King City ~ early 1900s

Photo courtesy of Dave Hunter

Looking south on Keele Street from the King Road

This photo was taken around 1910 with McDonald's Store and post office (now Locale Restaurant & Bar) on the left, with the automobile parked in front.   South of that is Winter's Store (now the Paper Crane Sushi Bar & Bistro).   On the right of the photo are the buildings associated with John Hogan's Hotel (now Hogan's Inn).   This photo belongs to King City 'old boy' Dave Hunter, who now resides in Parry Sound, Ontario.   He shared it with another King City 'old boy', my brother, Bob Wallace, who now resides in Nobel, Ontario, who passed it on to me.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace  

Sunny cold air ~ soft fluffy grasses

Photo by Barry Wallace

Churchill Avenue and Weston Road

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Under Highway 400

Photo by Barry Wallace

South Canal Bank Road and Davis Road

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

New restaurant or cafe, perhaps?

Photo by Barry Wallace

The core of King City could become home to another eating establishment if a request for a zoning by-law amendment for 12974 Keele Street is successful.   The owner and zoning amendment applicant is Catherine Wellesley.   She is requesting an amendment that would allow for commercial retail use and restaurant/cafe on the ground floor of the existing one-and-a-half storey historically designated building.   A plaque beside the front door notes that 'Jane McMurchy - Widow - 1900' was once a resident there.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace 

Museum about to take in new house-guest

A newer sign has gone up, on the King Road this week, announcing the opening of the sales office for the new housing development, east of, and adjoining, the King Township Museum grounds.   The developer has improved and expanded the museum building for its use as a limited-time sales office.   The museum will take back the new space for its own purposes, once the subdivision has been sold out. 

Before (above) and after (below)

The new sales office (above and below) is almost complete and gives a good impression of the premises the museum will inherit, once the subdivision developer is through using the large and attractive space and hands it back to the museum. 

Photos by Barry Wallace

The sales office opens this coming Saturday, Feb. 9, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to take place at 12.30 p.m.   Local politicians and community dignitaries and developers will be on hand for the ribbon-cutting.
Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Log cabin gift shop at Marylake Monastery

 Photos by Barry Wallace

The gift shop at Marylake Shrine & Monastery, on Keele Street just north of King City is basically a log cabin, with a small lean-to at each end and a tiny enclosed porch at the front door.   The logs at the bottom of the structure are 16" thick, while the top logs are 12".   Books and various religious items are for sale inside but hours are limited during the winter.  

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Fairfields at Eversley ~ then and now

Photo by Barry Wallace

A little north of the hamlet of Eversley, on the east side of Bathurst Street and opposite Seneca College's King Campus, is the estate subdivision of Fairfields, where dozens and dozens of multi-million-dollar homes grace the rolling hills of King Township.   One of those homes, pictured immediately above, sits on the site of the home that appears in the old photograph at the top.   In the early 1900s, William Cairns and Catherine Shanks, the paternal grandparents of my wife Linda, took up residence on this 50-acre farm and in addition to being hard-working farmers, set about raising a family of 11 children.   Sadly, William Cairns died at the relatively young age of 52, and his wife Catherine was left with seven children at home and a farm to run.   Some of the four older children, who had already left the farm, returned to assist their mother with work on the farm and the raising of their younger siblings.   Catherine (pictured at left) was able to purchase the farm that she and her fatherless children lived on, but as the children grew to be adults, she decided to sell the farm.   She spent the rest of her days living happily with her children on a rotational basis: a few months here, a year there, and so on, until her death in 1957, at the age of 90, in the home of her daughter, Olive, in Snowball.   I have been told that some remnants of the ancient house (logs and stone fireplace) have been retained in the newer versions of the house, but I do not know that this is true.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace