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- The town of Ajax, Ontario in Canada evolved out of the Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works munitions plant built during the World War II, but its history begins much earlier. The indigenous peoples were active in the watersheds of the Duffins Creek and the Carruthers Creek since the Archaic period (7000-1000 BCE), although they did not build any major settlements in the area. After the British conquest of New France in 1760, the area became part of the Pickering Township. The conversion of a local trail into the Kingston Road in 1799 contributed to increased settlement in area. In the first half of the 19th century, the Pickering Village, now a neighbourhood in Ajax, evolved as the major population centre of the Township, supported by a timber and agricultural boom. In the mid-19th century, Audley, a smaller community, emerged as a stopover on the route to the port of Whitby. By the 20th century, much of the area of present-day Ajax was farmland, and in the 1920s, the Pickering Beach developed as a cottage community. After the start of the World War II in 1939, the Government of Canada expropriated most of the farmland in what is now southern part of Ajax, to establish a munitions plant. Operated by Defence Industries Limited (DIL), the government-owned plant employed workers from different parts of Canada. The plant site, along with the residences and the facilities established for the workers, evolved into a self-contained community which was named after the British warship HMS Ajax. After the plant shut down in 1945, its site was used as a war surplus warehouse and sales outlet, a University of Toronto campus (1946-1949), and a holding camp for war refugees from Europe (1949-1953). The government mandated the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to develop the site and its surrounding area into a modern industrial town. In 1950, Ajax was incorporated as an "improvement district", a form of local administration managed by the Lieutenant Governor's appointees. In 1954, it achieved full municipal status as a town, and an elected council took over the administration on 1 January 1955. (en)
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- The town of Ajax, Ontario in Canada evolved out of the Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works munitions plant built during the World War II, but its history begins much earlier. The indigenous peoples were active in the watersheds of the Duffins Creek and the Carruthers Creek since the Archaic period (7000-1000 BCE), although they did not build any major settlements in the area. After the British conquest of New France in 1760, the area became part of the Pickering Township. The conversion of a local trail into the Kingston Road in 1799 contributed to increased settlement in area. In the first half of the 19th century, the Pickering Village, now a neighbourhood in Ajax, evolved as the major population centre of the Township, supported by a timber and agricultural boom. In the mid-19th (en)
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_farmland_expropriated_for_DIL_Pickering_Works_in_1939.svg){kind=link}
_farmland_expropriated_for_DIL_Pickering_Works_in_1939.svg){kind=link}
_Location_Map.svg){kind=link}
