The Founding of Ajax

Photo by Alan L Brown - May 15, 2004

Plaque Location

The Region of Durham
The Town of Ajax
At the NE corner of Harwood Avenue South and Kings Crescent just south of Highway 401

Plaque Text

In 1941 the Canadian Government established here a shell-filling plant operated by Defence Industries Limited. At peak production over 9,000 persons from across Canada lived and worked on this site. The community was named for H.M.S. Ajax, the British cruiser which, with H.M.S. Exeter and H.M.S Achilles, defeated the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee" in December, 1939, at the Battle of the River Plate. After the Second World War, Ajax became a temporary campus of the University of Toronto for thousands of returning veterans. Under the administration of Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the community grew and new industries were attracted. It became an Improvement District in 1950 and an incorporated town in 1954.

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