Boundaries: A large part of the Golden Mile and most of Ionview lie north of Eglinton and will no longer be part of the political boundaries of Scarborough Southwest after the federal election in 2015. The Golden Mile is centred on Eglinton Ave East from Victoria Park to Birchmount, extending south past Comstock from Pharmacy to Warden, down to St Clair and up along the subway tracks to Birchmount. South Ionview is a small triangle south of Eglinton between Birchmount and Kennedy with the subway tracks forming the southern boundary.
Brothers John and Hendrich Huff left Germany in the mid 1700s to settle near Albany in New York State. During the American War of Independence, they fought for the British under the leadership of Mohawk chief Thayendanega (Joseph Brandt). After the war they joined the Loyalists who emigrated to Upper Canada. John and son Joseph opened a blacksmith shop on the southeast corner of Eglinton and Birchmont in the early 1800s. Later they operated a saw mill on nearby Massey creek which still flows here through the Eglinton ravine. Joseph married Elisabeth Devenish (see ‘Clairlea’ for information on the Devenish family). Their son Henry extended the enterprise to the west side of Birchmount in the 1850s with a carriage building operation. Some of the equipment used to build the carriages are on display at the Scarborough Museum. The family chose to anglicize their name to ‘Hough’ and this intersection soon became known as ‘Hough’s Corners’.
Major development of this area began during World War II, when the federal government built a massive munitions plant on the north side of Eglinton, west of Warden. At the time General Engineering Company of Ontario employed as many as 5300 people. After the war, numerous factories producing mainly consumer goods sprang up in the region. The most notable of these were Frigidaire and the General Motors Van Assembly Plant which employed as many as 2800 people but was closed down in 1993. Gradually the industrial operations gave way to retail commercial operations, most notably the ‘Eglinton Town Centre’ which is where the GM Van Plant used to be and the Eglinton Square shopping mall at the southeast corner of Eglinton and Victoria Park.
References:
Warren W. Evans Salute to Scarboro: A Canadian Giant in World War II
http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=17&id=13419
Solange De Santis Life on the Line: One Woman’s Tale of Work, Sweat and Survival
Gayle Hurmuses Extended Family: Life and Work at the GM Scarborough Van Plant
www.blurb.ca/books/771756-extended-family
Barbara Myrvold The people of Scarborough: A History City of Scarborough Public Library Board 1997
