingersoll, Thomas, 14
Board, 1 1 36 Iroquois Indians, 12, 16

179
 7 2 1 1 1

MISSISSAUGA

McKinnon, Malcolm, 23 Mississauga Times, 112, 113; The

Jameson, Anna, 36 McMurtry, Roy, 121 South Peel Weekly, 112; Streetsville
Jarvis, Sheriff, 64 Magrath, James, 32, 33, 65, 68, 73 Booster, 2; The Streetsville Review,
1 1

Jetliner, 85 Magrath, Thomas, 65, 73 59, 68, 72, 76, 112; Toronto Globe, 72;
Jones & Kirkland Architects, 129 Magrath, William, 33, 65, 73 The Toronto Township News, 2; 1 1 77?e
Jones, Augustus, 24, 25 Malton, 37, 43, 46-47, 59, 60, 67, 68, 70, Toronto Township News Review, I 1 2;
Jones, Ed, 129 83-84, 107 Weekly Review, 41, 72
Jones, John, 24, 25, 36 Malton Pilot, 1 1 New Survey, 23, 44
Jones, Peter, 24, 25, 36, 72 Mammoth Iron Works, 55 New Toronto, 81, 83
Joshua Pollard's Inn, 35 Markborough Place, 123 Nightingale, Thomas, 56, 57
Markborough Properties Ltd., 99
Marvin Heights, 99 O
Kane, Paul, 72 Meadowood, 83 Oak Ridge Farm, 89
Kelly, Ross, 1 1 Meadowvale, 9, 42, 43, 44, 45, 55, 60, Official Plan Review, 129
Kennedy, Thomas Laird, 98, 106, 107 68, 70, 84, 99, 119 Official Plans, of 1953, 100, 106; of
Ker, Henry, 66 Meadowvale Business Park, 101 1980, 110
King's Highway, 79. See also Queen Meadowvale Mills, 54, 77 Ogden Avenue, 83
Elizabeth Way Meadowvale World, 112 Old Survey, 23
Kingston, 12, 14 Merigold, Thomas, 18 Oliver, Frank, 51, 73
Kingston Road, 22, 23 Metropolitan Toronto & Region Oliver, Josiah, 44
Transportation Study, 99 Oil, 57, 86
Middle Road, 18, 32, 79. See also Queen Ojibway Indians, 10
Labor Strike of 1933, 93 Elizabeth Way Ontario Department of Municipal
Lackey, R.W., 81 Milling, 43, 45, 54-55 Affairs, 107
Laidlaw, Matthew, 9 Mimico, 81, 83 Ontario Hydro Electric Power
Lakeshore Road, 14, 18, 19-20, 21, 32, Missionaries, 25 Commission, 80, 89, 101
57, 78, 79, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 100, 100 Mississauga, development of, 106-108 Ontario, Lake, 126, 127
Lakeview, 82, 83, 84, 86, 93 Mississauga Fire Department, 1 1 1 Ontario Municipal Board, 107
Lakeview Central School, 91, 93 Mississauga General Hospital, 112 Ontario Research Foundation, 101
Lakeview Generating Station, 101, 102 Mississauga Golf & Country Club, 25, Ontario Society of Artists, 72
Lakeview Welfare Board, 93 81, 93 Orange Orders, 73
Lakeview Worker's Association, 93 Mississauga Hockey League, 112 Orange Parade, 73
Laumann, Danielle 112 Mississauga Indians, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, Orchard Heights, 98-99
Laumann, Silken, 12 1 16, 22, 23-25; treaties with, 13, 16, 22, Orchards, 53, 87
Law Enforcement, 91, 111 23 Orenda Engine, 102
Livestock, 50, 52-53, 88 Mississauga News, The, 112 Oriental Textile Mills, 55
Lloyd's Refinery, 86 Mississauga Public Library System, 1 1 Our Lady of the Airways Catholic
Loblaws, 94, 103 Mississauga Purchase Treaty, 22, 23 School, 93
Long Branch, 81, 83 Mississauga Road, 58, 80, 82, 84. See
Lome, Marquis of, 35, 35 also Port Credit- Streetsville Road
Lome Park, 35, 81-82 Mississauga Times, The, 112, 113 Palestine, 44, 46-47, 84
Lome Park Estates Limited, 81-82 Mississauga Tract, 10, 13, 14, 16-17, 22 Palestine School, 46-47
Lou Marsh Trophy, 1 16 Mississauga Transit, 98, 98 Pallet, Leslie, 93
Loyalists, 18 Monger, Benjamin, 18 Park Royal, 99, 202, 106
Lumber, 36, 42, 45, 48, 53, 54 Montgomery Tavern, 65 Parks & Recreation Department. 112
Lundy, Francis, 73 Montreal House, 38 Parsons, Lou, 108
Lynch, John, 52 Motherill, Francis, 55 Paterson, Thomas, 66
Mount Charles, 44, 84, 175 Pearson International Airport, 102
M Municipal Corporation Act, 65 Peat Marwick & Partners, 128
Macadamization, 36, 57, 58, 60 Peel Agricultural Society. 74
McCallion, Hazel, 8, 109, 121, 128 N Peel Board of Education, 1 1

