Mid-century Prosperity (Our British & Irish Heritage)

The first order of business for the settlers was the clearing of land to build homes and to plant crops. The building of public buildings — schools, churches, court houses, and the like had to await a more established settlement. In the meanwhile grist and woollen mills, breweries and tanneries were built, the first efforts at industrial life. In addition, improvements were made in communications, first through the building of Kingston Road and then toward the middle of the century, the upgrading of the port at Frenchman's Bay.

Frenchman's Bay, with its fine natural harbour, became increasingly important as a port for the export of ship masts, pine logs, and squared timber. A wharf was built at the north end of the bay (1850s?), and dredging, begun as early as 1843, cleared a channel large enough to admit larger ships from Lake Ontario. It is reported that in the year 1845 alone, with 20 sawmills in operation in the township, one million metres of lumber were exported through Frenchman's Bay. By mid-century more than half of Pickering Township was cleared of its once abundant trees.

Brock Road, the first north-south route, followed an old Indian trail, and was opened in 1808. It connected the Quaker settlements in Pickering Village, Uxbridge, and Newmarket. It also paved the way for the development of the Pickering hinterland. Several villages were cited along the Brock Road, and on the concession road allowances: Whitevale, Brougham, Claremont, Greenwood, Altona, Atha Road, Balsam, Kinsale, Brock Road, Cherrywood, Cherrywood Station, Clarkes Hollow, Deckers Hill, Dixie, Green River, and Mount Zion. Each of these villages has its own history.

Pickering residents took part in the War of 1812, and played a major role in both sides of the Rebellion of 1837.

Administratively, from 1791 to the early 1850s, Pickering was part of the Home District, then part of Ontario County. In 1841: Canada West became Upper Canada, and in 1867, Upper Canada became Ontario. After the War of 1812, immigration came primarily from Great Britain and Ireland, and it is to these settlers as well as to the Loyalists that we owe the earliest elements of our society.