This story by Janice Bennink was originally printed in our May 2017 issue.
As survey crews begin working on the widening of Port Union Road, residents prepare for another stage in the evolution of our community. For long-time Centennial residents and homeowners Gayle and June Gibson, it’s one more snapshot seen from the corner of Lawson and Port Union roads.
In the 1940s, June’s parents purchased building lots on both sides of Lawson Road from farmer William Brumwell, who had a home on the east side of Port Union. The close-knit family, including five of the family’s six sisters, built homes and cottages on the properties, which had electricity but no municipal water or sewers. Water came from a well owned by one of June’s uncles.
In 1951, Gayle and June began to build their home on the corner lot. They accessed their electricity from June’s aunt, and built a backhouse during the construction period, moving into their partially constructed home just before Christmas 1951. Mail was delivered to a box in Highland Creek Village. The Gibsons did not have access to municipal water until after Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and sewers finally arrived in 1976.
Originally, Lawson Road was known as the Service Road and was constructed and paved to serve north/south routes along Highway 2A at Centennial, Cedarview and Meadowvale Roads. It ended at Port Union with a dead end and a checkerboard sign. When the Gibsons first built their home, Port Union Road was known as the Scarborough/Pickering Town Line, and it was unpaved. The Pickering land between Port Union and the Rouge River did not become West Rouge, a part of Scarborough, until 1974.
Gayle remembers when the only public transportation available was the Grey Coach bus from the Bay and Dundas Street bus terminal. It travelled along Bloor Street to Danforth and Kingston Roads, then east to Oshawa. “A ride could be hailed along the route and tickets could be purchased from the bus driver,” he recalls. TTC and GO Transit did not reach Centennial until the late 1960s and ’70s.
In 1968, the Scotiabank plaza was built. Gayle urged his son Bob at age 15 to be first in line to open an account, and he was rewarded with a gold half sovereign for his early patronage. North of the plaza was a small apple orchard owned by the Skilevich family. Gayle remembers seeing Mrs. Skilevich walk her Holstein cow to and from pasture on their rented property further south on the Town Line and that her dog Bullet used to bark whenever he walked up the road.
The three-acre Skilevich property was sold to developers in the early 2000s, and 16 houses were built, eight of them accessing Port Union Road. Gayle spoke against this subdivision at Council, believing that Port Union Road was far too busy to allow accessible driveways. With Centennial’s growth, the Gibsons sold 17 feet of their original lot facing Port Union Road to the City of Toronto, and had to “dedicate” (hand over) 10 feet on Lawson Road.
Gayle and June have witnessed many changes that area development brought to our former farm community. Years ago, “when we heard a car, we thought we had a visitor. Now it’s like living in the middle of Mosport,” Gayle laughs.
Now that Port Union Road is scheduled for widening in 2018, the view from the Gibsons’ corner house will change and another page added to its story. Change happens, but thankfully the lifetime memories remain.