The Erchless estate not only sits near the heart of Oakville’s harbour, but it is at the corner of Oakville’s history.
Back in 1827, merchant, and shipbuilder, William Chisholm purchased 960 acres of Crown land at the mouth of the Sixteen Mile Creek.
There, Chisholm worked hard to establish Upper Canada’s first privately owned harbour.
Not long after – in 1834 – Oakville was declared an official Port of Entry into Canada and Chisholm became the port’s first customs inspector.
It was a job one of his sons, Robert Kerr, eventually took over. Chisholm lived out his final years at Erchless, with his son, Robert Kerr and despite his dreams, declared bankruptcy in 1842, shortly before his death in the same year, at the young age of 54. William is buried in Oakville/St. Mary’s Cemetery.
Erchless was then occupied by Robert Kerr and his wife, Flora, who was nearly 20 years his junior.
The couple had six children and it was their youngest son, Allan Stuart, who remained at Erchless after his father’s death in 1899, eventually inheriting it from his mother upon her death in 1918.
However, Allan Stuart died the same year as his mother, and his surviving brothers and sisters sold Erchless.
It was their cousin’s wife, Emelda Beeler Chisholm, who owned a nearby summer property called Mount Vernon, who bought Erchless, also as a summer home to keep it in the Chisholm family.
Emelda had wed John Alexander Jr. (the second son of Robert Kerr) in 1896 and had two daughters, Hazel and Juliet, before her husband died of typhoid fever in 1903.
Later, both Hazel and Juliet (a pediatrician) made their home at Erchless, but the estate transferred to Hazel’s son, Monty, and his wife, Margo, who were the last Chisholm family members to live at Erchless.
The estate was sold out of the family in the 1960s and in 1977, the Town of Oakville bought it.
Since 1983, Erchless has operated as the Oakville Museum.The four-acre Oakville Museum makes its home at the Erchless Estate, which is located at 8 Navy Street, overlooking Oakville Harbour and the Sixteen Mile Creek.
The estate consists of four buildings: the Erchless family home (1858); former Customs House (1857); coach house and the old Post Office (Oakville’s first post office that was established in 1835).
Erchless was the home and business of the Chisholm family for six generations, while the Old Post Office, was moved to Lakeside Park in the 1950s to become Oakville’s first museum.
Today, Erchless offers programs such as guided tours, special events, varied exhibits, creative workshops, school programs, a gift shop, and more.
Courtesy of the Oakville Beaver, from “Oakville’s 150th”
