Area Description

Erin Mills is a planned community in the city of Mississauga, approximately 32 km (20 mi) west of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Erin Mills was conceived, planned and developed by the Cadillac Fairview Corporation on 8,000 acres (32 km2) of farmland in Mississauga. Erin Mills is an integrated residential, industrial and commercial community, with commercial uses concentrated in the centre and industrial uses on the periphery.

Based on census and political boundaries, the 2001 population was estimated at 105,000, making it the most populous, but not the most densely populated, area in Mississauga, and one of the fastest-growing. Geographically, the area is by far the largest in Mississauga, occupying much of the western section of the city. A number of managed creek courses traverse the area and eventually drain to the Credit River, and then Lake Ontario. Aboriginal peoples were the first inhabitants of this area. Tribes included the Woodland, Iroquois and Mississauga. Along what was called the "Indian Trail" they hunted deer, bears and fox amongst tall stands of pine, oak and maple trees. They also fished in the river to the east, following the ancient course of a valley filled by glacial debris.

European settlement of the area began in the very early 19th century. By the mid-19th century the area was entirely agricultural land and served by the nearby villages of Erindale and Streetsville, which were located just to the east along the Credit River.

There was one smaller settlement along present-day Dundas Street at Winston Churchill Boulevard named Frogmore, which popped up along the Toronto-Hamilton stagecoach route. This road would eventually become known as Dundas Street. Other small settlements near the area included Snider, to the west in modern day Oakville and Sheridan, to the south.

Beginning in the 1950s, a wealthy Canadian entrepreneur, E.P. Taylor began buying farmland for future development by Canadian Equity and Development Limited, which owned Don Mills Development Corp. In 1969 Don Mills Development Corp. announced its plans to build a "New Town" in four phases. The first two phases - "Erin Mills South" and "Erin Mills West" - today form the nucleus of the Erin Mills community.

The name 'Erin Mills' was the creation of land developers, likely for its close proximity to Erindale, a historical village whose earlier inhabitants had renamed it in honour of their former homeland, Ireland. The second part Mills makes reference to the many grist mills that were operating on the banks of the nearby Credit River, although none of them were physically located in what is today Erin Mills.

Erin Mills was never incorporated, and became part of the Town of Mississauga (from Toronto Township) in 1968 and the City of Mississauga in 1974.