The first European to make his way through Vaughan was French explorer Etienne Brulé, who travelled across the Humber Trail in 1615. His path was also used by other Frenchmen who came to participate in fur trading with the First Nations.

 

The French, however, had no interest in colonizing Upper Canada (Ontario) so Vaughan did not experience settlement until many years later. In 1763, Britain defeated France in the Seven Years War and took possession of “French Canada.” Yet, there was still no settlement. 

 

The situation changed 20 years later when Britain was defeated in the American Revolution. Those who remained loyal to Britain during the revolution were threatened with persecution by the victorious Americans. For many, beginning life on land that remained under British control was the only solution.

 

At the same time, British North America (divided in 1791 into Upper and Lower Canada) required settlers to develop the colony. This was the case for sparsely populated Upper Canada, which is why Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe divided Upper Canada into 19 counties in 1792.

 

Simcoe proceeded to lay out a network of roads which would divide the counties into smaller sections called townships. These roads would speed up development and provide settlers with lines of communication and supply.

 

 

While basic dirt roads existed beforehand, they were mostly impractical. This situation, paired with the labour-intensive activities of building a cabin, clearing land covered by trees and having no churches, doctors or schools, led one historian to describe life in early Vaughan as “an arduous grind.”

 

Despite the hardships of pioneer life, settlers came to Vaughan in considerable numbers:

The first people to arrive were mainly Germans from Pennsylvania, a smaller number of English-descent families and a group of French Royalists. In 1814, migration from the United States was taken over by an influx of immigrants from Britain.

 

Unlike their predecessors, these individuals were not agriculturalists. This was fortunate as Vaughan required the skills of millers, blacksmiths, merchants and carpenters for the community to be self-sustaining. By 1840, all farmable land in the area was occupied.

 

Vaughan Township changed relatively little from the 1840s (when there were 4,300 residents) to 1935 (when it had a population of 4,873). Following the Second World War, an influx of immigration changed the community landscape with a populaiton jump of over 15,957 in 1960.

 

With this populatoin shift, the ethnocultural composition of the area began to change with the addition of residents from various nationalities including: Italians, Jews and Eastern Europeans.

 

A new mindset in Vaughan also emerged, one that embraced the concept of commercial and industrial development while at the same time maintaining the area’s heritage. To this day, the City of Vaughan continues to emerge as an area proudly rooted in its pioneer past while looking towards a prosperous future.