Toronto Township is a former municipality now mostly part of

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, with its northern extremity now a part of

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it t ...

. It is directly west of but not part of the city of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, and its land area makes up the majority of present-day Mississauga.

History

Toronto Township was formed as a locally unincorporated part of York County,

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

on when officials from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

(what is now the

City of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

) purchased of land from the

Mississaugas The Mississauga are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwe. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word ''Misi-zaagiing'', meaning " ho ...

(First Nations people) for 1,000 Pounds. After the land was surveyed, much of it was given by the Crown in the form of land grants to

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

. More than a dozen small communities grew in this area, most of which were located near natural resources, waterways for industry and fishing, and routes leading into York. The township became part of Peel County in 1851. In 1873, in light of the continued growth seen in this area, Toronto Township was incorporated as a rural municipality and a council was created to oversee the affairs of the various

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

s that were unincorporated at that time. The council's responsibilities included road maintenance, the establishment of a police force, and mail delivery service. Toronto Township was a municipality until 1967, when the town's citizens and politicians voted to change the town's name to Mississauga over Sheridan. Mississauga became a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

seven years later in 1974, and ceded its northernmost area (and thus lands formerly part of the township) to Brampton.

References

{{coord, 43, 36, 21, N, 79, 40, 23, W, region:CA-ON_type:city_dim:20km, display=title History of Mississauga Former municipalities in Ontario Former townships in Ontario 1805 establishments in Upper Canada Populated places disestablished in 1967

History

See also

References