A look back at Mississauga, the “Cinderella Township,” on its 40th anniversary of cityhood

In 1974, when Hazel McCallion was at the tender age of 53, Mississauga was born. To honour the big ‘burb’s 40th anniversary of gaining official city status, we decided to take a look back at the history of Mississauga, a community that’s grappled with living in the long shadow of Toronto since forever.

Our favourite piece of history dates back to a promotional video from 1957 that explores the rivalry with an awesomely heavy-handed metaphor, casting Mississauga, then known as the Township of Toronto, as Cinderella to its older sisters Hamilton and Toronto.

Behold:

If you were too distracted by the footage of children on ponies and marching bands celebrating new cement production facilities, perhaps you missed this nugget. The narrator explains that during the expansion of the post-war years as “the older sister cities became fatter and bulged their waistlines fair to bursting, industry turned its admiring eyes to Cinderella.”

It’s tough to beat that, but here are some photos of Mississauga from the same era, courtesy of the Toronto Public Library’s digital archive: