Pickering Village is a former municipality and now a neighbourhood in the town of Ajax, within the Durham Region of Ontario, Canada. The Pickering Village derives its name from the former Pickering Township, which included the present-day town of Ajax and the city of Pickering. A small portion of the original settlement is now part of the Village East neighbourhood in the city of Pickering. The Pickering Village emerged as a settlement at the intersection of Duffins Creek and Kingston Road towards the end of the 18th century. In 1807, Quakers led by Timothy Rogers established a major presence in the area, and built saw and grist mills. The area gradually developed into the main commercial and residential centre of the Pickering Township. It was incorporated as the Municipality of the Village of Pickering in 1953, around same time as the neighbouring DIL community in Ajax. In 1974, most of the Pickering Village, the Pickering Beach, and other areas neighbouring the DIL settlement merged with the town of Ajax, while the city of Pickering remains a separate entity. Etymology and names Since its establishment, the settlement that developed around the intersection of Duffins Creek and Kingston Road was part of the Pickering Township, which was named after Pickering, North Yorkshire. The settlement was the major population centre of the Township, and the local post office, established in 1829, was known as the "Pickering Post Office". However, the settlement itself was known by various names at different times. In its early years, the settlement was called "Duffins Creek", or simply, "the Creek". In the 1850s, it was known as "Canton", as attested by an 1855 map in the possession of William Murkar, the publisher of The Pickering News. Murkar, writing on Pickering's 150th anniversary in the 29 June 1961 edition of the newspaper, also cites an elderly lady who confirmed that the area was known as Canton when she worked for the family that owned the Spink's Mill (now the site of Moodie's Motel at the intersection of Kingston Road and Notion Road). By the time the village was formally designated as a police village under the County of Ontario, in 1900, it was firmly known as Pickering. When it achieved municipal status in 1953, it was incorporated as the "Municipality of the Village of Pickering". Since its amalgamation into the town of Ajax in 1974, it has been called the