The heritage of Dundas, Ontario is quite a long story as we soon found out while producing this portion of the Dundas Information Directory. From the time of it's initial development to today, there has been numerous opportunities for the town to grow well beyond the size that it is today. Each opportunity however, was met with an event that stunted the growth, and ultimately kept the valley the way that you see it today. A lush landscape of forest and waterways that encompasses a city still very much in touch with it's heritage.

In the very beginning Dundas was a part of a very large inland sea which stretched all the way to the atlantic coast. 300 million years ago, this inland sea was drained, which gave way to the huge blocks of ice caused by the Ice Age. These iceberg's plowed through the resulting valley to form the lowland hills and what we now know as Cootes Paradise and even Hamilton Beach. This is the initial development of the rock formations we see in the Dundas Escarpment today.

For years the only inhabitants of the Dundas valley were those of the Neutral Tribe of Native American's. This tribe held the valley as somewhat of a coveted secret as it was a shortcut while travelling inland between Lake Ontario and on to Lake Erie. The Neutral Tribe was later wiped out by the Seneca Tribe, who were later followed by the Mississaga Tribe. Some years later the British purchased the land rights for the area from the Mississaga Tribe when it was decided that it would be settled for the United Empire Loyalists.