Local: Oshawa-Durham History - Development in the 1900s
In 1907 the McLaughlin Carriage Company began to manufacture Buick automobiles (198 of them) under the McLaughlin-Buick name, and in 1915 the firm also acquired the manufacturing rights for the Chevrolet brand. By 1918. MacLauchlin and Chevrolet Motor Car Company of Canada merged, creating General Motors of Canada. The plant grew rapidly over the 1920s and soon grew to cover several blocks. With his success, Robert McLaughlin built his stately 55 room home, "Parkwood" (which today is a national historic site, with public tours). Oshawa expanded quickly in this time, adding a public water supply in 1904, a sewer system in 1905, a public library in 1906, hospital in 1010, and began paving streets in 1911. Oshawa also grew in the 1920s from 4,000 to 16,000, and annexed the harbour and a part of nearby East Whitby, and finally incorporated as a city in 1924. In 1951, Oshawa annexed the rest of East Whitby to brow by another 8,000. Employment dipped during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and in 1937 Oshawa Strike between 4000 assembly line workers & General Motors management was a key moment in the Canadian labour union movement. The workers went on strike for union recognition, an 8 hour day, and higher wages. The Liberal government of the day sided with the company, but local community pressure eventually got the company to agree to all terms, except for recognition of the union. During the Second World War, the manufacturing capcity of the community converted from civilian cars & trucks to military vehicles and weaponry. Oshawa was also home to top secret Base X, which becme famous after the war as the training base for secret agents and especially "The Man Named Intrepid". 
The construction of what later became Highway 401 after World War II brought a residential building boom to the area. The opening of the St Lawrence Seaway, in 1959, connected Oshawa to the Altantic. In 1967, Oshawa Harbour was dredged to handle larger freighters and become a shipment point for goods like salt, steel, fertilizer and sugar.
The city's first mall, Oshawa Centre in 1956, marked the beginning of the decline in the downtown's Four Corners. In 1975, the Regional Municipality of Durham was created to provide regional government for communities directly east of Toronto. In 2005, the environmentally unique Oak Ridges Morraine lands north of Oshawa were established, providing much-wanted protected greenspace for the rapidly urbainizing community. More history of Oshawa-Durham
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