Islington Village began in the early 1800's with stores, churches, a school and a post office, centred along Dundas Street West. The focal point of this village was Thomas Montgomery's Inn. The Montgomery Inn was a popular meeting place for the local villagers as well as the thirsty farmers taking their grain to the mills on the Humber River. Montgomery's Inn is now a local museum. It is one of the few buildings from the old Village of Islington to survive the residential subdivision of this neighbourhood which took place shortly after World War Two.

It is interesting to note that Islington was originally known as Mimico, but that its name was changed in 1858 to avoid confusion with the postal station at Toronto's Mimico Lakeshore neighbourhood. The Islington name was chosen by Elizabeth Smith, whose husband Thomas was proprietor of the local hotel. Elizabeth Smith chose the name Islington after her birthplace in England.