Image courtesy of City of Pickering - https://www.pickering.ca/en/living/photogalleryDowntown.aspx
At the east end of the picnic area at the intersection of Kingston Road West and Old Kingston Road. Across the street rom 28 Old Kingston Rd., Ajax, Ont. (McEachnie Funeral Home)
Commemoration
Between 1801 and 1807, a settlement developed here in Pickering Township where the Danforth Road crossed Duffin's Creek. Among the early settlers was Timothy Rogers, a prominent Quaker and colonizer who built a saw and grist-mill in 1809. A post office was established in 1829 but the hamlet of Duffin's Creek developed slowly. The construction of the Grand Trunk Railway, completed in 1856, and growing agricultural prosperity stimulated the community's development as an important grist-milling and local commercial centre. Known as Pickering from the late 1870s, it became a police village in 1900 with about 1,000 inhabitants. In 1953, it was made an incorporated village and, in 1974, amalgamated with the Town of Ajax.
Background
This particular plaque is quite different from those that we encounter elsewhere in this tour. Instead of a particular event, building or individual, this one gives a short history of the town over a longer period of time. It shows how what we choose to memorialize changes over time.