Show My City — Mississauga- Part 2
Fun Things to Do
We currently live in the City of Mississauga.
A little bit of background.
Mississauga traces its roots back to before European settlement — over 200 years ago.
The Town of Mississauga was created in 1968, and the City of Mississauga was incorporated in 1974 through the amalgamation of the Town of Mississauga and the villages of Port Credit and Streetsville, and portions of the townships of Toronto Gore and Trafalgar. Mississauga has grown to be Canada’s sixth largest city.
In Part 1, I talked about the parks and outdoor public spaces. In this section I want to tell you about some of the outdoors recreational things we can do in Mississauga. (There are lots of indoor things too: Bowling alleys, skating rinks, squash courts, Yoga studios, fitness gyms, and so on — but I have no photos of any of these, so, since my main interest lies in the outdoors, that is what I will show you.)
At Misissauga City Hall they have an area dedicated to people who like to skateboard (or longboard).
I learned from a young man that was working for me one summer, Riyaz, that Skateboarding and Longboarding are similar but not the same. He claimed that you can go much faster on a longboard. It was certainly impressive to see Riyaz streaking past on his longboard. Sadly the stills we got do not show you the action. But we did get a short video. https://vimeo.com/48922130
Lots of enthusiastic young skateboarders gather at Mississauga City hall, in the especially desiginated skateboard area. You can see that the skateboard in the photo belo is much wider than the longboard that Riyaz shows us.
Mississauga City Hall also has an area in front of the building where they hold open-air music events, both large and small. They also have a smaller spot off to one side where the new bands can show their talents.
There are plenty of other locations where live music is held, one is the Southside Shuffle in Port Credit in south Mississauga.
We have filmmakers in Mississauga, (and at one point we had our own Film Festival.) Below is a shot of the directors and crew from a short horror flick called Tasha and Friends. Check out the link.
We have some dandy vintage car meets here in the summer. The one below was held in the parking lot of a hamburger place in south Mississauga. The variety in age and make of the cars is wide. Owners love to sit or stand around while people visit and look at the old beauties. Most owners are delighted to talk about their cars and pose for photos.
Many of the parks have baseball diamonds and soccer fields. We are always entertained by the die-hard Soccer enthusiasts who go out and play on Weekends, or New Years day even.
Some hardy Mississauga photography buffs folks go out in any old weather to do photomeets.
In the spring and summer, the various lakes and rivers are popular.
In the summer one often finds folks fishing. Sitting along the river banks or on rocks along the Lakeshore.
There are huge, annual runs, walks and biking events held for charity which happen in and around Mississauga. You are unlikely to run out of outdoor recreational activities in Mississauga.
Below, I will repeat the notes on Mississauga from the first article.
Further notes on Mississaugas’ background. (Courtesy Heritage Mississauga)
In the early 1600s, French traders encountered Native peoples around the North Shore of Lake Huron called the Mississaugas. The Mississaugas were an Ojibwa band, and by the early 1700s had migrated south and settled in the area around the Etobicoke Creek, Credit River and Burlington Bay. “Mississauga” translates as meaning “River of the North of Many Mouths”.
The First Purchase
On August 2nd, 1805, near the mouth of the Credit River, representatives for the British Crown and the Native Mississaugas signed a treaty — Treaty 13A — which saw the surrender of a vast tract of land to the British Crown. Referred to as the “Mississauga Purchase” or the “First Purchase”, the Crown acquired over 74,000 acres of land excluding a 1 mile strip on each side of the Credit River from the waterfront to the base line (modern Eglinton Avenue), and this became known as the Credit Indian Reserve. This tract of land was surveyed in 1806, named Toronto Township, and opened for settlement. It is known as the “Old Survey”.
The Second Purchase & Other Treaties
Additional treaties were signed between the Mississaugas and the British Crown, which allowed the Crown to acquire title to more land. On October 28th, 1818, Treaty 19 — known as the “Second Purchase” — was signed, which surrendered over 600,000 acres of land — which included most of today’s Region of Peel. This vast area was surveyed and opened for settlement in 1819. Known as the “New Survey”, this area was divided into the townships of Toronto, Chinguacousy, Caledon, Albion and Toronto Gore. Two other treaties were also reached with the Mississaugas; on February 28th, 1820, treaties 22 and 23 were signed, which saw the surrender of much of the Credit Indian Reserve lands set aside in 1805. Collectively they are referred to as the “Credit Treaties”. The Mississaugas relocated out of this area in 1847 and settled on the New Credit Reserve near Brantford.
Settlement
Gradually settlers began to take up lots in throughout the old and new surveys, and over time small settlements became established. The settlements developed into the villages of Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale, Malton, Meadowvale Village, Port Credit and Streetsville. Over time, other communities blossomed, such as Lakeview and Lorne Park, while others disappeared entirely — the “lost villages”. These “lost” hamlets and villages include Barberton, Britannia, Burnhamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Frogmore, Hanlan, Harris’ Corners, Hawkins’ Corners, Lisgar, McCurdy’s Corners, Mount Charles, Nunan’s Corners (Catholic Swamp), Palestine, Pucky’s Huddle, Richview, Sheridan, Snider’s Corners, Summerville and Whaley’s Corners.
Faith in Our Future
The Town of Mississauga was created in 1968, and the City of Mississauga was incorporated in 1974 through the amalgamation of the Town of Mississauga and the villages of Port Credit and Streetsville, and portions of the townships of Toronto Gore and Trafalgar. Mississauga has grown to be Canada’s sixth largest city.