McCarthy Flour & Feed Mills, 87 National Sewer Pipe Company. 101 Peel County, 44, 47, 52, 54, 67
McCarthy Milling Company, 55, 119 National Steel Car Company, 83 Peel-Halton Local Government Review,
McCrary, Joseph, 55 Nelson, Horatio, 17 107-108
MacDonald-Cartier Freeway, 100 Nelson Township, 17 Peel Region, 108
McDonnell-Douglas Canada Ltd., 102, Newspapers, 72, 112; The Brampton Peel Regional Force, 1 1

103 Conservator, 31, 41, 43, 72, 82; Pinchin, Herbert, 105
J.
McFarren Brick, 87 Bulletin& Semi Weekly Register, 72; Planking, 57-58
Macgeorge, Robert Jackson, 68, 73 Canadian Gazeteer, 56, 60; Colonial Pleasant View Farms, 87
McGill, James, 31 Advocate, 38; Malton Pilot, 112; Plunkett, Thomas J., 107
McKee, Norman, 105 Meadowvale World, 112; The Population, 8, 18-19, 23, 26, 47, 76, 82,
Mackenzie, William Lyon, 64-65 Mississauga News, 112; The 89, 96, 99, 100, 110, 112

180
 1 1 5 2

INDEX

Port Credit, 23, 31, 32, 36-37, 38, 56, 57, Riviere du Credit, 12. See also Credit Sixth Line, 58, 80
59, 60. 67, 68, 70, 76, 78, 81, 83, 84, River Small Arms Company, 82
86, 89, 90, 94. 96, 100, 102, 106, 108, Roads & Highways, 19, 36, 48, 50, 56, Small Arms Plant, 86
122 57-59, 76, 78-79, 80, 90-91, 100, 125; Smith, Sidney, 105
Port Credit Brickyard, 56. 57 corduroy, 57, 57; macadamization, 36, Snure, Jacob, 55
Port Credit Harbour Company, 36 57, 58, 60; planking, 57-58 Solomon's Temple, 38, 39
Port Credit High School. 91, 93, 111 Road Companies Act, 57 Sons of Temperance Society, 74
Port Credit Library, 71, 72, 111 Robinett. Allan, 18. 53, 55, 67, 68 South Peel Association for Retarded
Port Credit Methodist Church Choir, 69 Roe, Christopher, 65 Children, 111
Port Credit Ontario Plank Road Roman, Charles, 65 South Peel Board of Education, 106
Company, 58 Rowe. Daniel, 55 South Peel Hospital, 111-112
Port Credit Railway Station, 81 Roxy Theatre, 94 South Peel Weekly, The, 1 1

