This is how the bus tours operate:
• you supply the bus and driver and I supply the commentary
• the length varies but they are a minimum of 1-1/2 hours long
• no bathroom stops are planned but emergencies can be accommodated
• all bus tours are also available as 1 hour illustrated presentations at your site
Bus Tours are $150 CAD
The Villages of Dundas Street – Bus Tour
As Ontario’s oldest road, Dundas Street has many stories to tell, as do the communities it passes through in the old Township of Etobicoke. Come take a pleasant journey with us to meet some interesting characters and see the sights as they were more than a century ago. We begin on the Humber River at Lambton Mills and travel west through the village of Islington, past the Six Points to the vanished hamlet of Summerville. Along the way we’ll talk about the people who lived and worked here, including some who left their mark on Canadian history.
Clockwise from the top left – The Howland and Elliott General Store and Mill Office at Lambton Mills, owned by Sir William Pearce Howland, the only American-born Father of Confederation; Montgomery’s Inn was a tavern, a farm and home to escaped slave Joshua Glover; the grand mansion of Samuel and Janet Wood at Six Points featured a wine cellar and a ballroom, and the old Summerville blacksmith shop which became the last survivor of a bygone era. (Photos courtesy of the Etobicoke Historical Society.)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Etobicoke’s Historic Lakeshore – Bus Tour
Etobicoke’s three lakeshore communities, Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch, share many things, including the streetcars of Lake Shore Boulevard West and the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario, but they have very different histories. Mimico is an older town, once the home of palatial estates. New Toronto had its start as a gritty industrial suburb. And Long Branch began as a gated, upper class cottage community and resort in Victorian times. Come take a pleasant drive with us along the lake and hear stories about the people and neighborhoods of Etobicoke’s Historic Lakeshore.
The photo shows a row of ‘Baxter Houses’ on Eighth Street in New Toronto. Their large cottage-style roofs show the influence of the 1920s Arts and Crafts movement. Built with government assistance and meant to provide inexpensive accommodations for working families, most of the houses still exist today. In fact, we will be visiting them on our tour. (Photo courtesy of the Etobicoke Historical Society – www.etobicokehistorical.com)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Etobicoke’s Historic Dundas Street – Bus Tour
Dundas Street runs through the centre of three of Etobicoke’s most historic communities – Lambton Mills, Islington and Summerville – and has witnessed many significant events. Come and hear tales of the merchant millers of the Humber valley, the loyal Thomas Montgomery of Montgomery’s Inn and the last blacksmith of Summerville. See how much of these historic communities still exist. Come take a pleasant journey with us along one of Ontario’s oldest roads and hear stories about the people and neighborhoods of Etobicoke’s Historic Dundas Street.
The photo shows Dundas Street in Islington Village looking east. Montgomery’s Inn is the white building just to the right of the road in the distance. The Methodist Church is on the right has been replaced with the Islington United Church. But the manse beside it still exists today as a store on Dundas Street. (Photo courtesy of the Etobicoke Historical Society – http://www.etobicokehistorical.com)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Historic Brampton – Bus Tour
Brampton started as a tiny backwoods settlement known as Buffy’s Corners, named after a popular tavern. Located far from the more prosperous communities along Lake Ontario and Dundas Street, Brampton didn’t become an important regional centre until the arrival of the railway in the 1850s. Then commerce and industry blossomed and Brampton became known as “Flowertown” due to its greenhouse and nursery business. Come take a pleasant drive with us around this lively community and hear stories about the people and places of Historic Brampton.
The illustration shows the Peel County Court House as it appeared in the 1877 Historical Atlas of Peel County. The court house still exists and is part of the Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives which will be featured on our bus trip.
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Historic Clarkson – Bus Tour
Founded in 1808 and named after a family of storekeepers, the village of Clarkson is a small, quiet community located in south west Mississauga. Surrounded by fertile farmland that was good for fruit growing, Clarkson became “The Strawberry Capital of Ontario” starting back in Victorian times.
Today the village of Clarkson is home to both of the City of Mississauga’s historic museums – the Bradley Museum (showing pioneer life) and Benares house (the inspiration for Canadian author Mazo de la Roche’s famous Whiteoaks of Jalna series of novels). We will visit them on our tour.
