Editing Mississauga (section)

=== Suburban growth and the creation of Mississauga ===
Except for small villages and some [[gristmill]]s and [[brickworks]] served by railway lines, most of present-day Mississauga was agricultural land, including fruit orchards, through much of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. In the 1920s, cottages were constructed along the shores of [[Lake Ontario]] as weekend getaway homes for Torontonians.<ref name="Mississauga Real Estate" />

The [[Queen Elizabeth Way]] (QEW) highway, one of the first [[controlled-access highway]]s in the world, opened from [[Ontario Highway 27|Highway 27]] to [[Ontario Highway 10|Highway 10]] ([[Hurontario Street]]) in [[Port Credit, Ontario|Port Credit]], in 1935 and later expanded to Hamilton and Niagara in 1939.

In 1937, 1,410.8&nbsp;acres of land was sold to build [[Malton Airport]] (which later became Pearson Airport). It became Canada's busiest airport which later put the end to the community of Elmbank.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Dave|title=Fading History Vol. 2|year=2010|publisher=David L. Cook|location=Mississauga, Ontario|isbn=978-0-9734265-3-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/fadinghistoryvol0000cook/page/158 158]|url=https://archive.org/details/fadinghistoryvol0000cook/page/158}}</ref>

The first prototypical suburban growth of Toronto Township began after [[World War II]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Hrabluk|first=Lisa|title=Chapter 26: Toronto Township into Mississauga |publisher=visitmississauga.ca |url=http://www.visitmississauga.ca/chapter-26-toronto-township-into-mississauga/}}</ref> [[Applewood, Mississauga|Applewood Acres]] was the first major planned development near the QEW and [[Dixie Road (Peel Region)|Dixie Road]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Hrabluk|first=Lisa|title=Chapter 32: Harold Shipp |publisher=visitmississauga.ca |url=http://www.visitmississauga.ca/chapter-26-harold-shipp/}}</ref> and urbanization soon rapidly expanded north and west. In 1952, Toronto Township annexed the southern portion of Toronto Gore Township.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hicks |first=Kathleen A.|title=Malton: Farms to Flying ''P. 173'' |publisher=Friends of the Mississauga Library System|year=2005|url=http://www.mississauga.ca/file/COM/9634_MaltonBook.pdf}}</ref> Two large [[new towns]]; [[Erin Mills]] and (New) [[Meadowvale, Ontario|Meadowvale]], were started in 1968 and 1969, respectively. Most of Mississauga was built out by 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www5.mississauga.ca/research_catalogue/D-19_Housing_Matters_Density_Summary.pdf |title=Mississauga Data: ''Planning District Summary (2005) ''P. 3'' |publisher=City of Mississauga |accessdate= December 14, 2024}}</ref> 
[[File:Mississauga Historic Municipalities.png|thumb|The areas amalgamated to create the present city: The Town of Mississauga ''(red)'', was created out of Toronto Township, which in 1952 annexed a portion of Toronto Gore Township ''(right of dashed white line)''. In 1968 (the year of its incorporation), the police village of Malton ''(white outline)'' was absorbed into it. The town became a city in 1974, and absorbed Port Credit, Streetsville, and a portion of Oakville ''(beige)'', but ceded the northern extremity ''(separated section of red at top)'' to Brampton. A final annexation occurred in 2010, when a thin strip of land was purchased from Milton ''(blue)'' to bring the city limits to Highway 407.]]

