"The land is there to speak to us."
It is if we know what to listen for, and if we have a sound interpreter to guide us — such as the man who spoke those words a couple of weeks ago.
Thomas McIwraith spent 40 years at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), as it is now called and Erindale College, as it was formerly called, teaching geography to successive generations of students.
At a recent "Lunch and Learn" session at the university, the now-retired professor provided a fascinating photographic tour of the cultural history of the land on which the campus stands as part of the its 40th anniversary celebrations.
The photo above, provided to UTM by Grant McGill, shows one of the four original farms that were originally acquired to form the campus.
The swale in the foreground is, appropriately enough, where Wilson Pond, the large man-made pond in front of the South building, is now located. The barn on the left is about where the Kaneff Centre stands and the faculty lounge, where the lecture was given, is about where the second floor of the main house stands, pointed out McIlwraith, one of the province's foremost authorities on rural landscapes and the author of several books on the subject.
The next time you turn from Mississsauga Rd. into the UTM north entrance road, take a look at the property just to the north. It is the original home of the O'Neil family, who owned a quadrant of what is now the campus. The house and the foundation of the barn are built from Credit Valley stone. The mail box on Mississauga Rd. is mounted on top of a wagon wheel, a vestige of the past.
O'Neil Gate and O'Neil Crt., to the north near Mississauga Rd. recognize the family. They were built by Iggy Kaneff, a major benefactor of the university.
In no particular order here are some of the little gifts of historical context that McIlwraith highlighted for his attentive audience:
• the other "founding farm" properties of Erindale were the Sproules and the Schreibers. Fay Sproule is a well-known local artist who has painted a replica of the iconic elliptical bridge featured in the pond on Principal's Rd. among her many local landscapes.
• Charlotte Schreiber is the famous artist who lived in Lislehurst, the historic Credit Valley stone house which still serves as the principal's residence. It was once owned by the family of Sir Isaac Brock and passed down through his descendants.
• the old chimney that stands not too far from the pond on the east side of Principal's Rd. is the last vestige of Mt. Woodham, another Schreiber house which stood on the site. The famous portrait of her sitting working in front of a fireplace, working on a canvas, was painted there.
• the portraits of the old Dundas Rd. and St. Peter's Church done by Schreiber were actually drawn as fundraisers for the new church.
• at one point there was a third house on the property, called Iverholme believed to have been built around 1913-14. Parts of at least one of the departed houses were used in put an extension built on Lislehurst in what was obviously a "Grow Smart, Grow Green" prequel.
• the intersection of Dundas and Mississauga Rd, or Streetsville Rd. as it was originally called, was considered "Dangerous" and signs were posted to that effect. Wallace Oughtred, who owned a property nearby, kept his tractor handy, with a first aid kit in it. When he heard a crash, he would head down the steep hill, "to haul the remains of another car out of the river."
• the wooden entrance sign to Ivor Woodlands at the southwest corner of Mississauga Rd. and The Collegeway, which bears the shamrock logo of the Erin Mills Development Corporation, is constructed on the remains of the stone markers for the gatehouse of Glen Erin Inn, yet another heritage building made of Credit Valley stone.
• Ivor Woodlands is named for Roy Ivor, who operated the Winding Lane Bird Sanctuary in Sawmill Valley just west of the campus for many years. Ivor died at age 98. His remains are buried in the Methodist portion of St. Peter's, overlooking the campus.
• that odd-looking half-moon that lights up outside the " lunar labule" on Principal's Rd. recognizes the fact that the first moon rocks analyzed in Canada were examined in the lab there and then displayed at the college. Former Principal and renowned geologist J. Tuzo Wilson, had the pole and the half-moon constructed to remember the occasion. "Of course, there's no such word as labule," noted McIlwraith, marking the obvious affront to the language by adding, "It's an Erindalism."
• along the Five Minute Walk, there is a tree dubbed the "blasted pine" by McIlwraith, the author of Looking for Old Ontario (1997.) "I was walking by it one August day in 1982 and was about 30 ft. away when the tree was struck by lightning. The tree sizzled and there was a huge crack which bubbled with sap." The tree still stands, although its top was blown off by the wind last year.
• Dr. Donald Putnam, the dean of English-speaking geography professors as he was called in one obituary, spent nearly 40 years at U of T, several of them at the end of his career at Erindale. He died in 1977. Showing a photo of the tribute to Putnam on an office door in the North Building — now barely visible beneath other signs that have been plastered over it — McIlwraith said, "these things will work their way into a setting, and we can lose them too."
At the end of his tour, the long-time Sheridan Homelands resident referred to a "mysterious attic" on campus where old records, photos and other "junk" resides, including information about the long history of the Toronto Argos practice facility on campus.
"There's a huge archive there we have yet to explore. It's important that we recognize ourselves as a university community and that we share ourselves with the community of which we are part."
As nothing demonstrated more clearly than Professor McIlwraith's charming presentation.