- Golden Mile, Toronto
The Golden Mile in Scarborough,
Toronto ,Ontario ,Canada , is a stretch ofEglinton Avenue East that is the site of intensive industrial and commercial development. It was one of Canada's first modelindustrial park s. The Golden Mile runs along Eglinton fromVictoria Park Avenue east toBirchmount Road .The area was farmland prior to
World War II when it became the site of a number of factories geared to war production. Following the war, the area was purchased from the federal government by the Township of Scarborough. The township built several municipal buildings along Eglinton and sold the rest to private industry to develop the area as "The Golden Mile", patterned after the Golden Mile inLondon ,England . In the 1950s and 1960s, numerous factories producing mostly consumer goods operated along the Golden Mile.Golden Mile Plaza was opened in
1958 by Queen Elizabeth II marking the further transformation of the area into a series ofstrip mall s. The original strip mall on the north ofEglinton Avenue was anchored with a Famous Players movie theatre . This section of the strip was severely damaged by a fire in the 1980s, which hastened the beginning of the transformation of the area into one ofToronto 's largest concentrations ofpower centre s andbig box stores.Current Tenants of Golden Mile Plaza
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Scotiabank
*Loblaws No Frills
*Zellers
*Bulk Barn List of Business on the Golden Mile
* Willison Chrysler 1948-present (actually 1km west of Victoria Park)
* Bob Bannerman AMC dealer, became a Jeep dealer, then moved to Don Mills north of Eglinton
* Golden Mile Chevrolet 1953-2008 - Site is now completely vacant with a for Lease billboard out front
* Frigidaire (GM) plant 1952-1968 - became Delco (GM) plant
* Delco (GM) plant 1968-1974 became General Motors full size (G) van plant
* General Motors Van Plant 1974-1993 - closed - now Eglinton Town Centre mall
* Eglinton Town Centre - mall features Canadian Tire, Cineplex Odeon multi theatre
* Alcan 1950s to 1990s - manufacturing plant now part of Eglinton Town Centre
* Eaton's 1960s to 1980s - later became Sears Outlet during the 1990s and now rebuilt as Walmart
* SKF - now Visa processing centre
* Thermos Canada - in 2008 became a Zellers store
* Warner-Lambert
* Scarborough Toyota
* Scarborough Nissan
* Eglinton Square Shopping Centre
* Canadian General Electric - laterKnob Hill Farms warehouse and later as Walmart store (2007)
* Bell Canada - shared withTeleglobe Canada 1980s
* FMC - now a Pharmacutical warehouse
* Ontario Ministry of Corrections East detention centre
* Scarborough Municipal Offices - demolished
* Ontario Provincial Courts
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