While the Township had many settlements within it, none of them (save for the larger [[enclave]] communities of Port Credit and Streetsville) were incorporated, and all residents were represented by a singular Township council (Malton had special status as a [[police village]], allowing it partial autonomy). To reflect the community's shift away from rural to urban, council desired conversion into a town, and in 1965 a call for public input on naming it received thousands of letters offering hundreds of different suggestions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mississauga.com/news-story/8033098-leepkroy-xebec-weird-names-mississauga-could-have-been-called/|title=Leepkroy? Xebec? Weird names could have been called|first=PAMA|last=staff|date=2 January 2018}}</ref> "Mississauga" was chosen by plebiscite over "Sheridan" by a vote of 11,796 to 4,331,<ref>{{cite news|title=Vote today at Oakville|date=December 11, 1967|page=12|newspaper=Hamilton Spectator|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hamilton-spectator/148998195/|accessdate=June 9, 2024}}</ref> and in 1968 the reincorporation went forward, absorbing Malton in the process. Port Credit and Streetsville remained separate, uninterested in ceding their autonomy or being taxed to the needs of a growing municipality. Political will, as well as a belief that a larger city would be a hegemony in Peel County, kept them as independent enclaves within the Town of Mississauga, but both were amalgamated into Mississauga when it reincorporated as a city in 1974. At this time, Mississauga annexed lands west of [[Winston Churchill Boulevard]] from [[Oakville, Ontario|Oakville]] in the northwest,{{efn|The unannexed portion of northern Oakville became part of Milton on the same day}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://heritagemississauga.com/lost-villages/ |title=Preserve Our Heritage: ''Lost Villages'' |work=Heritage Mississauga |publisher=Mississauga Heritage Foundation |access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref> in exchange for lands in the northernmost extremity (which included Churchville) south of [[Steeles Avenue]] which were transferred to [[Brampton]].<ref>{{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 |access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref> That year, [[Square One Shopping Centre]] opened; it has since expanded several times.<ref>{{cite web|title=1968&nbsp;– Amalgamation to form the Town of Mississauga|url=http://www5.mississauga.ca//library/SRC/MM1968_Amalgamation.html|website=Mississauga.ca|access-date=24 August 2014}}</ref>

On 10 November 1979, [[1979 Mississauga train derailment|a 106-car freight train derailed]] on the CP rail line while carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals just north of the intersection of Mavis Road and [[Dundas Street (Ontario)|Dundas Street]]. One of the tank cars carrying [[propane]] exploded, and since other tank cars were carrying chlorine, the decision was made to evacuate nearby residents. With the possibility of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through Mississauga, 218,000 people were evacuated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mississauga Train Derailment|url=http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/derailmentgallery|website=Mississauga.ca|access-date=14 September 2011}}</ref> Residents were allowed to return home once the site was deemed safe. At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. Due to the speed and efficiency with which it was conducted, many cities later studied and modelled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's. For many years afterwards, the name "Mississauga" was, for Canadians, associated with a major rail disaster.<ref name="Mississauga train derailment">{{cite web|title=Mississauga train derailment, November 10, 1979|url=http://www.carterrv.com/stead/1979/1979.htm|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref>

North American telephone customers placing calls to Mississauga (and other post-1970 Ontario cities) may not recognise the charge details on their bills. The area's [[incumbent local exchange carrier]], [[Bell Canada]], continues to split the city into five historical rate centres–Clarkson, Cooksville, Malton, Port Credit, and Streetsville. However, they are combined as a single Mississauga listing in the phone book. The first [[Dual-tone multi-frequency signalling|Touch-Tone]] telephones in Canada were introduced in Malton on 15 June 1964.<ref name="Hicks Malton">{{cite book|last=Hicks|first=Kathleen A.|title=Malton: Farms to Flying|year=2006|publisher=Friends of the Mississauga Library System|location=Mississauga|page=105|isbn=978-0-9697873-9-6}}</ref>

On 1 January 2010, Mississauga bought land from the Town of [[Milton, Ontario|Milton]] and expanded its border by {{convert|400|acre|km2}}, to Highway 407, affecting 25 residents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/home;jsessionid=CYUSNA2ITWIKNTRPH3XD4FWOF25W4PW0?paf_gear_id=9700020&itemId=106100975n&returnUrl=%2Fportal%2Fhome%3Bjsessionid%3DCYUSNA2ITWIKNTRPH3XD4FWOF25W4PW0 |title=Home&nbsp;– Welcome to the City of Mississauga |website=Mississauga.ca |access-date=2010-07-27 |archive-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203214422/http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/home;jsessionid=CYUSNA2ITWIKNTRPH3XD4FWOF25W4PW0?paf_gear_id=9700020&itemId=106100975n&returnUrl=%2Fportal%2Fhome%3Bjsessionid%3DCYUSNA2ITWIKNTRPH3XD4FWOF25W4PW0 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Also in January 2010, the Mississaugas and the federal government settled a land claim, in which the band of indigenous people received $145,000,000, as just compensation for their land and lost income.<ref>{{cite web|date=27 January 2010|title=Feds offer to settle land claims|url=http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/3149477-feds-offer-to-settle-land-claims/|access-date=2010-07-27|publisher=Mississauga News}}</ref>