Mimico

Mimico's name derives from the Ojibwe word rendered "Omiimiikaa," describing an area "abundant with wild pigeons" — a reference to the once-vast flocks of passenger pigeons, now extinct, that frequented the area. Early development is tied to settler John William Gamble, who in 1823 built a sawmill and dam on the west bank of Mimico Creek, and to the local Parish of Christ Church; the town was incorporated in 1917.

The Mimico asylum, and amalgamation

The Mimico Branch Asylum opened January 20, 1890, admitting 116 patients transferred from Toronto's overcrowded asylum, on roughly 60 acres of lakeside land; its former grounds are now largely occupied by Humber College's Lakeshore campus. Mimico kept its independent town status, alongside Long Branch and New Toronto, until amalgamation into the Borough of Etobicoke in 1967 and, later, the newly amalgamated City of Toronto in 1998. Today's Mimico combines Victorian-era streets near the rail corridor with a wall of newer high-rise condominiums along the waterfront at Mimico Waterfront Park.

Sources

• BlogTO — The history of the Mimico neighbourhood in Toronto
• Reader's Digest Canada — Mimico: The Fascinating History of One of Toronto's Oldest Neighbourhoods