Author Archives: scarboro

Kingston Road Lumber Company

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(The Don Allen report)
* Originally published in the S.H.S. Newsletter #241, Feb. 2010

1950 advertisement listing the Kingston Road Lumber Co.

There were many companies that played a key role in the growth of East Scarborough but the Kingston Road Lumber Company certainly was one of the major ones. As there were no real subdivisions in the West Hill / Highland Creek area at that time, houses tended to be built individually and a local lumberyard was a tremendous asset during the transition from basically farmland to the local communities that still exist today. Some of our readers will recall a time when basements would be built and roofed over until more funds became available. Some of these “houses” stayed as basements for years. Many people even lived in garages until their houses could be built.

There was actually a Kingston Road Lumber Company located at 828 Kingston Road as early as 1920, but this article will give some history as to the business located in West Hill at 4071 Kingston Road (Stop 29A), on the south side of Kingston Road just east of the train tracks beside the present Guildwood GO Station. An article from a 1950 issue of The Enterprise states, “Cynics advised Charles Moore and Stan Butler to have their heads examined”, when they bought the Kingston Road Lumber Company in April 1935. They pointed out that there was nothing in the East Scarborough district but a few farms and miles of undeveloped bush land. They aired the disturbing fact that the Kingston Continue reading →

Notes and Comments – Vol. 22 released!

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Included with the recent mailing of the Society Newsletter is the latest issue of the Scarborough Historical Society’s periodical “Scarborough Historical Notes & Comments”.

Volume 22 focuses on the West Hill area. Don Allen has completed his research on the history of the Willows Park and we’ve added the adjacent Maple Creek Farm/Park article which we published earlier in the newsletter. In addition, Gary Strutt has written a history of his family’s business, Scarboro (sic) Automotive, which served Scarborough for almost twenty years.

After twenty years of successfully publishing the periodical annually, Volumes 1- 19, primarily due to the efforts of the late Dr. Fred Nicholson, the Society embarked on several more elaborate but time-consuming publications:
A summary of the “1861 Census of Scarborough“, “History of the Scarborough Historical Museum”, “Scarborough, Then and Now”, and “Home Sweet Scarborough”.

After these successful publications, attempts were made to return to the annual format in booklet form. Volume 20 featured articles on the Elliott Store in Agincourt and the Hough School, S.S. #8. Volume 21 featured the Golf Courses of Scarborough and Scarborough’s First Bank Heist in 1919.

Since then, the unfortunate passing of Don Hough, Ray Corley and others who were working on articles, together with the Society’s relocation of the Archives and the restoration of the former Morrish store, took a toll on the remaining members of the Editorial Board and regular publication was postponed.

We hope you enjoy the current issue (Volume 22) and we’re already nearing completion of the next issue which will feature the beginning of the W.J. Morrish General Store and the merchant’s 1891 diary.

Your comments and ideas for future issues are always welcome. Contact the Editorial Board via the Society’s address, 6282 Kingston Road, Scarborough, ON, M1C 1K9 or contact us.

Board of Directors – Committee Updates

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At the recent meetings of your Board of Directors, the Board reviewed the various committees:

The Friends of the Museum Committee reported that the Society hired four students during the summer to work on various projects through our Museum partnership, including a very successful Canada Day.

The New Horizons for Seniors grant has seen numerous seniors working with youth to develop partnerships which benefit both segments of our society.

The Archives and Research Committee continues its successful operations at the Scarborough Archives / W.J. Morrish building with ongoing work throughout the summer. The Archivist’s Facebook page, “Scarborough, Looking Back” is being used along with the Society website, to communicate the history of Scarborough to a wider audience… over 8,000 online visitors.

The Communications Committee is currently working on an updated website and looking at more ways to communicate with our members and the general public. Thanks to the efforts of Jan Howe and the Programme Committee, most of our Bendale Library programs for the coming Fall / Winter are finalized.

We look forward to the following programs in early in 2012:

“I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land” and “How the Scots Invented Canada” (details in future newsletters)

Heritage Showcase a big success

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Once again, we extend our thanks to the Scarborough Town Centre for providing space for our annual Heritage Showcase. This was our 16th year setting up our annual display and the usual, large attendance shows considerable interest in our heritage.

This year, our display was set up at Sears Court and ran for three days. From all accounts, it was extremely successful, generating new Society members, followup visits to the Archives and fundraising initiatives to help support the operation of the Archives facilities.

Thanks are also extended to those who volunteer their time during the three days to host the display, interact with the visitors and generally make the display an active exhibit.

Volunteers assisting the Archivist, Rick Schofield were: Brenda Oke, Meredyth Schofield (Jr. & Sr.), Don Allen, Gary Strutt, Jeremy Hopkin, John Barton, Lynda Wills and Richard K. Spears.

Looking forward to next year’s exhibit: February 24-26, 2012