The Scarborough Town Centre played host to Heritage Showcase

By Rick Schofield

Heritage Day or Family Day is the third Monday of February, and Heritage Week gives us a chance to look back at our community’s history. To mark the occasion, a special Heritage Week display was set up in the Scarborough Town Centre at Sears Court on the weekend of Feb. 24 to 26.

Scarborough’s documented history is barely 200 years old, yet local heritage is something on which we can all reflect, regardless of our ancestral roots. We remained a purely rural community until about 1910 when suburban development then began in Birch Cliff. But more growth is on its way.

During the post war boom, developers quickly transformed open farmland into streets of closely packed houses, commercial buildings and industry. By 1955, the population had surpassed 100,000 and Scarborough had become one of the federated municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto. Aerial photographs in the Scarborough Archives dating from 1949-1970s illustrate the rapid transformation of the landscape. During the next 50 years, families from all parts of the world came to make a new home in Scarborough. Our community is now one of the most culturally diverse in the world.

In 1998, with a population of more than half a million, municipal government was amalgamated into a new City of Toronto but community names such as Scarborough, Agincourt, Highland Creek and West Hill are still recognized and Scarborough has retained its own Community Council to deal with local issues. We’re like the Boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx, which amalgamated into New York City back in 1898. Those names are still in use today, more than 100 years later. Our municipal government has changed, but the Scarborough community names still survive.

As we celebrated Heritage Week 2012, we  reflected briefly upon the days when early settlers set out to clear the land and build homes for their families.

Once again, to mark Heritage Week, the Scarborough Historical Society and Archives set up a display at Sears Court in the Scarborough Town Centre, during regular shopping centre hours from Friday, Feb. 24 to 26, 2012

Archives’ volunteers were on hand to meet the general public, answer questions about our heritage and display the archives’ extensive photo collection for all to view.

Residents were invited to come look at the hundreds of post war aerial photographs showing the development of Scarborough and look through community photo albums filled with street scenes and historic landmarks. Those interested in Scarborough’s history can sgtill visit our Facebook page: “Scarborough, Looking Back” or our website: www.scarboroughhistorical.ca

note:  If you missed us this year, we’ll be back in February, 2013.