Oshawa (2004 population 150,000, metropolitan population 296,298) is a city on Lake Ontario located 56 kilometres east of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It has been the largest community in the Durham Regional Municipality since well before that jurisdiction's inception in 1974, although explosive growth to the west - closer to Toronto - means that Oshawa may soon be eclipsed in size by Pickering or Whitby. The name Oshawa originates from the Seneca native term for "crossing of a stream".

The automobile industry, specifically the Canadian division of General Motors, has always been Oshawa's lifeblood. Founded in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company, General Motors of Canada's headquarters and major assembly plants are located in the city. The lavish home of the carriage company's founder, Parkwood Estate, has become a backdrop favoured by Toronto film crews.

The city is also home to Windfields Farm, a thoroughbred horse breeding operation and birthplace of Canada's most famous racehorse, Northern Dancer.
Once very much a distinct community - physically, economically, and culturally - Oshawa has been increasingly subsumed into the Greater Toronto Area by urban sprawl.

The city of Oshawa started out as a transfer point for the fur trade. Furs were loaded onto canoes by the Mississauga Indians at the Oshawa harbour and transported to the trading posts located to the west at the mouth of the Credit River.

In the late 1700s an Oshawa resident, Roger Conant, started an export business shipping salmon to the United States. His success attracted further migration into the region. A large number of the founding immigrants were United Empire Loyalists, who left the United States to live under British rule. Later Irish and then French Canadian immigration increased as did industrialization.

In 1876, Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin moved his carriage works to Oshawa from Enniskillen to take advantage of a thriving harbour and rail links. In 1907 the McLaughlin Carriage Company began to manufacture automobiles, and in 1915 the firm acquired the manufacturing rights to the Chevrolet brand. Within 3 years his firm and the Chevrolet Motor Car Company of Canada merged, creating General Motors of Canada.

With the weath gained in this business venture, Robert McLaughlin built one of the most stately homes in Canada, "Parkwood". The 55-room residence was built largely with depression-era labour, and designed by Toronto architect John M. Lyle. McLaughlin lived in the house for 55 years with his wife and 5 children.

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We offer Free Online Estimates and Moving Supplies with Free Delivery. One of our professionally trained consultants is available to come to your home, at your convenience, to plan your move.

At iMove Canada, we try to provide you with the most professional and fastest move possible because we know that your time is money.

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