Lorne Park

Lorne Park is an upscale suburban residential neighbourhood located in southwestern Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, first started as an exclusive resort.

History

This 75 acre "pleasure grounds," operated by the Toronto Park Association, included separate parlours for men and women, bowling lanes and merry-go-rounds. Travel to the resort from Toronto was often by steamer. After a series of bankruptcies, the resort lands were sold to cottagers. With access of the QEW highway, suburbanization of the original lands and surrounding area ensued in the post WWII period. (Brown, 1997 Toronto's Lost Villages)

Lorne Park Estates

Lorne Park Estates is community of about 77 acres, located in the City of Mississauga and bordered by Lake Ontario on the south, Lakeshore Road on the north, Jack Darling Park on the west and Richard’s Memorial Park on the East.

Home owners are not only responsible for municipal taxes and upkeep on their land, but they are also co-operately responsible for the upkeep and taxes on approximately 37 of those acres including residential roads, forests, walking trails, a cottage, the small park area and a beach.

The two roads into Lorne Park Estates are marked as "private" not just because they are privately maintained, but because they are not conducive to traffic. The privately maintained roads in the community are extremely narrow with no sidewalks, few through-fares and with many dead ends.

History

Historically the community, and the piece of land in question, has seen many changes. The land, first occupied by the Mississaugas, was transfered with larger land portion through Treaty No. 13 to Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1805. The land, which housed a significant stand of pines, was slated to be used for its wood as resources for the British Empire. However, this was not required and the land remained intact and became a subject of interest. First by individuals of the British military who wished to settle, and then by sundry businessmen and investors. Its legal ownership in the 1800s and early 1900s changed hands many times, ultimately resulting in the owners taking charge of the community before its designation came under city jurisdiction. Currently, owners have postal, garbage and water service, while road, parks and sewage are handled by the association or the individuals.

In a survey of 1888 we see the “Lorne Park Summer Resort Company” creating small cottage lots, a hotel, wharf, walking trails and common grounds. The community was designed by Edmund Burke, and so were many of its original cottages. Trains, carriage and steamers left Toronto on a regular basis to ferry visitors to the newly built wharf, picnic areas, music pavilion and eating establishment - which would later become a hotel. Indeed most of the names of the investors can still be seen in the community such as Roper, Stockwell, and Henderson. Alas, not all the immemorial were to survive as originally entertained. Orient Avenue and North Crescent became Orient Marsh. Lugsdin Avenue became Lugsdin Creek. Campbell, McIntyre, Neville, Venn, Hill Dale and Moore Avenue and Boustead Terrace disappeared or became topographical features.

Another survey of 1922, sees slight changes to the lot configuration under the auspices of Lorne Park Estates Limited. Few of the lots were bought with the intention of building small cottages. According to "A Village Within a City - a Story of Lorne Park Estates" (1980), some people were purchasing two to four lots in order to create larger properties of up to one acre. However, the forests, walking paths, gathering area and beach area continued to be collectively owned and managed.

Of the summer homes that were built, a number were designed by Edmund Burke in the English Arts and Crafts style as two-stories with deep verandas and sleeping balconies to catch the breeze of Lake Ontario.

Transportation

The main roads in Lorne Park are Lakeshore Road, Lorne Park Road, Truscott Drive, and Indian Road. The main bus routes are 23 Lakeshore and 8 Cawthra-Indian Road, operated by Mississauga Transit.

ee also

* Lorne Park Secondary School
* Holy Name of Mary Secondary School