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We are a country, we are a nation, and beer commercials aside, we are Canadians. This country and nation was forged, welded, and melded by individuals and families determined to survive - and hopefully prosper - in an environment, which at the least could be described as hostile, and at best unfamiliar. Yet still they came, these immigrants, trudging through swamps and intimidating forests to establish homes, heartlands, and eventually communities. They provided the fibre and the lifeblood of the country we now know as CANADA! Men and women alike were hardy, self-sacrificing and stoic knowing that their efforts would provide better things for the future of their children. Terra Cotta, a small community of approximately four hundred, split between Halton Region and Peel Region at the upper reaches of Winston Churchill Boulevard, has both the pioneer pedigree and rich history to weave comfortably into the Canadian mosaic. Two land purchases by the British government from the Ojibwa band of Mississauga native Canadians (Algonquin), resulted in the settling of what we now know as Halton and Peel regions. The regions were settled mainly by United Empire Loyalists (following the American war of Independence in 1776); veterans of the war of 1812 against the still muscle-flexing Yanks, and immigrants from Ireland (Catholics were forbidden from owning land), Scotland, and England fed up with the restrictive class system in Great Britain which forbade the lower and lower middle classes from owning land. The McLeod brothers, by way of Brampton, are reputed to be the first settlers on the east side of Lot 27 on the 5th Line Chinguacousy in 1822. Unfortunately while inspecting the property, one brother is reported to have been killed by a falling branch from an apple tree. Distraught, his brother apparently left the area. The name Terra Cotta became official in 1891. Previous names for the community included Tucker's Mills, Plewes' Mills and Salmonville.
John and Ann Plewes came to Canada in 1850, settling in Acton. John operated a grist mill in what we know as Leathertown, but died in 1851. In 1859, his son, Simon Plewes paid $5,000 at an auction in Georgetown for the land and buildings of Henry Tucker's grist mill and saw mill. Simon married Janet Smith in 1863, an Esquesing girl, and the couple had six children Ð three sons and three daughters. The community became known as Plewes' Mills. Simon drowned in the mill race on his property at the age of 45 in 1876 and according to Donald Plewes, a great grandson, he is buried with his parents and brother Alfred in Acton Cemetery. Two of Simon's children, Mary and George, who both died at the age of four, are also buried there. This information was provided by Art Von Zubem, 89, who has lived in Terra Cotta since 1954 and who has become something of a local history buff. Von Zuben, a former plumbing, heat and industrial waste chief inspector for Mississauga, moved into Peel County from Etobicoke because of the natural beauty of the area. The Von Zubens purchased a hundred acres just across from the Terra Cotta Conservation Area after a local contractor, Leo Wolfe, suggested the area. Art and his wife Mabel, fell in love with the lushly forested, gentle hills, valleys and waterways at Terra Cotta. Since his retirement in 1972 Von Zuben has devoted his life to conservation, gardening, and lovingly tending his land. It was through his interest in the history of the area that Von Zuben met Donald Plewes and engaged in correspondence that led to some insights into the Plewes family and its impact on what we now know as Terra Cotta. The family's marriages, births and deaths are recorded in the Plewes family bible. The name Salmonville was chosen by the residents with the establishment of a post office in 1866. The choice of name was obvious as local legend has it salmon were so plentiful on the Credit River, which meanders merrily hither and yon throughout the community, that the fish could literally be scooped out of the water.
A Mr. James is recorded as opening the first quarry around 1840. Edward Townsend and his sons operated the largest quarry in the area, and provided stone for the Union Presbyterian Church, which still serves its worshippers. Townsend also constructed the bridge between what was then Chinguacousy and Esquesing townships. Other quarry operators included J.L. Fleming, F.C. Thompson, J.L. Craine, R. Puckering and Sons, S. Hurst, Jack Edge, T. Smithson, J.L. Dolson and the McBride brothers. The Townsend quarry was sold to Torontonian Jack Murray in 1898 for $300,000, then later to Francis and William Rogers in 1909. William Norrie, who purchased the quarry in 1930, was the final owner, naming his operations Credit Valley Quarries. Previously, product from the area was known as Credit Valley stone. Credit Valley stone was used in the construction of a number of notable projects in Toronto including old City Hall, the Parliament Building, the Union Station pillars, and the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. Timothy Eaton had a small connection to the area. Upon immigrating to Canada, Eaton lived with his sister for a time in Glen Williams and worked locally as a clerk/bookkeeper. The rest, as they say, is retail history. Brick-making entrepreneurs soon saw the value of doing business in Terra Cotta, and by 1914 three plants were up and running. The Terra Cotta Pressed Brick Company opened for business in 1906. Robert Gibson (no relation to this writer), a former blacksmith, became the first superintendent at the Terra Cotta Pressed Brick Company.
