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Wednesday, April 28, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B3 Architect and history enthusiast David Jefferies at the podium for a slide presentation given at a recent meeting o f the Canadian Federation of University Women - CFUW Oakville. Photo by Peter C. McCusker Women o f the Year tickets available The nominations are in for Halton's second annual Women of the Year Awards presented by the Women's Information and Support Centre of Halton. The awards will be presented at a reception and ceremony on Tuesday, May 4th at the Glen Abbey Golf Club from 7 to 9 p.m. Those interested in attending the awards reception and ceremony can obtain tickets by calling the Women's Information and Support Centre locat­ ed in Oakville at 847-5520. Tickets are $25, and a sell-out is expected. The Centre, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is pleased that The Honourable Hilary M. Weston, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, has accepted an invitation to speak at the awards ceremony. Estate builders gave Oakville affluent image (Continued from page B1) "When a slide comes up the screen, it triggers my memory. The slides serve as a series of visual clues," Jefferies explains. He has several hundred slides, and "reshuffles" them for each presen­ tation he does. Over the years, people have come forward with old photos, newspaper articles, deeds, maps, land titles and other documents, to add to his collection. He finds the presentations have a "huge impact" on newcomers to the area. "Land ownership is an important part of one's persona, and I find people are taking ownership of our history, taking pride in our history. They are fascinated, even if they lived here for only two or three years. It brings local history home to people." He adds New Canadians are particularly interested. Bringing history to life, for the chil­ dren attending Grades 4 and 5 at Maple Grove School, is Jefferies' goal in writ­ ing Tales from the Maple Grove. The book will include historical pho­ tographs from his collection. Jefferies takes the focus of local his­ tory away from William Chisholm's purchase of the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek in 1827. "Before Oakville there was Trafalgar," he told his CFUW audi­ ence. "Barnet Griggs welcomed Chisholm to town." Griggs and his wife Nancy came to town from the United States in about 1811, and is considered the area's first settler, despite not being an original land owner. Griggs bought land originally deeded to Joseph Brad't after the Mississauga Purchase about five years earlier. Brad't had build a log cabin but was unsuccessful as a farmer. This became the Griggs' first home. Later he built a second house and a sawmill, harnessing water from Wedgewood Creek, and became a suc­ cessful farmer. It would be at least another 10 years before Griggs would welcome neighbours. His first neighbour was John Harris, a farmer who invented a device to pull tree stumps out of the ground. Harris was unsuccessful in his bid to buy Oakville Harbour. Next to him, in the area near present-day Gairloch Gardens lived Richard Coates, a cabinet maker, organ builder, artist, musician, and farmer. Morrison Creek, which flows through the Gairloch property, was originally called Coates Creek. And, Joshua Creek was named after another early settler, Joshua Leach, who lived in the area of present-day Maple Grove Arena. Both Coates and Griggs owned 200 acres o f land stretching from Lakeshore Road to present-day Queen Elizabeth Way, as originally laid out in the Mississauga Purchase. When Lakeshore Road was built in 1833, the Griggs' farm became a stop for the stage coach, with a halfway house for the passengers and bam for fresh horses. Jefferies complimented the CFUW for starting a tradition which has been carried on by the Oakville Historical Society. "In 1957, the CFUW was instru­ mental in celebrating our history," he said part way through his slide presen­ tation. 'T he members would dress up and place white plaques on historic homes." By the 1860s and 1870s, there were between 20 and 30 farmers and their families living in the Maple Grove area. Among them was James Wesley Hill, an escaped slave from the United States who arrived via the Underground Railroad. Hill frequently went back to the United States to help others escape slavery. The Ninth Line, where he owned his strawberry farm, became known as Freedom Road. In his presentations, Jefferies talks about the number of large estates that flourished in the area, during Oakville's "30-year period of great estates" from 1905 to about 1935 or 1940. "Oakville gat its affluent image from this era," he explains. 'T he growth of these estates was directly tied to the decline in land values in Trafalgar Township (the Maple Grove area was not yet part of the Town of Oakville) when the town's two banks collapsed in 1902, and peo­ ple bought the land thanks to an aggres­ sive marking campaign by William S. Davis (a prominent local realtor)." The low prices attracted wealthy newcomers who built lavish estates along the Lakeshore. Among these were Herbert Cox, who in addition to being in the life insurance business, was founding president of the Toronto Symphony, Toronto Art Gallery, and spearheaded the building of the CNE Coliseum. With a staff of 17 at his home, Cox hosted several equestrian events and employee picnics. After his death, his property was auctioned in 1944. He called his home Ennisclare. Others included James Ryrie, a jew­ eller, who in partnership with Henry Birk, founded modern day Birk's Jewellers. Ryrie bought the Griggs' farm. 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