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Friday, November 18, 2022 3 Brooklin Town Crier Near the end of World War I (1914 - 1918), the Cana- dian government began to think about the many soldiers in Europe who would be returning home. Jobs were scarce and money was tight. The Dominion Soldier Settlement Act (1919) put measures into place to finance housing for veterans returning to civilian life. With low interest loans of up to $2,500 and manageable repayment terms, vets could afford to buy government-funded houses. Priority was given to the wounded who would not have been able to return to their places of work. Special consideration was given to soldiers who had to abandon their homes, wiped out by unpaid debts, as they were fighting overseas. Building small homes Small subdivisions began to pop up in communities across Canada. Whitby Township was one of them. On 50 acres of Crown land, 13 20 x 24 ft bungalows were built on the north end of Coronation Road. Averaging around 480 sq ft in size, the homes were purposely built small to take into account that a large part of the property was to be utilized for growing crops and raising animals. Known as "strawberry boxes," these single storey dwellings had steeply pitched roofs, clapboard walls, small sash windows and metal chimneys. Each house sat on up to four acres of land, with driveways and a well shared between two houses. Each two-bedroom structure had a living room as well as a summer kitchen attached as a lean-to. Outhouses were used since indoor plumbing did not come to the area until well into the late 1950s. In the centre of the house, on a basement dirt floor, was a coal-fired furnace. Heat rose up through a large grate on the main floor that did not manage to reach all of the rooms. Warming up Former Brooklin resident and RCAF veteran Alex Brough lived in #12 and remembers his Mom standing over the grate on cold winter days to warm up after spending time cooking in the unheated kitchen. Owners who farmed the land grew produce they stored over the winter months in the basement cold cellar. They may also have raised rabbits and chickens for the meat and eggs. Some rented out a section of their land to farmers to supplement their income. In 1948, Brooklin resident Don Wick, the eldest of six kids moved into #4 with his parents and siblings. Gradually his father Cyril added to the house until the building eventually expanded 900 sq ft. When King George was crowned in 1937, the cluster of small houses was renamed Coronation Gardens in honour of his coronation. Although the initial buyers were veterans, the families they later sold to were not required to have served in the armed forces. Today, some of these houses still exist, but may be unrecognizable as, over the decades, residents have built additions onto the original footprints. The Beginnings of Coronation Gardens By Jennifer Hudgins