The name Etobicoke stems from the word "Adobigok", originating from the Mississauga First Nation. "Adobigok" means "a place where the alders grow". This name was given to Etobicoke Creek.

Over the years of colonization, a great depression struck both Canada and Britain in 1850, resulting in a mass of relocators arriving in the Etobicoke area. The population spiked from 250 to around 3,000 after the War of 1812. Half of baron land was cleared for agriculture.

The name “Etobicoke” originates with the Mississauga First Nation, who called Etobicoke Creek and the area around it “Adobigok”, meaning “where the alders grow.” The Mississaugas had moved from the Mississagi River area on Lake Huron to the north shore of Lake Ontario around 1700.

When the War of 1812 started, the population of Etobicoke was about 250. At least fifty five men from Etobicoke served in the York Militia or regular British army during this war. At that time, the township was still on the frontier, with no churches, no schools, no villages, no post offices, no stores, no hotels, and no services. The only commercial enterprises were mills: two on the Humber River and two on Etobicoke Creek. What the residents did have was lots of trees, and the prospect of many more years of back breaking work to clear the land for farming.

Apart from a few larger centres of population, like Humber Bay, Mimico, New Toronto, The Kingsway, Lambton Mills and Islington, most of Etobicoke’s 31,000 acres continued to be used for farming until after World War II when the post war baby boom changed Etobicoke forever. Suddenly the land was needed to provide housing for growing families and places for people to work. In the first quarter of 1946, Etobicoke recorded an unprecedented $2,000,000 in new building starts, and over the next few decades, almost all farmland was turned into housing, industry or support services such as schools and retail stores. It had taken Etobicoke 146 years to reach a population of 19,000 in 1941. Just 10 years later, in 1951, the population had almost tripled to 54,000; by 1961, it had almost tripled again to 156,000; and by 1971, that number had doubled to 283,000.

Despite numerous additions made to the Etobicoke Township Hall in Islington since 1888, by 1955 Etobicoke’s Council could no longer manage the work generated by all of this growth in their old Township Hall. The Township purchased 22 acres of land on the west side of Highway 27, south of Burnhamthorpe Road, and in 1958 opened a new Municipal Centre and Board of Education building there.

As the township grew, and subdivisions were built, the names of those developments were added to the lexicon of Etobicoke communities, including now familiar areas such as Rexdale, Humber Valley Village, Kipling Heights, Humberwood, Beaumonde Heights, and Markland Wood. To the industrial area in New Toronto were added even larger industrial areas in the Norseman /North Queen area, in Rexdale, and in the Claireville area in the northwest corner of the township. These business developments gave Etobicoke a strong tax base that was the envy of many other municipalities.

In the first half of the 20th century, Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch had become independent villages or towns. In 1967, they were amalgamated once again with Etobicoke to form the new Borough of Etobicoke. In 1983, this Borough became the City of Etobicoke. When Etobicoke, along with Scarborough, North York, East York, and York, became part of one large, amalgamated City of Toronto in 1998, “Etobicoke” ceased to exist as a legal entity. But after 200 years of existence, Etobicoke definitely still exists in the hearts and memories of those who call this place “home.”

Researched and Written by Denise Harris