Editing Ajax, Ontario (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Ajax, Ontario}}

The [[indigenous peoples in Canada|indigenous peoples]] were active in the watersheds of the [[Duffins Creek]] and the [[Carruthers Creek (Canada)|Carruthers Creek]] since the [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic period]] (7000-1000 BCE), although they did not build any major settlements in the area, presumably because of the poor navigability of these streams.{{sfn|Harold H. Harvey|2011|p=286}}{{sfn|TRCA Duffins|2002|p=13}}{{sfn|TRCA Carruthers|2002|p=11}} In 1760, [[French Canadians|French]] [[Sulpician]] missionaries from [[Ganatsekwyagon]] reached the Duffins Creek area, but did not settle there.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=115}}

After the [[Conquest of New France (1758–1760)|British conquest of New France]] in 1760, the area became part of the [[Pickering Township]]. Mike Duffin, an Irish [[Fur trade|fur trader]], is the earliest known European to have settled in the area, in the 1770s.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|pp=18,115-116}} The conversion of the main local trail into the [[Ontario Highway 2|Kingston Road]] in 1799 contributed to increased settlement in what is now Ajax.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=117}} 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 1807, [[Timothy Rogers (Quaker leader)|Timothy Rogers]] led [[Quaker]] families to settle in the area, and built [[sawmill|saw]] and [[gristmill|grist]] mills on the banks of the Duffins Creek.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=18,118}} The [[War of 1812]] increased military traffic on the Kingston Road, resulting in a better-maintained road, and leading to further development of the area.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=121}}

In the mid-19th century, [[Audley, Ontario|Audley]], a smaller community, emerged as a stopover on the route to the port of [[Whitby, Ontario|Whitby]].{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=140}} By the 20th century, much of the area of present-day Ajax had been converted into farmland. In 1926, James Tuckett of [[Toronto]] bought lakeshore farmland, and started the development of the [[Pickering Beach, Ontario|Pickering Beach]] [[holiday cottage|cottage]] community, which later became a permanent settlement.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|pp=154-158}}

After the start of the [[World War II]] in 1939, the Government of Canada [[expropriation|expropriated]] most of the farmland in what is now southern part of Ajax, to establish the [[Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works]] munitions plant.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=25}}{{sfn|Ken Smith|1989|p=11}} Operated by [[Defence Industries Limited]] (DIL), the government-owned plant employed workers from different parts of Canada.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|pp=28-29}}{{sfn|Lisa Tubb|2019|p=5}} The plant site, along with the residences and the facilities established for the workers, evolved into a self-contained community, whose residents called it a "village". As part of a contest, the DIL employee Frank Holroyd suggested the name "Ajax" for the community, in honour of the British warship ''[[HMS Ajax (22)|HMS Ajax]]'' which had fought against the powerful [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] battleship ''[[German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee|Admiral Graf Spee]]'' at the [[Battle of the River Plate]] in 1939.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=43}}<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Kitts |first1=Daniel |title=The Second World War created Ajax. Here's how |url=https://www.tvo.org/article/the-second-world-war-created-ajax-heres-how |access-date=31 January 2022 |work=TVO |date=10 November 2015 |location=Toronto ON}}</ref>

After the plant shut down in 1945, the site was used as a war surplus warehouse and sales outlet,{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=51,75}} a [[University of Toronto Ajax Division|University of Toronto campus]] (1946-1949),{{sfn|Martin L. Friedland|2013|pp=373-374}} and a holding camp for war refugees from Europe (1949-1953).{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=75}} The government mandated the [[Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation]] (CMHC) to develop the site and its surrounding area into a modern industrial town. George Finley, the CMHC manager of the area, planned new housing subdivisions, commercial centres, and industrial areas.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|pp=63-64}}
[[File:Pickering Village Ontario - Spink's Mill - the new grain elevator - 1906.png|thumb|Spink's mill in [[Pickering Village]] (1906), now part of Ajax]]
[[File:Ajax (Pickering Township) farmland expropriated for DIL Pickering Works in 1939.svg|thumb|Farmland expropriated for the [[Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works|DIL plant]] (1939)]]
[[file:DIL Pickering Works - Line 3 - workers assemble 3.7 calibre anti-aircraft shells.png|thumb|Workers assemble shells at the DIL plant (1940s)]]
[[File:University of Toronto - Ajax Campus - aerial photograph.png|thumb|[[University of Toronto Ajax Division]] (1946-1949)]]

In 1950, Ajax was incorporated as an Improvement District, a form of local administration managed by the [[Lieutenant Governor of Ontario|Lieutenant Governor]]'s appointees.{{sfn|Robert McGeachy|2006|p=209}} The Improvement District Board created the community's first by-laws and hired employees for the local administration. In August 1954, as a result of a campaign by the Ajax Citizens Association, the [[Ontario Municipal Board]] declared Ajax a town, granting it full municipal status.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|pp=68-69}} The first town  council members were elected on 11 December 1954, and assumed office on 1 January 1955. The first mayor of the town was [[Benjamin de Forest Bayly]], better known as Pat Bayly.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=76}}

In the early 1970s, the [[Toronto and Region Conservation Authority|Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority]] (MTRCA) acquired much of the land along the lakeshore. In the Pickering Beach area, several homes, a church, and a school were demolished to make way for a parkland.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=157}}

{{wide image|Ajax Waterfront Park, Ajax, Ontario.jpg|1000px|Waterfront Park}}

On 1 January 1974, Ajax became a part of the newly formed [[Regional Municipality of Durham]], which manages functions common to multiple municipalities in the region. The boundaries of the town of Ajax were expanded to include several areas of the former Pickering Township, including Pickering Village, Pickering Beach, and Audley.{{sfn|Archie Macdonald|1995|p=77}}

In 1995, Ajax was the first community along the {{convert|3600|km|mi|adj=on}} Great Lakes Waterfront Trail to erect a pedestrian-only asphalt waterfront trail.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 2018, the trail was named William Parish Waterfront Trail to honour the founding mayor of the town.{{cn|date=January 2025}}