Just to the north of the railroad tracks, where Mississauga Road becomes Queen Street at the south end of Streetsville, you will find Reid Drive, and you will also see one of the most visible landmarks in Streetsville – the large silos adjacent to the railway. Reid Drive takes its name from Duncan Wallace Reid…
There is a street towards the north end of Streetsville called Ontario Street. To many, it is the extension on Church Street as it connects back to Queen Street. Ontario Street itself is one of the only remaining connections on the landscape to the historic enterprises of prominent Hyde family of Streetsville. Heman and Mary…
Before Christmas we received an inquiry asking about the name origin of Sawmill Creek. The answer is a fascinating look at local history, and how place names remain on our landscape from many years ago. In short, the creek takes its name from being the source of power for a sawmill, or possibly two sawmills….
Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of gathering, but always it will be a day of remembrance – a day in which we think of everything…
Call it an urban legend … or at least a rural legend in its origin. There is a plaque in historic Dixie Union Chapel that references the baptism of one Colonel William Frederick Cody, better known to the world as “Buffalo Bill”. There are entire books dedicated to the story of Buffalo Bill Cody, and…
Happy Birthday! Heritage Mississauga turned 60 years old on December 6, 2020. While this year has not quite been the anniversary year we had originally planned, we thought we would take a moment to share, in brief, the story of us. Heritage Mississauga, then known as the Toronto Township Historical Foundation, was incorporated on December…
For many years I have been fascinated by stories of historic rivalries. They are often catalysts for change on the landscape. Sometimes they led to famous (and infamous) moments in our history. For many people, the story of the Donnelly family from Lucan, Ontario is a fascinating study, and those violent times were born, in…
Here we go again. Lockdown. And searching for positives in difficult times. Although the timeline for the development and roll-out of a vaccine for COVID-19 remains uncertain, we received a glimmer of hope over the past week or so with the news of potential vaccines on the horizon. This had me pondering what happened 100…
During these days of COVID, and in observing Remembrance Day, I found myself re-reading some of our earlier submissions in this series relating to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-20 and what happened locally for Armistice Day gatherings back then. While the Spanish Flu arrived on Canadian shores in the spring on 1918, it was…
Treaties Recognition Week is the first week of November every year. Treaties Recognition Week was introduced in 2016 to honour the importance of treaties and to inform about treaty rights and treaty relationships. Reconciliation is about healing and it begins with a commitment to learn about, respect, and honour First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples….