Etobicoke - History

History

Different groups of First Nations peoples used the land that is now Etobicoke at different times. As the Algonquins gradually moved west from the Atlantic to Lake Erie, it is almost certain that they would have occupied this land at some point. By the time they were mostly settled on the shores of Georgian Bay, The Huron-Wendat were the primary residents of the north shore of Lake Ontario and, somewhere in the 17th century, they were pushed out by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people. After continued harassment from the south, a coalition of the Ojibway, Odawa and Potawatomi Algonquin nations, known as the Three Fires, gradually pushed the Haudenosaunee off this land and the Mississaugas settled there by 1695, fishing and growing crops more locally in the summer and hunting further afield in the winter.

The name "Etobicoke" was derived from the Mississauga word wah-do-be-kang (wadoopikaang), meaning "place where the alders grow", which was used to describe the area between Etobicoke Creek and the Humber River. The first provincial land surveyor, Augustus Jones, also spelled it as "ato-be-coake". Etobicoke was finally adopted as the official name in 1795 on the direction of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe.

Etobicoke was intended by the British to be included in the Toronto Purchase of 1787. However, whether the western boundary of the purchase was the Humber River or the Etobicoke River (now, Etobicoke Creek) was disputed. The Mississauga Indians allowed British surveyor Alexander Aitkin to survey the disputed land, and eventually the dispute was settled, with the Mississauga recognising the purchase as extending to Etobicoke Creek, and the British paying an additional 10 shillings for the purchase.

Settlers began to move in from Britain. Early settlers included many of the Queen's Rangers, who were given land in the area by Simcoe to help protect the new capital of Upper Canada. In 1793-95, the Honourable Samuel Smith, a colonel in the Queen's Rangers, received land grants of 1,530 acres (6.2 km2), extending from today's Kipling Avenue to Etobicoke Creek, and north to Bloor Street. The first land patent was issued to Sergeant Patrick Mealey on March 18, 1797 for a plot on the west side of Royal York Road on Lake Ontario. This was part of the First Military Tract, or "Militia Lands", which extended from today's Royal York Road to Kipling Avenue, south from Bloor Street. More land was granted the members of the Queen's Rangers in the First Military tract, but most Rangers did not occupy their land and many sold their acreage to others after a short time.

The census of 1805 counted 84 people in the township of Etobicoke. In 1806 William Cooper built a grist mill and saw mill on the west bank of the Humber river, just south of Dundas Street. The 1809 census counted 137 residents. The Dundas Street bridge opened in 1816, making the township more accessible.

On May 18, 1846 the Albion Road Company was incorporated. Its purpose was to build and maintain a road to the north-west corner of Etobicoke, where a new community was planned. At the same time, John Grubb, who had already founded Thistletown, hired land surveyor John Stoughton Dennis to plan a community at the intersection of Islington Avenue and Albion Road, to be named Saint Andrew's. Plan 6 for this community was registered on October 15, 1847. The French master of Upper Canada College, Jean du Petit Pont de la Haye, contracted land surveyor James McCallum Jr to create a plan for the community planned by the Albion Road Company, and Plan 28 was registered for Claireville on October 12, 1849.

The township of Etobicoke was incorporated on January 1, 1850. The first meeting of the town council was held on January 21. Present at the meeting were reeve William Gamble, vice-reeve W. B. Wadsworth and aldermen Moses Appleby, Thomas Fisher and John Geddes. The council convened monthly meetings at a variety of places. In 1850, the population of the township was 2904. By 1881, the population of Etobicoke township was 2976.

In 1911, the community of Mimico was incorporated on land taken from Etobicoke township. New Toronto was incorporated on January 1, 1913. Early on there was talk of merging Mimico and New Toronto. A 1916 referendum on amalgamating the two communities was approved by the residents of Mimico, but rejected by residents of New Toronto. In 1917, Mimico became a town and in 1920, New Toronto became the Town of New Toronto. Long Branch was incorporated in 1930 as a village.

In 1954, Etobicoke Township became a part of the newly-formed regional government, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto ("Metro"). In 1967, the township of Etobicoke was merged with three small lakeside municipalities — the Village of Long Branch, the Town of New Toronto, and the Town of Mimico — to form the Borough of Etobicoke. The borough was reincorporated as a city in 1984. In 1998, six local municipalities (including Etobicoke) and the Metropolitan Toronto government merged to form the amalgamated city of Toronto.