Port Credit, Ontario

Port Credit
Neighbourhood
Port Credit harbour seen from the north.
Coordinates: 43°33′7″N 79°35′4″W / 43.55194°N 79.58444°W / 43.55194; -79.58444
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Regional municipality	Peel
City	Mississauga
Established	1834
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Forward sortation area	L5G and L5H
Area code(s)	905 / 289 / 365
Highways	Highway 10 Former  Highway 2
NTS Map	030M12
GNBC Code	FCHYR

Port Credit is a neighbourhood in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Until 1974, Port Credit was an incorporated town within the County of Peel. Port Credit's boundaries are the CN Railway to the north, Seneca Avenue and the western edge of the Adamson Estate to the east and Godfrey's Lane and the townhouse complex located on the west side of Shawnmarr Road to the west. It had a population of 10,260 at the 2001 census.

Port Credit was originally a settlement of the Mississauga Ojibwe First Nations band and a trading post established in 1720 for the exchange of goods from the Europeans for furs trapped by the Mississaugas. After the War of 1812, a harbour was established by the Mississaugas together with European settlers. In 1847, the Mississaugas left the village to relocate on the Six Nations Reserve to be with other band members and first nations. Industry was established on the village periphery including an oil refinery, but the village is no longer a substantial industrial district. The village survived into the 20th century, becoming an independent municipality in 1909, until it was merged with the City of Mississauga in 1974.

Today, the original core village is now a heritage conservation district. The harbour is mostly used for recreational boating.

The location of Port Credit was in the 1700s, the land of the Mississauga Ojibwe band. The location became used as a meeting place between the band and white traders, and the river was known to them as the Missinhe or "trusting creek". To the French and later the English the mouth was known as "Port Credit" and a trading post was established in 1720, where goods were traded or bought on credit. The earliest reference is on a map drawn in 1757 by La Broquerie.

The first permanent structure built by the English at the site was the Government Inn (1798–1861), on the east bank of the river. Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe had ordered construction of the Inn to serve as a way station for travellers by land and lake, and it was leased to a succession of residents until its destruction by fire.