A fact unknown to many is that our local history surrounds us every day, printed out on local street signs. Some are named for local settlers, politicians, war heroes, or simply for the subdivision developments these roads are situated within.

For example,  Ellesmere Road was named after the crossroads village, Ellesmere, which was formally established with a post office in 1853. The name of the village was borrowed from Ellesmere, England which is situated near the border of Wales, just south of Liverpool. Scarborough’s Ellesmere village was located at the intersection of today’s Kennedy Road and Ellesmere Road. Click Here to access this list or click on the “Local History” menu item at the top of the page. The list provides a look back to the origins of the street names that run through the neighbourhoods of our community

You can help us build the list – If you have documented information on the reason a street in Scarborough was named and would like to have it added to our list, please Contact Us.

Tool Chest Identification Needed

Many years ago, a large tool chest was dropped off at the Society’s former storage area at St. Andrew’s Road. It was too heavy and large for the museum so it remained in storage. Unfortunately, this one particular item was not documented when it arrived. It is an 1870s carpenter’s chest or jointer’s chest (we’re not sure which) and there are several drawers for small tools and a large section for hand saws. We would like to know its provenance, whether it belonged to someone in Scarborough and who gave it to the Society. If any member has information about this large tool chest, please contact the Society’s Archives at 416-995-6930 

This year’s partnership with the UTSC Nearby History class was amazing!  Nearby History is a service learning course, led by Professor Chris Berkowitz, where students are partnered with local organizations to experience working in public history and providing assistance to the organization.  

Working with the Scarborough Archives, UTSC student volunteers from the Nearby History course created an Archival Guide focusing on pre-settlement Indigenous History resources. In conjunction with the Guide, students also catalogued all the material in the Scarborough Archives collection pertaining to Indigenous history.

The resulting Pre-Settlement Indigenous History Collection includes information on archaeological sites, educational material and other research materials.  Please check out the outstanding work done by these UTSC students both in cataloguing the collection and creating an online accessible resource for the website. 

Thanks to Professor Berkowitz, UTSC students and Scarborough Historical Society volunteers who made this project so successful.