Modern Mississauga and Heritage Mississauga have come together to present an ongoing series called “Way Back Wednesdays."
We’ll share information about the history of Mississauga here and answer your questions.
Today’s topic is the history of Dundas street.

For John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806), the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, roads were strategic, both for military communications, supplies and transportation, and as ways to promote future settlement. His first priority, on which the Queen’s Rangers began work in May of 1793, was Dundas Street. The route was surveyed from Burlington Bay (Hamilton Harbour) to the valley of the river that he renamed the Thames: “from nowhere to nowhere,” so far as existing settlement went.  The road, cut by a party of Queen's Rangers from Burlington Bay to the upper forks, a navigable point on the Thames River, was part of a land and water communications system linking Detroit and Montréal. The road also connected the site of Simcoe's proposed capital, London. After the acquisition of Indigenous lands two years later, the road was extended eastward from Burlington Bay to York (now Toronto). The route was completed by 1796.

The 1793 portion from Dundas to London was surveyed by Deputy Surveyor General Augustus Jones (1757-1836). The western portion, from Dundas to York, was surveyed by Crown Surveyor Samuel Street Wilmot (1773-1856) in 1796. He was also responsible for the Old Survey of Toronto Township (now the southern portion of the City of Mississauga) in 1806.

Dundas Street was nicknamed the “Governor’s Road” by early settlers, but this was not intended as a compliment. Before the 1812, the road was said to have been in poor repair, pitted with stumps, and often impassable, and even a “swampy morass” in places. The road was improved by the local militia during the War of 1812.

Dundas Street was named, quite simply, for its destination – the Town of Dundas. The town named for Lord Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), who served as Secretary of State for the British Home Department from 1791-1794, and as such was a senior British official to whom Simcoe would have reported to. Lord Dundas never travelled to Canada, and may have be unaware that Simcoe named a town, let alone a road, after him.

While Simcoe's primary consideration was military, Dundas Street also helped to open the surrounding areas for settlement, and served as the most significant east-west route of land travel for many generations. Dundas Street itself, through modern Mississauga, is the oldest non-Indigenous man-made element on our landscape. By comparison, our oldest known non-Indigenous site in Mississauga is Dixie Union Cemetery (corner of Dundas Street and Cawthra Road), which was established in 1810.

If you’ve got a question about the history of our city, we want to hear from you.
Please send your questions to info@modernmississauga.com with “Way Back Wednesday” in the subject line.