Port Credit Regatta. 93 Royal Air Force, 82 Speck, Robert, 106, 108, 108, 109
Port Credit-Streetsville Road. 58. See Royal Canadian Academy, 73 Square One, 103, 104, 108, 128, 129
also Mississauga Road Russell, Peter, 16 Stagecoach, 36, 46
Port Credit Weekly, The, 86, 90, 91, 94, Rutledge. Henry, 66, 68, 73 Stanfield, Fred, 112, 113
110, 110, 112 Ryerson, Egerton, 24, 25, 70 Starch Extraction, 57
Port Credit Yacht Club, 93, 122 Stavebank Road, 54
Potash, 53-54 Staves, 54, 55, 56
Poultry Farming, 89 St. Dunstan's, 69. See also St. Joseph's Steamships, 36, 59, 60
Poynter, Richard, 55 Catholic Church Stonehooking, 37, 38, 56-57, 60
Price, Samuel, 65 St. John's Anglican Church, 68 Street, John, 66
Province of Upper Canada. 13, 17, 18 St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 69. See Street, Timothy, 23, 38, 55, 66, 68
Provincial Municipal Audit Report, 105 also St. Dunstan's Streetsville, 30, 37-38, 39, 41, 47, 55, 58,
Provisional Municipal Council of the St. Lawrence Cement Company, 101. 59, 60, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 76, 78, 82,
County of Peel, 66 101 84, 89, 90, 94, 96, 106, 108
St. Lawrence Park, 94 Streetsville Booster ,112
Q St. Lawrence Starch Company, 37, 57, Streetsville Fair, 71, 74
Quarrying, 56 60, 78, 86, 93-94; products of, 86, 86 Streetsville Grammar School, 71, 93, 115
Queen Elizabeth Public School, 91 St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 69, 70, 71, Streetsville Kinsman Senior Citizen's
Queen Elizabeth Way, 18, 79, 80, 80, 83, 111 Centre, 1 1

100, 100. See also King's Highway St. Peter's Anglican Church, 32, 68, 82, Streetsville Public Library, 71
Queen's Plate, 75 118 Streetsville Review, The, 38, 59, 68, 72,
Queen's Rangers, 14, 14 Sanitation. 90, 99, 106, 110 76, 112
Quenepenon, 16 S.B. McLaughlin Associates Ltd., 103, Streetsville Thistles, 75
128 Suburbanization, 76, 79, 81, 83-84, 91,
R Schreiber, Charlotte, 73 105, 108, 109
Racey, Thomas. 23, 31 Searle, Ron, 109 Summerville, 29-30, 84
Railways, 30, 31, 32, 36, 41, 48, 52-53, Second Riding of York County, 64 Swansea, 81
59, 61, 79-80, 81; crash of 1979, 116- Secord, Laura, 14 Sydenham, 30
117, 120, 121, 121, 125, 128; Seton, Ernest Thompson, 73
Canadian National Railway, 81, 99; Settlers. See Immigration T
Canadian Pacific Railroad, 30, 58, 59; Shaughnessy, Thomas, 55 Tanning, 55
Credit Valley Railway, 30, 31, 41, 58, Sheridan. Richard Brinsley, 35 Taxation, 64, 65, 105, 106,
58, 59; Grand Trunk Railway, 36-37, Sheridan, 32, 35-36, 70, 84 Taylor, E.P., 99
41, 43, 44, 46, 59; Great Western Sheridan College of Applied Arts & Tecumseh Park, 83
Railway, 31, 32, 36, 41, 59, 81; Port Technology, 1 1 Telegraph, 36, 48, 60
Credit Railway Station, 81; Toronto Sheridan Homelands, 99 Telegraph Hotel, 65, 66
Suburban Railway, 80; Toronto & Sheridan Mall, 103 Telephone, 60, 89
York Radial Railway, 79-80 Sheridan Nurseries, 88 Temperance Halls, 74
Ransom, Israel, 38 Sheridan Park Research Centre, 101 Temperance Societies, 73-74
Recreation, 74, 74-75, 93-94, 112 Shipbuilding, 42 Textiles, 38, 55
Red Oaks School, 1 1 Shipp Corporation, 123 Thompson, Charles Poulett, 30
Regent House, 38, 39 Silverthorn, Francis, 42, 43, 55 Thompson, William, 65
Regent Oil, 86 Silverthorn, Jane, 17, 18 Thomson, Edward W., 64
Reid Milling Company, 55, 87 Silverthorn, John, 17. 18, 29, 67 T.L. Kennedy Secondary School, 92
Religion, 63, 67-69; missionaries, 25 Silverthorn, Joseph, 17, 18, 29 Toronto 14, 36, 47, 50, 59, 61, 78, 82,
Richview, 44, 84 Silverthorn, Thomas, 29 89, 93
Ridgewood Heights, 99 Simcoe, Elizabeth, 19 Toronto Globe, 72
Ridout, Thomas, 17 Simcoe, John Graves, 13, 13. 14, 18 Toronto Harbour Commission, 80
Rifle Ranges, 82 Simpson, John, 42 Toronto House, 56
Riverview Heights, 99 Sixteen Mile Creek, 16 Toronto & Lome Park Summer Resort

