Scarborough is the eastern district of the City of Toronto. It was incorporated as a township on January 1, 1850, became a borough on January 1, 1967, and a city in June 1983, then joined the amalgamated City of Toronto on January 1, 1998. Its name is credited to Elizabeth Simcoe, whose diary entry of August 4, 1793, compares the lakeside cliffs to those at Scarborough in England. The article on where Toronto is lists it as one of six former municipalities, and this page goes deeper into its own story.
Scarborough at a glance
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| Before 1850 | Part of York County |
| January 1, 1850 | Incorporated as a township |
| April 15, 1953 | One of 13 municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto |
| January 1, 1967 | Incorporated as a borough |
| June 1983 | Incorporated as a city |
| January 1, 1998 | Becomes part of the amalgamated City of Toronto |
These dates come from the City of Toronto Archives. The Archives catalog of Scarborough council records begins in 1850 for the proceedings and 1853 for the wider fonds, which shows where the surviving records begin, not when the township began.
Before the township
A City of Toronto exhibit on Scarborough records that Huron-Wendat peoples lived on the land for centuries and that a burial ground was found in 1956 in Tabor Hill Park, at Bellamy Road and Lawrence Avenue East. Scarborough also lies in the area covered by the Toronto Purchase, the Crown treaty of 1805 described in the history of Etobicoke.
The same exhibit says the first European settlers arrived in 1791 and that the area was then called Glasgow. The Ontario Heritage Trust gives a specific settler: David Thomson, a Scot who came to Upper Canada with his brother Andrew in 1796 and is named by the Trust as the township’s first permanent resident. Each brother received land. David built a cabin on his property that year, and a road to York existed by 1799. The Thomsons were stonemasons who worked on the first Parliament Buildings at York, and the first Presbyterian church in the township was built in 1819 on David’s land. The Canadian Encyclopedia dates the first arrivals to about 1799, so the year of arrival depends on the source.
How Scarborough got its name
The Toronto Public Library traces the name to the diary of Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada. The entry for August 4, 1793, refers to “the highlands of Toronto” and describes a steep shore that looked like chalk cliffs, though the library notes that the material was probably white sand. According to the library, the Simcoes considered building a summer home in the area and naming it after Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. They ended up at Castle Frank instead, and the name stayed with the eastern lands. Her life is covered in the biography of Elizabeth Simcoe, and the cliffs themselves in the article on the Scarborough Bluffs.
Sources do not tell the story in the same way. The City of Toronto exhibit says Simcoe renamed the existing settlement of Glasgow after the bluffs, while the library account describes a naming idea for a summer home. Both agree on the diary, the date, and the English town as the source of the name.
A rural township, then a suburb
The Township of Scarborough was established with about 3,000 residents, according to the City exhibit. Its first reeve was Peter Secor, and the first council met at Dowswell’s tavern on Markham Road. Later councils met at Johnston’s Hall in Woburn and, from 1922, above a bank branch on Kingston Road in Birch Cliff. The township remained mostly rural for about 100 years. During the Depression it was essentially bankrupt and was run by the Province of Ontario.
The Second World War changed the east end. A munitions plant of the General Engineering Company on Eglinton Avenue East brought jobs and development, and after the war the area became the Golden Mile, an industrial and commercial district. The township’s first municipal building, at 2001 Eglinton Avenue East, opened in September 1956. Highway 401 opened the same year. The exhibit gives the population as 48,000 in 1950 and 110,000 in 1955, and says it tripled again between 1955 and 1970. By 1970 little of the rural character remained.
Borough, city, and the civic centre
Scarborough belonged to Metro Toronto from April 15, 1953. When the 13 municipalities were reduced to six in 1967, Scarborough became a borough. The Toronto Public Library notes that Albert Campbell, born in 1910 in Ridgetown, Ontario, became its first mayor. Campbell had come to Scarborough in 1944 to run a farm, was elected to council in 1952, served as reeve from 1956 to 1966, and was chairman of Metropolitan Toronto from 1969 until 1973. He died in August 1973. The library’s Albert Campbell branch carries his name.
Scarborough became a city in June 1983. The Archives gives that month without a day, so no exact date is stated here. The city lasted until January 1, 1998, when the province merged the six municipalities and Metro into one. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia’s report from March 1997, about three-quarters of voters in the local referendum said no, on a turnout of about one-third, and the legislation went ahead anyway. Rapid transit also shaped the district: the wider story is told in the article on the Toronto subway and streetcars.
Sources for further reading
The Toronto Public Library digital archive offers downloadable books on the district, including The People of Scarborough: a history by Barbara Myrvold and A History of Scarborough by Robert Bonis. The City of Toronto Archives holds the Scarborough council proceedings and photograph series; start from its page on resources on former municipalities.
Frequently asked questions
Is Scarborough in Toronto?
Yes. Scarborough has been part of the City of Toronto since January 1, 1998. Before that, it was one of six municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto, and an address there is a Toronto address.
Who named Scarborough?
The name is credited to Elizabeth Simcoe, based on her diary entry of August 4, 1793, which compared the lakeside cliffs to those at Scarborough, England. Accounts differ on whether she renamed an existing settlement or only proposed the name for a house.
When did Scarborough become a city?
In June 1983, according to the City of Toronto Archives. It had been a township from 1850 and a borough from 1967.
Is Scarborough a separate city from Toronto?
No. It was a city of its own from 1983 to 1997, and it has been a district of Toronto since the 1998 amalgamation.
Sources
- City of Toronto Archives, resources on former municipalities
- City of Toronto, online exhibit “Albert Campbell’s Dream: Scarborough Before the Civic Centre”
- Toronto Public Library, local history blogs on Elizabeth Simcoe’s diary and on Albert Campbell
- Ontario Heritage Trust, plaque “The Thomson Settlement” (read through a search summary only)
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Toronto’s Struggle Against Amalgamation”
Related reading
- How Toronto’s neighbourhoods and districts developed
- The Scarborough Bluffs and their geology
- Rouge National Urban Park
- Etobicoke at the western edge of the city
- John Graves Simcoe and early Upper Canada
Last verified: October 2026
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Scarborough: History of the Former Municipality. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/scarborough-history
MLA: “Scarborough: History of the Former Municipality.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/scarborough-history. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Scarborough: History of the Former Municipality.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/scarborough-history.
The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.