Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River, on the west by Etobicoke Creek, the cities of Brampton, and Mississauga, the Toronto Pearson International Airport (a small portion of the airport extends into Etobicoke), and on the north by the city of Vaughan at Steeles Avenue West.
The area of Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s. Primarily an agricultural district, it was incorporated in 1850 as Etobicoke Township. The municipality grew into city status in the 20th century after World War II. Several independent villages and towns developed and became part of Etobicoke, first when Metropolitan Toronto was formed in 1954 and later, in a 1967 consolidation. In 1998, its city status and government dissolved after it was amalgamated into present-day Toronto.
Etobicoke has a highly diverse population, which numbered 365,143 in 2016. It is primarily suburban in development and heavily industrialized, resulting in a lower population density than the other districts of Toronto. Much of its cityscape is characterized by larger main streets, shopping malls, and cul-de-sac housing developments. Etobicoke has several expressways, including Highways 427, 401, 409, the Queen Elizabeth Way and Gardiner Expressway. Etobicoke is the western terminus of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth of the Toronto subway and is served by four suburban rail stations of GO Transit. Humber Polytechnic is in Etobicoke, encompassing two campuses, one of which is also home to the University of Guelph-Humber.
Toponymy The name Etobicoke derives from the Mississauga word (), meaning "place where the alders grow". This was how they described 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 at the direction of Upper Canada Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe.
History At different times throughout history, different groups of First Nations peoples used the land that is now present day Etobicoke. As the Algonquins gradually moved west from the Atlantic to Lake Erie, it is almost certain they would have occupied this land. By the time they were mostly settled on the shores of Georgian Bay, the Wendat were the primary residents of Lake Ontario's north shore. During the 17th century, the powerful Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacy, made up of nations based to the south of the lake, pushed them out.
After continued harassment from the Haudenosaunee to the south, a coalition of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Algonquin nations, known as the Three Fires, gradually pushed the Haudenosaunee off this land. The Algonquian-speaking Mississaugas settled here by 1695, fishing and growing crops more locally in the summer and hunting farther afield in the winter.Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and Praxis Research Associates. Date unknown. The History of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. Hagersville, ON: Author.
The British officials intended Etobicoke to be included in the Toronto Purchase of 1787. However, the Mississauga and government disagreed as to whether the western boundary of the purchase was the Humber River or the Etobicoke River (now, Etobicoke Creek). The Mississauga Indians allowed British surveyor Alexander Aitkin to survey the disputed land, and the British paid an additional 10 shillings for the purchase, although the purchase was never formally agreed to. The dispute was settled between the government and the Mississauga First Nation in 2010.
The Canada Act of Britain in 1791 allowed the formation of counties, towns and townships. The south-west section of York County was surveyed and Simcoe approved its designation as Etobicoke township in 1795. It was administered by the York County government. The boundaries of the new township were the Humber River, Lake Ontario, Etobicoke Creek, Toronto Township (today's City of Mississauga), Toronto Gore (that part of Mississauga and Brampton in the area of today's Pearson Airport), and Vaughan Township, now the City of Vaughan.
Immigrants from the British Isles were among the new settlers, as well as Loyalists who had left the rebellious Thirteen Colonies, by then the United States. Early settlers included many of the Queen's Rangers, who Simcoe gave land to help protect the new capital of Upper Canada and develop this frontier area. In 1793-95, the Honourable Samuel Smith, a colonel in the Queen's Rangers, received land grants of , extending from today's Kipling Avenue to Etobicoke Creek, and north to Bloor Street.
On March 18, 1797, Sergeant Patrick Mealey received the first land patent 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. The Crown was providing land to Loyalists in compensation for property they left behind in the U.S. and to veterans of the American Revolution in payment for service. In other parts of Ontario, the Crown granted land to the Haudenosaunee who had served as allies during the war and were forced to cede most of their land in New York to the state. The Crown granted more land to members of the Queen's Rangers in the First Military tract, but most did not occupy their land. Many sold their acreage after a short time.
The census of 1805 counted 84 people in Etobicoke. In 1806, William Cooper built a grist mill and saw mill on the Humber river's west bank, just south of Dundas Street. The 1809 census counted 137 residents. The first Dundas Street bridge over the Humber River at Lambton Mills was built in 1811, making the township more accessible from York.
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 township's population 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.Secondary Schools: G to M « For King and Country. Torontofamilyhistory.org. Retrieved on July 26, 2013.
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.
Character
Etobicoke has the lowest population density of the former cities and boroughs comprising the city of Toronto. This is mainly due to its expanses of industrial lands along the various expressways.
The residential areas are primarily single-family dwellings, although several large multi-story high-rise condominium developments have been built in south Etobicoke near the Humber River. The central and northern areas of Etobicoke have many high-density apartment complexes set in the middle of sizable, open fields and parks. The central/southern areas, such as Markland Wood, The Kingsway, New Toronto, Mimico and Long Branch, have large green spaces, many parks, and main street shopping areas.
Etobicoke has many public parks. Located on the banks of the Humber River, James Gardens, a popular site for wedding photography, features seasonal flowers, walkways, a rock garden, streams, and waterfalls. Etobicoke also has Centennial Park, a large recreational park, and Colonel Samuel Smith Park and Humber Bay Park on the lakeshore. Etobicoke has several golf courses. St. George's Golf and Country Club was ranked in 2007 as one of the three best golf courses in Canada.
Neighbourhoods
Etobicoke is generally divided into three large areas roughly corresponding to its political ridings. Each has neighbourhoods, mostly developments of 19th-century 'postal villages' (rural neighbourhoods), that were built at key points along the early roads and railways; especially the three former 'Lakeshore Municipalities' that separated from Etobicoke in the early 20th century and Etobicoke's central Islington community:
The Lakeshore (Etobicoke—Lakeshore), along the north shore of Lake Ontario and the "Lake Shore Road" (now Lake Shore Boulevard West), comprises three former municipalities that were the first to urbanize and became separate municipalities during the first half of the 20th century: Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch, and related communities that were never separate from the Township of Etobicoke; namely, Alderwood (originally a suburb of New Toronto), and Humber Bay (a historic gateway community connecting to Toronto) which was originally sprawl from the east side of the Humber River that was subsequently split by the construction of Ontario's first motor vehicle 'freeway' in 1938, which cuts across the top of southern Etobicoke; (the Queen Elizabeth Way).
Today, the original remnant residential (northern) section of Humber Bay is north of The Queensway, east of Mimico Creek to the Humber River. The commercial, southern section of Humber Bay retains only Christie's Biscuits bakery, as high-rise condominium towers and clustered row housing have forced out virtually all other commercial/industrial employment uses. In the late 1990s, the former McGuiness Whisky factory was converted into a high-rise loft condominium which became the centrepiece of the Mystic Pointe development. Etobicoke's first railway opened through the area in 1855, just north of the Lake Ontario shoreline, leading to the first period of growth as it replaced Dundas Street in Central Etobicoke as the main means of transportation and the industrial centre along its right-of-way.