181
 1 2 1

MISSISSAUGA

Company, 35 W
Toronto Suburban Railway, 80 Walton 's Directory of the Howe District,
Toronto Township, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18-19, 36, 38
22, 23, 24, 26, 37, 41, 48, 53, 54, 60, War of 1812, effects of, 21

72, 87, 89, 94, 96, 100, 108; settlement Warner, Art, 117
of, 28-29 Waterworks, 89-90, 110
Toronto Township Board of Education, Watson, Wesley, 14
111 Wheat, 50, 52, 87
Toronto Township Council, 31 Wilcox, Absolom, 18, 65
Toronto Township Department of Wilcox, Allen, 65
Recreation, 94 Wilmot, Samuel, 16, 17
Toronto Township Fire Department, 110 Wood, John, 113
Toronto Township Hockey League, 94, World War One, effects of, 82, 83
95 World War Two, effects of, 80, 82-83,
Toronto Township News, The, 1 1 85-86, 112, 117
Toronto Township News Review, 12 1 Weekly Review, 41, 72
Toronto Township Planning Board, 94, Westdale Mall, 103
99 Wright, A.J., 41
Toronto Township Police Department, 91 Wright, Joseph, 65, 66
Toronto Township Public Library, 1 1

Toronto Township Ratepayers

Association, 105 Yonge Street Circuit, 67
Toronto & York Radial Railway, 79-80 York, 14, 16. See also Toronto
Toronto Transit Commission, 98
Toronto Transportation Commission, 80
Trade, 12, 13. See also Fur Trade
Trafalgar, 17,
Trail Cottage, 82
Transportation, 14, 36, 47, 50, 56, 57,
60, 67, 76, 78, 78-79, 79, 87, 99-100;
airline, 80, 102, 122, 123; automobile,
79, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 100; buses, 80,
98, 98; commuter lines, 56, 79-80, 81,
82, 98, 99-100; railways, 30, 31, 32,
36, 41, 48, 52-53, 59, 61, 79-80, 81;
roads & highways, 19, 36, 48, 50, 56,
57-59, 76, 78-79, 80, 90-91, 100, 125;
stagecoach, 36, 46; steamships, 36,
59-60; trucking, 78, 78,
Trinity Anglican, 68
Trinity Anglican Church, 68
Trevorrow, Elizabeth,
Trucking, 78, 78, 80
T.W. Hand Fireworks, 85, 85, 103
Twelve Mile Creek, 16

U
Unemployment, 82, 93
United Land Corporation, 99
University of Toronto, 1 1

Urbanization, 95, 96, 98-99, 103-104,

105, 108-109, 110-111

Van Every, Allan, 105

Vegetables, 87, 88
Verner, F.A., 72
Victory Aircraft Company, 83, 85
Victory Village, 83
Vista Heights, 99
Vogue Theatre, 94

