Founding of Ajax Plaque

Ajax, Ontario
Type
Other

The Founding of Ajax Plaque was erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board. It is dedicated to the establishment of a munitions plant during the Second World War and Ajax being a temporary campus of the  University of Toronto for thousands of Veterans returning from the Second World War.

The town name is from the British cruiser HMS Ajax, which was a key player during the Battle of the River Plate, the first Allied Naval victory in the war. In December 1939, a flotilla of British warships, including HMS Ajax, HMS Exeter and HMS Achilles, commanded by Commodore Harry Harwood, engaged and crippled the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee near the Uruguayan port of Montevideo. The German ship fled to into the port, but rather than face the overwhelming British force, the Captain scuttled his ship. The Town of Ajax takes its name from this famous battle.

Inscription

THE FOUNDING OF AJAX

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.

Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Archives of Ontario

Visitor information

Location
Founding of Ajax Plaque

65 Harwood Avenue South
Ajax
Ontario
GPS Coordinates
Lat. 43.8503254
Long. -79.0208368
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