Golden Mile (Scarborough)

Golden Mile
Commercial district
The Golden Mile along Eglinton
The industrial areas of the Golden Mile
Coordinates: 43°43′32″N 79°17′50″W / 43.72556°N 79.29722°W / 43.72556; -79.29722
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto
Community	Scarborough
Changed Municipality	1998 Toronto from Scarborough
Government
• MP	Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest)
• MPP	Lorenzo Berardinetti (Scarborough Southwest)
• Councillor	Michelle Berardinetti, Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest & Michael Thompson, Ward 37 Scarborough Centre

The Golden Mile is a commercial district in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated along Eglinton Avenue East, east of Victoria Park Avenue, it was one of Canada's first model industrial parks. The original Golden Mile of Industry ran along Eglinton from Pharmacy Avenue east to Birchmount Road.

The area was farmland prior to World War II with settlement by Scottish immigrants beginning in the 1820s (notably by the likes of the McCowans and Thompsons) and prior to settlements by Europeans in the late 18th century was mostly covered by forests.

In the 1940s, 250 acres (100 ha) was acquired by the federal government to build munitions plants for Canada's involvement in World War II. In 1941 General Engineering Company of Ontario (GECO) a massive munitions plant was constructed covering the area northwest of Eglinton and Warden. The facility was located in the area, which was then far from the city, to protect against accidental detonations. At its peak 5,300 people worked at the plant and 256,567,485 munitions were produced over the course of the war. Following the war, the area and 14 buildings was purchased from the federal government by the Township of Scarborough. The township built municipal offices and a library 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 including a 34 hectare General Motors van assembly plant.

Further west, retail uses developed, including the Golden Mile Plaza and the Eglinton Square Shopping Centre. Surrounding the industrial area, suburban residential development infilled former agricultural or industrial uses. Today, little or no industrial uses exist on Eglinton Avenue, while some industrial uses remain off Eglinton on side streets. On Eglinton, both sides of the street have been redeveloped into "big box" retail uses.