Come take a pleasant drive with us around this lovely neighbourhood and hear stories about the people and places of Historic Clarkson.
The photo shows a sign marking the limits of the historic village of Clarkson.
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Historic Cooksville – Bus Tour
The historic neighbourhood of Cooksville, at the intersection of Dundas and Hurontario Streets, has been at the centre of much of Mississauga’s history. A stage-coach stop on the Dundas highway, Cooksville became home to Ontario’s first vineyards and first winery. Natural gas was discovered here more than 100 years ago and supplied, via pipeline, to locations as far away as Hamilton. Whole neighbourhoods have been constructed with bricks from the Cooksville brickyards. Then, the polluted brickyard site was successfully remediated to permit the construction of housing and beautiful parks. Come take a pleasant drive with us around this lovely neighbourhood and hear stories about the people and places of Historic Cooksville.
The photo shows the Cooksville House hotel. Built after Cooksville’s Great Fire of 1852, by pioneer settler Jacob Cook, the hotel stood at the north east corner of Hurontario and Dundas Streets. It was torn down in 1953 and replaced by a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building in 1955. (Photo courtesy of Heritage Mississauga https://heritagemississauga.com)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Historic Islington – Bus Tour
Dundas Street runs through the centre of much of Etobicoke’s history and serves as the main street of Islington. For over 100 years Islington was the seat of Etobicoke’s municipal government and witnessed many significant events. Come and hear tales of the loyal Thomas Montgomery of Montgomery’s Inn and World War 1 hero Col. J.E.L. Streight. It’s surprising how much of this historic community still exists today. Take a pleasant journey with us along one of Ontario’s oldest roads and hear stories about the people and places of Islington.
The photo shows Dundas Street in Islington Village looking east. Montgomery’s Inn is the white building just to the right of the road in the distance. The Methodist Church is on the right has been replaced with the Islington United Church. But the manse beside it still exists today as a store on Dundas Street. (Photo courtesy of the Etobicoke Historical Society – http://www.etobicokehistorical.com)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
The Kingsway – Bus Tour
One of Canada’s premier neighbourhoods, The Kingsway was the vision of one man, Robert Home Smith. A lawyer by training but a natural-born town planner and architect, Home Smith took 3,100 acres of ordinary Etobicoke farmland and turned it into an elegant series of subdivisions that were deemed “A bit of England far from England”. Centered around the Old Mill, they offered not only a new vision of town planning but of upper middle class life in Toronto.
Come take a pleasant drive with us around these lovely neighbourhoods and hear stories about the people and places of The Kingsway.
The photo shows Robert Home Smith who built a magnificent Tudor-style mansion at 28 Edenbridge Drive, which we will see on our tour. What Home Smith started more than 100 years ago is now a series of elegant neighbourhoods that includes Baby Point, the South Kingsway and Riverside Drive, Kingsway Park, and Humber Valley Village. (Photo courtesy of the Etobicoke Historical Society – www.etobicokehistorical.com)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
The Mighty Humber – Bus Tour
There were three mills on the Humber River between what today is Dundas Street and Bloor Street – The Old Mill at Bloor, Fisher’s Mill on the west bank and the Howland Mill on the east bank near Dundas. Come hear tales of the mighty Humber River and millers who hoped to tame it. We’ll also talk about the destruction on the river caused by Hurricane Hazel as well as Robert Home Smith, the developer who created subdivisions that became Baby Point and The Kingsway. We’ll also visit the site of Toronto’s first shipyard and a First Nations village.
The photo shows the Howland and Elliott General Store and Mill Office at Lambton Mills. It once stood on Old Dundas Street near the Lambton House tavern. It was owned by Sir William Pearce Howland, the only American-born Father of Confederation. He later became the Lt. Governor of Ontario. (Photo courtesy of the Etobicoke Historical Society – http://www.etobicokehistorical.com)
For a printable version of the Advance Publicity for this presentation, click here.
Richard Jordan is a former President of the Etobicoke Historical Society and a former Toronto Star local history columnist. His feature articles on historical subjects have also appeared in the Saturday Star and Sunday Star.
He says, “I like to look at a neighbourhood and imagine how it has changed through time – who once lived there and how they lived.”