Clarkson was named after Warren Clarkson, a United Empire Loyalist who, along with others arrived here in c.1808 from New Brunswick. They settled in a portion of the Old Survey which became known as “Merigold’s Point”. He constructed the community's first store along the stagecoach trail. Fifteen years later the town council named this trail Clarkson Road.

The Clarkson family managed the general store and post office for many years and their old homestead, built 1819, still stands on Clarkson Road.

Today, people can experience a glimpse of different periods in Clarkson ‘s history by visiting the Bradley House, c.1830, The Anchorage, c.1839, or Benares, 1857, all historic properties which are open to the public.

In 1856, Captain Edward Sutherland moved to Clarkson with his seven children. He purchased “Bush’s Inn,” a former inn and coach house that was the halfway point between Hamilton, Ontario and Toronto. There, he is said to have introduced both strawberry and raspberry cultivation to the area. Clarkson eventually became the “Strawberry Capital of Ontario,” and commercial fruit farming expanded in the area through the rest of the 19th and into the early 20th century. In 1915, a sign was erected at the Clarkson railway station declaring “Through this station passes more strawberries than any other station in Ontario.”

Park Royal, the second subdivision to be built in Clarkson, was matured by the Leonard W. Finch, President of the United Lands Corporation. This development is of note because it was arranged with all the electrical cables and wires underground and the office buildings were designed to be shorter than the trees. On August 8th, 1958 Park Royal was opened by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Denis H. Truscott. On February 28, 1971, the Clarkson Community Centre and Arena was opened.