Golden Mile, Toronto

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The Golden Mile in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a stretch of Eglinton Avenue East that is the site of intensive industrial and commercial development. It was one of Canada's first model industrial parks. The Golden Mile runs along Eglinton from Victoria Park Avenue east to Birchmount Road.

The area was farmland prior to World War II when it became the site of a number of factories geared to war production. Following the war, the area was purchased from the federal government by the Township of Scarborough. The township built several municipal buildings along Eglinton and sold the rest to private industry to develop the area as "The Golden Mile", patterned after the Golden Mile in London, England. In the 1950s and 1960s, numerous factories producing mostly consumer goods operated along the Golden Mile.

Golden Mile Plaza was opened in 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II marking the further transformation of the area into a series of strip malls. The original strip mall on the north of Eglinton Avenue was anchored with a Famous Players movie theatre located at Pharmacy Avenue and Victoria Park Avenue. This section of the strip was severely damaged by a fire in the 1980s, which hastened the beginning of the transformation of the area into one of Toronto's largest concentrations of power centres and big box stores.

[edit] Current Tenants of Golden Mile Plaza

[edit] List of Business on the Golden Mile

  • Willison Chrysler 1948-present (actually 1km west of Victoria Park)
  • Bob Bannerman AMC dealer, became a Jeep dealer, then moved to Don Mills north of Eglinton
  • Golden Mile Chevrolet 1953-2008 - no longer a GM dealer
  • Frigidaire (GM) plant 1952-1968 - became Delco (GM) plant
  • Delco (GM) plant 1968 -1974 became General Motors full size (G) van plant
  • General Motors Van Plant 1974-1993 - closed - now Eglinton Town Centre
  • Eglinton Town Center features Canadian Tire, Cineplex Odeon multi theater
  • Alcan 1950's to 1990's
  • Eatons 1960's to 1980's - became Sears - 1990's rebuilt as Walmart
  • SKF - now Visa processing center
  • Thermos Canada - 2008 new Zellers location
  • Warner-Lambert
  • Scarborough Toyota
  • Scarborough Nissan
  • Eglinton Square Shopping Centre
  • Canadian General Electric - later Knob Hill Farms warehouse - 2007 Walmart
  • Bell Canada
  • FMC - now a Pharmacutical warehouse
  • Ontario Ministry of Corrections East detention center
  • Ontario Provincial Courts
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