(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 Road yard had discouraged and discarded two owners in the two preceding years. They were one of the early businesses to have a very active telephone business.
Their first number was simply Scarboro 12. Yet, the two men worked long hours to build the business up. Within 15 years, it progressed from a two-man outfit to a company with 25 employees and 6 trucks on the road “every working hour of the day”. The original two- acre property was expanded to four and one half acres, on which numerous new buildings and a planning mill were constructed.
Mr. Moore said that, “In the old days, a lumber yard carried mainly lumber, nails and coal products, but today we sell cement, tile, lime, wall-boards and an assortment of builder’s hardware as well, to accommodate the demands of our customers.”
Charles Moore was the President, with Stan Butler tending mostly to the financial end of the firm. Both men had an extensive background in lumber and fuel sales.
‘On April 22, 1953, their night watchman, 73 year old Mr. John T. Lloyd of West Hill, was fatally injured at Stop 29 by a hit-and-run motorist as he was crossing the road to the lumberyard. The next morning, a Claremont man turned himself in to the Police and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
An Enterprise newspaper article from April 1957 mentions that “Kingston Rd. Lumber Pres. Chas Moore Dies At East General . West Hill residents were saddened last week to learn of the passing of Charles Moore, president of Kingston Road Lumber Company, who died at the Toronto East General Hospital on Wednesday April 17th.”
Charles’ son, Jack would take over the running of the business for a number of years. The lumberyard was eventually sold to Mr. Jack Buchman and Mr. Jerry Blitzer.
A seven-alarm fire broke out in. the planning mill of the lumber yard on Monday, October 13, 1969 at approximately 8:30pm. As reported in the October 15, 1969 issue of The Mirror “The $100,000 blaze razed the planning mill and destroyed a quarter of the lumber at Kingston Road Lumber Ltd. in West Hill.” The 100 foot flames caused the Police to evacuate the guests from the nearby Arcade Motel, close the Kingston Road eastbound at the Guildwood Gates. Thirty firemen fought the blaze with the help of a pelting rain. Various fire hoses had to be run across the CN tracks and as a result, the main Montreal-Toronto line had to be closed to the Rapido from Montreal and two GO trains until the fire was brought under control around 10 pm. The owners said the buildings had all been insured.
In the mid -1970s, the company became a King Homes Centre which later became a Lumberking.
The business was eventually closed as Kingston Road Lumberking in the spring of 1995. Danbury Sales Auctioneers Liquidators were authorized by Price Waterhouse Limited to hold a Receiver Sale on Thursday May 4th to sell off all stock. Two years later, Lumberking itself closed out its business with a $500,000 auction held by White Queen Limited Auctioneers.
So came an end to 75 years of Kingston Road Lumber …. I am sure many readers will recall their fathers having taken them to the lumberyard on Saturday morning, walking around, seeing all the sights, and most will likely have some recollection of pleasant memories each time they smell the aroma of fresh cut cedar wood. Senses have a powerful way of taking us back in time.
– Don Allen