The City of Pickering
Pickering, named after the town of Pickering in Yorkshire, England, has a very rich and interesting history. Iroquoian First Nation people first inhabited the Pickering area.  Later, French missionaries, fur traders and Loyalists, settled and a town began to develop (History of Frenchman's Bay). 

The Early Days of Pickering

​Records indicate that there were about 800 people living in the Township of Pickering in 1825.  By 1850, when Pickering became a county, it had a population of over 6000. People often used Pickering as a vacation spot during the summer because it was not very crowded and had beautiful beaches across the lakefront. In the 1870's, the Frenchman's Bay Harbour Company built a lighthouse, wharf and grain elevator at Frenchman's Bay. A small village grew up around this development. The area also attracted farmers from Britain and the United States to start a new life in the New World (Hurtig,1). 

Pickering's Growth 

​Over time, the population of Pickering began to grow. Like many communities on the outskirts of Toronto, the pace of development in Pickering rapidly increased after World War II. Many people moved into the area in the 1950s; after 1960 major housing developments sprang up, due to the baby boom era. Toronto houses and properties were quickly becoming too small to raise a family and live out the "North American Dream". These families then relocated to Pickering, just outside of Toronto where there is more space to live a suburban lifestyle (Griffin,1).   

The Pickering Power Plant 

A major landmark in the Frenchman's Bay is the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. It was put into commercial use Between 1971 and 1973 and has been a big part of Pickering's identity ever since.  Since power plants need to be situated near a body of water, the Frenchman's Bay region was a perfect location. This is just another way that Frenchman's Bay is significant to Pickering (Pickering Nuclear,1). 
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Map of Pickering
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Arial view of Frenchman's Bay
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Whites and Kingston Road in the early 1960's