View source for Toronto Township, Ontario

'''Toronto Township''' is a former municipality now mostly part of [[Mississauga]], [[Ontario]], Canada,<ref name="CGNDB">{{cite cgndb|id= FEJJC|title= Toronto|accessdate=2012-06-11}}</ref> with its northern extremity now a part of [[Brampton]].<ref name= "bramptonguardian.com">{{cite web |url= https://www.bramptonguardian.com/living-story/5763940-brampton-s-historic-churchville-village-turns-200/| work=Pam Douglas |title=Brampton's historic Churchville village turns 200|date=July 28, 2015 |publisher=Brampton Guardian |accessdate=August 12, 2020}}</ref> It was directly west of but not part of the [[City of Toronto]] (which was named [[York, Upper Canada|York]] at the time of the township's establishment), and its land area makes up the majority of present-day Mississauga.

==History==

[[Upper Canada]] officials signed a treaty for {{convert|84000|acre|km2}} of land from the [[Mississauga First Nation]], in what would become parts of Trafalgar and Toronto Townships on {{Start date|1805|08|02}}. Further treaty purchases would follow to 1820, with a final portion being abandoned by the Mississaugas in 1847.<ref name="aboutpeel">{{cite web |title=About Peel |url=https://peelarchivesblog.com/about-peel/ |website=Peeling the Past |publisher=Region of Peel |access-date=2 April 2025 |location=Brampton ON |date=2017}}</ref>

Land was surveyed, with agricultural lots being created. Hamlets would gradually form.

Toronto Township was administrated by the Home District Court of Quarter Sessions, in York, and had little direct authority. Legislation in 1841 allowed elected bodies, and districts were dissolved in 1850 in favour of Counties.<ref name="aboutpeel" /> Toronto Township's council met as a unit from 1844 on,<ref>{{cite web |title=Toronto Township - History |url=http://www5.mississauga.ca/library/history/Archives/torontotp_history.htm |website=Mississauga Library System |publisher=City of Mississauga |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> but gained further independence in 1850.<ref name="aboutpeel" />

Peel County became the County of York, Second Riding in 1850, and a distinct provisional county in 1852. Full separation was made in 1867.<ref name="aboutpeel" />

Following rapid urbanization, the Township incorporated as a Town in 1968. It was renamed Mississauga after a public vote.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Matthew |title=Way Back Wednesday: Mississauga and the Mississaugas |url=https://heritagemississauga.com/way-back-wednesday-mississauga-and-the-mississaugas/ |website=Heritage Mississauga |access-date=2 April 2025 |date=15 June 2022}}</ref> Mississauga became a [[city]] seven years later in 1974 after merging with the towns of [[Streetsville, Ontario|Streetsville]] and [[Port Credit, Ontario|Port Credit]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aiUZMOypNB4C&pg=PA237&dq=Toronto+Township#q=Toronto%20Township|title=Naming Canada: Stories about Canadian Place Names|last=Rayburn|first=Alan|date=2001|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802082930|language=en}}</ref> and ceded its northernmost area (and thus lands formerly part of the township) to Brampton.<ref name= "bramptonguardian.com" />

==See also==
*[[List of townships in Ontario]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* Northern Toronto Township in the ''[https://archive.org/details/historical-atlas-of-peel-county-ont.-illustrated-1877/page/n17/mode/1up Historical atlas of Peel County, illustrated]'' (1877)

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[[Category:History of Mississauga]]
[[Category:Former municipalities in Ontario]]
[[Category:Former townships in Ontario]]
[[Category:1805 establishments in Upper Canada]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 1967]]