[1] After his election as reeve in 1948, which was equivalent to the position of mayor in other municipalities, he convinced Scarborough Town Council to purchase land along Eglinton Avenue East from the federal government, which had been used during the Second World War for munitions production by the government-owned General Engineering Company.
Worth an estimated $7 million, Crockford convinced the federal government to sell the land to Scarborough for $350,000.
Scarborough repurposed some buildings for municipal offices while selling other properties to manufacturers such as Frigidaire, Inglis, SKF, General Motors, Thermos and others for use as factories.
[1] Crockford allowed for Scarborough to have the highest density of single-family units per acre in the Toronto area, attracting working-class people looking to own a home.
[1] Crockford was defeated in 1955 by Gus Harris after being accused of corruption for accepting a free Cadillac from a property developer.