Industrialists built it as a purpose-made manufacturing community
New Toronto
Founded around 1890 as a planned industrial town on Lake Ontario, New Toronto stayed an independent municipality for decades before joining Etobicoke and, later, the amalgamated city.
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New Toronto was founded around 1890–91 as a planned industrial town, reportedly conceived by a group of Toronto industrialists who wanted a purpose-built manufacturing community on the lakeshore. It was incorporated as a village in 1913 and raised to town status in 1920, with an economy centred on large lakeside factories that employed a substantial share of local residents through the early-to-mid 20th century.
An independent town, then a neighbourhood
New Toronto was one of the four historic Lakeshore Municipalities — with Mimico, Long Branch, and part of Etobicoke Township — that governed themselves independently along Lake Ontario's shore for decades. It was amalgamated into the Borough of Etobicoke in 1967 and became part of the newly amalgamated City of Toronto in 1998. The neighbourhood today mixes early-20th-century workers' housing with waterfront redevelopment, including Colonel Samuel Smith Park on the lakefront.
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Sources
- Etobicoke Historical Society — New Toronto
- Wedu Blog — New Toronto: The Lakefront Gem of South Etobicoke
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