A Capsule History of the Township of Pickering

Newspaper published by the Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser. Special edition to commemorate the Millennium.

A capsule history of the Township of Pickering
By John W. Sabean

The following excerpts are reprinted with permission from a speech prepared by Pickering Township Historical Society Vice President, John W. Sabean, for the Society's inaugural meeting on May 7, 1997. The speech was also published in Volume 1 Number 1 of "Pathmaster," the Society's superb newsletter. John is the Editor of the anxiously-awaited pictorial history of Pickering to be published later this fall, entitled "Time Present and Time Past."

I. 10,000 years ago: Lake Iroquois (Our Ecological Heritage)...The [Oak Ridges] Moraine marks the northern boundary of Pickering...The glacial, geological, and ecological heritage of Pickering is rich. It has provided an abundance of forest, fertile soil for farming when cleared, a safe harbour for shipping, and a great variety of wildlife.

II. 1630: Huronia (Our Indian Heritage) ...the Rouge [River] was the beginning of a major Indian portage between Lake Ontario and the Holland River...In the mid-seventeenth century the Five Nations Iroquois drove the Hurons out of the area and established a number of villages along the north shore of Lake Ontario. One of these villages, Ganatsekwyagon, established by the Senecas (Iroquois), was somewhere in the vicinity of the Rouge and Frenchman's Bay...There is little evidence now of Indian presence...The Indians, however, have left us a great legacy...

III 1669: Fenelon at Ganatsekwyagon (Our French Heritage)To the Seneca village (Ganatsekwyagon) came many of the early French traders and explorers...The only reminder of the French presence in the area today is in a number of place names... Petticoat Creek was originally Petite Cote ["little side] Creek, a name derived probably from thefact that the east bank of the creek is quite high, while the west bank is almost flat near its mouth. And, of course, Frenchman's Bay commemorates the French presence...

IV. 1811: European Settlement (Our Loyalist Heritage)The French never established permanent settlement in Pickering...The earliest known permanent European settlers of Pickering Township...came to the mouth of Duffins Creek about 1800...By 1808 the population of Pickering had increased to 180 people. A year or two later a considerable influx of settlers to Pickering Township occurred when Timothy Rogers, a native of Vermont, brought in a number of Quaker families...The early settlers were all Loyalists who left the United States after the American Revolutionary War and accepted the offer of land in Upper Canada.

V. 1850: Mid-century prosperity (Our British & Irish Heritage)...Brock Road, the first north-south route, followed an old Indian trail, and was opened in 1808...Several villages were cited along Brock Road, and on the concession road allowances: Whitevale, Brougham, Claremont, Greenwood, Altona, Atha Road, Balsam, Kinsale, Brock Road, Cherrywood, Green River and Audley. Each of these villages has its own history...After the War of 1812, immigration came primarily from Great Britain and Ireland...

VI. 1875: Growth and Decline (Our Agricultural Heritage)...The latter half of the nineteenth century saw many improvements in agriculture and in the breeding of stock. Pickering farmers were very much in the forefront of these developments. Although markets fluctuated and made life tough for farmers they continued to produce their crops on some of the finest farmland around. The population went through a period of steady decline which continued to the middle of the next century.

VII. 1900: Resorting to Pickering (Our Recreational Heritage) At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century several cottage communities were established in Pickering Township, and the area became a recreational centre with Torontonian vacationers discovering the Bay...Early development on Frenchman's Bay began on the east side. This was the economic centre of Pickering Township when the bay was a shipping port...

VIII. 1950: Mid-century Prosperity Again (Our Industrial Heritage) In the first half of the twentieth century, Pickering Township remained largely a rural, farming community. Pickering residents fought in both world wars...After the Second World War, Pickering saw increasing industrial growth. Also in the boom years following WWII, subdivisions began to appear. Bay Ridges was the first of these subdivisions to be built...Many of the original landowners and/or their descendents are still living in the area.

IX. 1975: Ajax and Durham (Our Immigrant Heritage)...In its present form the Town of Pickering was established in 1975 as a result of the reorganization of local government. It encompasses most of the older Township of Pickering, except that Pickering Village was amalgamated with the Town of Ajax, and the West Rouge Community was incorporated into the Borough of Scarborough...In recent years new waves of immigration have brought to Pickering a great diversity of culture. People from all over the globe have come to reside in our towns and thereby have greatly enriched our society.

X. 1997: Today and Tomorrow (Approaching 200 Years)...We are fast approaching the 200th anniversary of European Settlement (the year 2000), and, in the established form of celebrating our past, the year 2011 will mark 200 years of civic government.

Pickering has a history worth celebrating and a heritage worth preserving.
We need to work together to see that what the land and its people have given us are not lost.