182
 INDEX

WINDSOR BOOKS
ALABAMA The First State: An Illustrated History of mack River, by Paul Hudon
The Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated Delaware, by William Henry Williams Heart of the Commonwealth: Worcester,
History of Birmingham and Jefferson by Margaret A. Erskine
County, by Leah Rawls Atkins FLORIDA
Historic Huntsville: A City of New Be- Fort Lauderdale and Broward County: MICHIGAN
ginnings, by Elise Hopkins Stephens An Illustrated History, by Stuart Battle Creek: The Place Behind the
Mobile: The Life and Times of a Great Mclver Products, by Larry B. Massie and
Southern City, by Melton McLaurin Peter J. Schmitt
and Michael Thomason GEORGIA Through the Years in Genesee: An Illus-
Montgomery: An Illustrated History, by Eden on the Marsh: An Illustrated His- trated History, by Alice Lethbridge
Wayne Flynt tory of Savannah, by Edward Chan Jackson: An Illustrated History, by Brian
Sieg Deming
ARIZONA Kalamazoo: The Place Behind the Prod-
Scottsdale: Jewel in the Desert, by IDAHO ucts, by Peter J. Schmitt and Larry B.
Patricia Myers McElfresh Boise:An Illustrated History, by Merle Massie
Tucson: Portrait of a Desert Pueblo, by Wells Out of a Wilderness: An Illustrated His-
John Bret Harte Idaho: Gem of the Mountains, by Merle tory of Greater Lansing, by Justin L.
Wells and Arthur A. Hart Kestenbaum
CALIFORNIA Saginaw: A History of the Land and the
Heart of the Golden Empire: An Illus- ILLINOIS City, by Stuart D. Gross
trated History of Bakersfield, by Chicago: Center for Enterpise, by Kenan
Richard C. Bailey Heise and Michael Edgerton MINNESOTA
California Wings: A History of Aviation Des Born of the Tallgrass Prai-
Plaines: Duluth: An Illustrated History of the Ze-
in the Golden State, by William A. rie, by Donald S. Johnson Glenn N. Sandvik
nith City, by
Schoneberger Prairie of Promise: Springfield and San- City of Lakes: An Illustrated History of
Harvest of the Sun: An Illustrated His- gamon County, by Edward J. Russo Minneapolis, by Joseph Stipanovich
tory of Riverside County, by James T. Saint Cloud: The Triplet City, by John J.
Brown INDIANA Dominick
Los Angeles: A City Apart, by David L. At the Bend in the River: by Kenneth P. St. Paul: Saga of an American City, by
Clark McCutchan Virginia Brainard Kunz
Sacramento: Heart of the Golden State, The Fort Wayne Story: A Pictorial His-
by Joseph A. McGowan and Terry R. tory, by John Ankenbruck MISSISSIPPI
Willis Indiana: An Illustrated History, by The Mississippi Gulf Coast: Portrait of a
San Bernardino County: Land of Con- Patrick J. Furlong People, by Charles L. Sullivan
trasts,by Walter C. Schuiling Muncie and Delaware County: An Illus-
International Port of Call: An Illustrated trated Retrospective, by Wiley W. MISSOURI
Maritime History of the Golden Gate, Spurgeon, Jr. From Southern Village to Midwestern
by Robert J. Schwendinger Terre Haute: Wabash River City, by City: Columbia, An Illustrated His-
Stockton: Sunrise Port on the San Joa- Dorothy J. Clark tory, by Alan R. Havig
quin, by Olive Davis At the River's Bend: An Illustrated His-
Ventura County: Land of Good Fortune, IOWA tory of KansasIndependence and
City,
by Judy Triem Cedar Rapids: Tall Corn and High Tech- Jackson County, By Sherry Lamb
nology, by Ernie Danek Schirmer and Richard D. McKinzie
COLORADO Joplin: From Mining Town to Urban
Life In The Altitudes: An Illustrated LOUISIANA Center, An Illustrated History, by G.K.
History of Colorado Springs, by Nancy River Capital: An Illustrated History of Renner
E. Loe Baton Rouge, by Mark T. Carleton Springfield of the Ozarks, by Harris and
Denver: America 's Mile High Center of New Orleans: An Illustrated History, by Phyllis Dark
Enterprise, by Jerry Richmond John R. Kemp
MONTANA
CONNECTICUT MARYLAND Montana: Land of Contrast, by Harry
We Crown Them All: An Illustrated His- Baltimore: An Illustrated History, by W. Fritz
tory of Danbury, by William E. Devlin Suzanne Ellery Greene
Hartford: An Illustrated History of Con- Maryland: Old Line to New Prosperity, NEBRASKA
necticut's Capital, by Glenn Weaver by Joseph Arnold
L. Lincoln: The Prairie Capital, by James
New Haven: An Illustrated History, edi- Montgomery County: Two Centuries of L. McKee
ted by Floyd Shumway and Richard Change by Jane C. Sween Omaha and Douglas County: A Pan-
Hegel oramic History, by Dorothy Devereux
Stamford: An Illustrated History, by MASSACHUSETTS Dustin
Estelle F. Feinstein, and Joyce S. Boston: City on a Hill, by Andrew Buni
Pendery and Alan Rogers NEVADA
The Valley and its Peoples: An Illus- Reno: Hub of the Washoe County by
DELAWARE trated History of the Lower Merri- William D. Rowley

