Ajax (2006 population 93,104) is a town located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada. The town is named for the HMS Ajax a Royal Navy cruiser that served in World War II. Ajax is a part of the Greater Toronto Area and the Regional Municipality of Durham. It is approximately 25ꀀkilometres (16ꀀmi) east of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario and is bordered by the city of Pickering to the west and to the north and the Town of Whitby to the east. Before the Second World War, the territory in which Ajax is situated was a rural part of the township of Pickering. The town itself was first established in 1941 when a Defence Industries Limited (D.I.L.) shell plant was constructed and a townsite grew around the plant. By 1945 the plant had filled 40 million shells; employed over 9,000 people at peak production; boasted of its own water and sewage treatment plants; a school population of over 600; 50ꀀkm (31ꀀmi) of railroad and 50ꀀkm (31ꀀmi) of roads. The entire D.I.L. plant site... ...
