eastendbooks

Mississauga : The First 10,000 Years

edited by Frank A. Dieterman

Here is a fresh and up-to-date account of the history and heritage of the rising second-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area, extending back on a very long view of ten thousand years.

The book is an innovative and imaginative project of the Mississauga Heritage Foundation. While offering casual readers an opportunity to browse leisurely through the main eras of the city’s past, it also provides more critical students of local history with a unique and invaluable resource.

The volume is divided into four main sections. Part I on The Natural Landscape goes back to the very beginning — a time of ice and rocks, beaches and forests, rivers and lakes. Part II takes up the story of The Earliest Inhabitants, as aboriginal peoples forage, fish, and finally even start to farm. Part III looks at the changes taking place when The Newcomers Arrive, forging roads and rails, building mills and dams, and establishing modern farms and villages. Rounding the whole story out, Part IV explores the changing face of a community enriched in the twentieth century, and the ultimate arrival of A City No Less.

All told, there are sixteen chapters of carefully researched text, by twenty individual authors working in several different historical genres. The text is complemented throughout by a wealth of engaging illustrations, and editor Frank Dieterman has skilfully blended all the different voices into a satisfying whole. The final result is some striking insight into many diverse and intriguing patches of the historical ground on which the modern city rests.

Published for the Mississauga Heritage Foundation.