183
MISSISSAUGA

NEW HAMPSHIRE the Emerald Empire, by Dorothy Salt Lake City: The Gathering Place, by
New Hampshire: An Illustrated History Velasco John S. McCormick
of the Granite State, by Ronald Jager Portland: Gateway to the Northwest, by
and Grace Jager Carl Abbott VERMONT
Vermont: An Illustrated History, by John
NEW JERSEY PENNSYLVANIA Duffy
Morris County: The Progress of Its Leg- Allegheny Passage: An Illustrated His-
end, by Dorianne R. Perrucci tory of Blair County, by Robert L. VIRGINIA
A Capital Place: The Story of Trenton, Emerson Norfolk's Waters: An Illustrated Mari-
by Mary Alice Quigley and David E. Erie: Chronicle of a Great Lakes City, time History of Hampton Roads, by
Collier by Edward Wellejus William Tazewell
An Illustrated History of Greater Harris- Richmond: An Illustrated History, by
NEW MEXICO burg, by Michael Barton Harry M. Ward
New Mexico: The Distant Land, by Dan The Heritage of Lancaster, by John
Murphy Ward Willson Loose WASHINGTON
The Lehigh Valley: An Illustrated His- King County And Its Queen City: Seat-
NEW YORK tory, by Karyl Lee Kibler Hall and tle by James R. Warren
Albany: Capital City on the Hudson, by Peter Dobkin Hall South On The Sound: An Illustrated His-
John J. McEneny Williamsport: Frontier Village to Regional tory of Tacoma and Pierce County, by
Broome County Heritage, by Lawrence Center, by Robert H. Larson, Richard Murray and Rosa Morgan
Bothwell J. Morris, and John F. Piper, Jr. A View of the Falls: An Illustrated His-
Buffalo:Lake City in Niagara Land, by The Wyoming Valley: An American Por- tory of Spokane, by William Stimson
Richard C. Brown and Bob Watson trait, by Edward F. Hanlon
Harbor and Haven: An Illustrated His- To the Setting of the Sun: The Story of WEST VIRGINIA
tory of the Port of New York, by John York, by George R. Sheets Charleston and the Kana wha Valley: An
G. Bunker Illustrated History, by Otis K. Rice
The Hudson-Mohawk Gateway: An Illus- RHODE ISLAND Huntington: An Illustrated History, by
trated History, by Thomas Phelan Rhode The Independent State, by
Island: James E. Casto
A Pictorial History of Jamestown and George H. Kellner and J. Stanley Wheeling: An Illustrated History, by
Chautauqua County, by B. Dolores Lemons Doug Fetherling
Thompson
Between Ocean and Empire: An Illus- SOUTH CAROLINA WISCONSIN
trated History of Long Island, by Dr. Charleston: Crossroads of History, by The Fox Heritage: A History of Wiscon-
Robert McKay and Carol Traynor Isabella G. Leland sin's Fox Cities, by Ellen Kort
The Upper Mohawk Country: An Illus- Columbia, South Carolina: History of a Green Bay: Gateway to the Great Water-
trated History of Greater Utica, by City, by John A. Montgomery way, by Betsy Foley
David M. Ellis
A Panoramic History of Rochester and SOUTH DAKOTA CANADA
Monroe County, New York, by Blake Gateway to the Hills: An Illustrated His- Calgary: Canada 's Frontier Metropolis,
McKelvey tory of Rapid City, by David B. Miller by Max Foran and Heather MacEwan
Syracuse: From Salt to Satellite, by Foran
Henry W. Schramm and William F. TENNESSEE Edmonton: Gateway to the North, by
Roseboom Chattanooga: An Illustrated History, by John F. Gilpin
James Livingood Halifax: Cornerstone of Canada, by Joan
NORTH CAROLINA Metropolis of the American Nile: Mem- Payzant
Greensboro: A Chosen Center, by Gayle phis and Shelby County, by John E. Hamilton: Chronicle of a City, by T.
Hicks Fripp Harkins Melville Bailey
Raleigh: City of Oaks, by James E. Kitchener: Yesterday Revisited, by Bill
Vickers TEXAS Moyer
Cape Fear Adventure: An Illustrated Austin: An Illustrated History, by David Mississauga: An Illustrated History, by
History of Wilmington, by Diane Cobb Humphrey Roger E.Riendeau
Cashman Beaumont: A Chronicle of Promise, by Where Rivers Meet: An Illustrated His-
Made inNorth Carolina: An Illustrated Judith W. Linsley and Ellen W. tory of Ottawa, by Courtney C. J.
History of Tar Heel Business and In- Rienstra Bond
dustry, by David E. Brown Corpus The History of a Texas
Christi: Regina: From Pile O'Bones to Queen
Seaport, by Bill Walraven City of the Plains, by William A.
OHIO Dallas: An Illustrated History, by Darwin Riddell
Butler County: An Illustrated History, by Payne Saint John: Two Hundred Years Proud,
George C. Crout City at the Pass: An Illustrated History by George W. Schuyler
Springfield and Clark County: An Illus- of El Paso, by Leon Metz Saskatoon: Hub City of the West, by
trated History, by William A. Houston: Chronicle of the Supercity on Gail A. McConnell
Kinnison Buffalo Bayou, by Stanley E. Siegel Toronto: The Place of Meeting, by
Waco: Texas Crossroads, by Patricia Frederick H. Armstrong
OKLAHOMA Ward Wallace Winnipeg: Where the New West Begins,
Heart of the Promised Land: An Illus- Where the West Begins: Fort Worth and by Eric Wells
trated History of Oklahoma County, Tarrant County, by Janet L. Schmelzer
by Bob L. Blackburn
UTAH
OREGON Ogden: Junction City, by Richard C.
Lane County: An Illustrated History of Roberts and Richard W. Sadler

