[ksun]

Many immigrants after living in Toronto for ages don't know the existence of York or East York, let alone their former boundaries. East York is pretty much integrated into Toronto.

North York doesn't really have much of an identity either. When people talk about it, it usually refers to the area between Sheppard and Finch around Yonge st. The rest of the former city pretty much is like anywhere else. Nobody knows where it starts or ends, and how is it.

Scarborough probably has the strongest identity and recognition (not necessarily in a positive light). When I go to Scarborough, I tell people I am going to Scarborough, as if it were a separate city. On the other hand I will never say "I am going to East York", do you guys do? When my friend from Mississauga come to Toronto, I always ask if they are going to North York/Scarborough, or "Toronto".

 

[James]

^ That's a good point. I think the true test is asking yourself whether you say,"I gotta head over to _______." when you're talking to someone you know. Fill in the blank with each of the 5 boroughs. I do find myself using the following according to frequency: Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, East York, York (with the last 3 being very rarely to never).

 

[Palma]

As we know in the case of cities like New York where people still identity with Brooklyn or the Bronx, amalgamation doesn't necessary erase local identities even if politically, they're one city.

So, which of Toronto's old boroughs besides the former city of Toronto would you say today still has the strongest identity?

I would say Scarborough.

that because in Toronto anyways you continually hear in the news Scarborough, etc. When my son was smaller say 8-9 years, he asked whats scarborough because to him its Toronto. As he has heard it so often he to kind of now identifies part of toronto as scarborough, But he has never heard of east york for example so as the younger generation grows up it will become more Toronto

 

[wild goose chase]

It's also notable that of the city's major shopping malls, after (old) Toronto's Eaton Centre -- of the biggest ones in the boroughs, North York's Yorkdale and Fairview mall, Etobicoke's Sherway Gardens, only Scarborough's is actually named after the borough itself -- Scarborough Town Centre.

 

[Johnny Au]

A few decades from now, only urban historians would know where York and East York were. By then, even those who lived in those former municipalities would no longer realize that (and the final remaining relics of pre-amalgamation Toronto, the street signs, would be thoroughly replaced).

 

[wild goose chase]

A few decades from now, only urban historians would know where York and East York were. By then, even those who lived in those former municipalities would no longer realize that (and the final remaining relics of pre-amalgamation Toronto, the street signs, would be thoroughly replaced).

For some reason, your post reminded me of...

 

[Johnny Au]

For some reason, your post reminded me of...

Likewise, very few Mississaugans realize that they live in what was once known as Toronto Township.

East York was at one point an exclave of York for two years since the establishment of North York Township.

Only urban historians know that the City of Toronto was a part of York County until 1954 (York County later became York Region).

West Rouge is in the former municipality of Scarborough, but before, it was a part of Pickering; upon the establishment of Durham Region, Pickering ceded all of its land west of the Rouge River to Scarborough.