Bendale: About Place

Scarborough Historical Museum
Scarborough, Ontario

This project invokes the rich history of Bendale, a neighbourhood located in Toronto’s northeast end and the site of Scarborough’s first farm fields. Through the voices, images and documents of the community, it details Bendale’s remarkable transformation from rural crossroads to multicultural suburban centre. Because of Scarborough’s large geographical area, the settlement began life as a series of villages. The first of these was Bendale, where Scarborough’s first immigrant settlers, David and Mary Thomson chose to homestead in 1798. The Bendale community grew around them and as the centre of Scarborough, the village became home to the area’s first church and school, and eventually the first hospital. After the Second World War, suburban developments sprang up in the farming community, altering the landscape. Its population saw significant growth as waves of immigrants established homes alongside the descendants of much earlier settlers. Each new wave brought, and still brings, profound demographic change to the area. Since 2004, the Scarborough Historical Museum has been collecting the reminiscences of Bendale residents willing to share their experiences from all backgrounds and cultures. This exhibit tells the stories of longtime residents and of recent immigrants, bringing together many different voices and perspectives. The project covers every era of Bendale history, from farm life and the first wave of suburban settlement, to its subsequent explosive growth as a home for new Canadians. Members of the community describe all this in their own words, their stories supplemented with family snapshots, letters, writing and artwork. Recent and archival photographs of local landmarks add to this vivid study of the past and present. The community’s youth have also contributed with photographs depicting one day in the life of Bendale. Rounding out this tour of the cradle of Scarborough, local historians take viewers along St. Andrew’s Road, a picturesque, winding country pathway located at the north end of Thomson Memorial Park, that has several surviving 19th century structures. Everybody has a story to tell. By celebrating these stories in all their diversity we begin to understand the dynamics that play out in our neighbourhood. We invite everyone in Bendale to participate in this ongoing project.