184
 .... ;>>

•V

'

•.--.»?•..•
• •• •' '.
>••..
. - . . , - -

.
•
.• .

.„
.- ...

-
Roger E. Riendeau

Author and photo researcher Roger E. Riendeau

has shared his interest in Ontario history with
students at Innis and Trinity colleges for the past
ten years. He has written articles on the munici-
pal development of metropolitan Toronto, served
as a historical consultant for the Ontario Bicen-
tennial Committee of the Ministry of Citizenship
and Culture, and written an acclaimed booklet
called An Enduring Heritage: Black Contribu-
tions to Early Ontario. Among other duties, Mr.
Riendeau serves on the Innis College Advisory
Committee on the Teaching of Writing, and is a
member of the Academic Affairs Committee.
Business biographer Richard M. Pearce is an
editorial consultant to International Nickel Com-
pany of Canada. A former reporter, editor, and
general manager of The Simcoe Reformer and
editor of Trot magazine for the Canadian Trot-
ting Association, Mr. Pearce is active in many
professional organizations, including the Canadi-
an Press and the Canadian Daily Newspaper
Publishers Association. He is also a past president
of the Ontario Daily Newspaper Publishers Asso-
ciation.
Business biographer Frank Kaplan is known
across Canada for his thirty-five-year career as a
financial writer. Five years at the Canadian Press
and five years at the Toronto Telegram led him
to a stint as senior editor at the Financial Post.
After leaving the paper in 1969, Mr. Kaplan
founded the Canadian Investor, and began his
own investment consulting firm.

Jacket Design: Ellen Ifrah

 wer: rai
ender of their land to the British in 1805. This
treaties that began the transformation of Credit Valley wilderness
into Toronto Township, which would one day become the city of
Mississauga. Courtesy, Perkins Bull Collection, Central Archives of
the United Church of Canada

Back cover: Homesteaders came to settle the Mississauga Tract in

1806, many carrying their households in covered wagons pulled by
oxen. They had to cross the Credit River and Etobicoke Creek
which had not yet been spanned by bridges. This circa 1910 painting
by George Agnew Reid portrays one pioneer family. Courtesy,
Government of Ontario Art Collection