The ghost town hidden within a modern Ontario city

Countries & Cities · Published 21 October 2026 · Updated 22 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Pickering, Ontario, is a study in geographical contrast. While it now hosts a multi-billion-dollar casino and a massive nuclear generating station, it also preserves a literal ghost town and a landscape of 18th-century ruins. It is a place where industrial progress has physically erased the past.

The transformation of Pickering is marked by significant physical erasure. Squires Beach, once a community containing a home built by Timothy Rogers in 1842, was completely cleared between 1966 and the construction of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. Today, the area is a ghost town, its road cut off from Lake Ontario by a wastewater treatment plant. This stands in stark contrast to the city's modern identity as a hub for energy and entertainment, featuring an eight-reactor nuclear facility with a 4,120-megawatt capacity.

Historically, the area's development was shaped by migration and military necessity. Following the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of United Empire Loyalists. The 1799 conversion of a local trail into the Kingston Road spurred settlement, further accelerated during the War of 1812 by increased military traffic. Yet, financial struggles emerged during the 1800s; because wheat requirements dropped, the area saw a population decrease exceeding 40% throughout the 19th century's final fifty years.

Today, Pickering balances these layers of history with rapid 21st-century growth. While the northern part remains largely rural and agricultural—home to historical estates and even a former residence of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker—the southern portion is a suburban landscape of post-WWII subdivisions. The city currently faces a tension between preservation and expansion, exemplified by the Seaton community, where only 1,549 of 20,989 planned units have been built as of 2022.

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