The Great Depression of the 1930's forced the closure of the brick plants and also affected the quarry operations. Most were closed by the 1950's, although some stone was quarried in the area up to 1970. The coming of the railway era has proven to be both a boon and a bane to small communities not only in Ontario, but also across Canada. The Hamilton and North Western Railway, running from Hamilton to Collingwood (and through Salmonville) was completed in 1877. It ran just north of the community. Mill owners and quarry operators literally elbowed each other for space near the rail line. The Grand Trunk Railway took over the line in 1888. The rail line also allowed services to be provided to the area. The first doctor to service Terra Cotta was A. McAllister from Georgetown, courtesy of the rail line, and it is reported he charged five dollars to deliver a child. The first two stations were destroyed by fire and a new station house wasn't built until 1923 when Canadian National took over the rail line. In 1956, yet another fire ravaged the station and it spelled the end of the railway era in Terra Cotta. A changing economy, the Great Depression of the 30s, the war years, and the termination of rail service effectively torpedoed industry in Terra Cotta. However two other "cottage" industries were blooming in the verdant area: bootlegging and the arts.
A source who grew up in Terra Cotta estimated that during the rough times of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, there were twenty bootleggers operating in the community, servicing customers from the immediate area as well as from as far away as Guelph. Shell Lawr, 79, a Georgetown resident who lived in Terra Cotta from the age of seven to fourteen, freely admits his father was a bootlegger, offering homemade beer. "My father Mathew was a teamster," says Lawr, "who worked the area quarries and brickyards. But when times got tough, he turned to bootlegging to support the family!" Lawr, a Georgetown Hockey Heritage Award winner, Georgetown Citizen of the Year and along with his wife May, Georgetown Senior Citizens of the Year, was born in Brampton and raised in Terra Cotta on property just off 4th line and 27 Side Road in Chinguacousy. A World War II veteran and life member of Georgetown Branch 120, Royal Canadian Legion, Lawr, shrugs off the illegal antics of his father. "Sure," he says," I would get teased sometimes at school Ôbecause of the bootlegging' but as my father said, "It was better than going on relief!" Lawr was never bored living in Terra Cotta. He used to skate on the Credit in winter, go tobogganing and sleigh riding, and go hunting and fishing in the summer and fall, much the same as youngsters in the area do today. George Sheppard, 52, also a Georgetown resident, was born and raised in Terra Cotta and thought he'd live there forever. He left Terra Cotta for Georgetown when he was twenty-one, but still fondly remembers the laid back lifestyle of the community. "I never felt deprived of anything," he says emphatically, "Down the road from our place I could go hunting, or just cross the road and go fishing. It was a great place to grow up!"
George recalls being frightened that his father might be thrown in jail because of the bootlegging, but it never happened. "He'd get a call just before the cops planned a raid," recalls George. "All the stuff would be hidden outside, no evidence found, no charges laid. In fact, some of my dad's best customers on Sundays were cops!" The arts took hold in Terra Cotta in roughly 1944 with the arrival of Jordanus Vander Vliet from Toronto, who was also an illustrator with the Toronto Star. He opened an art studio, began teaching, and attracted students from all over the province. Sculptor Rebecca Sisler moved into Terra Cotta and established an art studio in the former blacksmith shop known as the Forge. Unfortunately, this establishment has now been condemned, although meetings and plans are going on between the Region of Peel, the Town of Caledon, and the Terra Cotta Community Hall Committee, a Terra Cotta citizens group, to salvage what is considered by many to be a heritage site. The Forge was built by James Carrol in 1881. He was a blacksmith by trade, turning out buggies and wagons, but later he became the postmaster in the area. Other owners of the Forge included Robert C. Gibson, William George Marshal, James Algie, Jim MacDonald and George Townsend. It was turned into a residence in 1930, and the first owner was Jimmy Stringer, a writer for the Georgetown Herald. Rebecca Sisler later took over the property in 1950.
This tradition continues through today under present owner Mario Micucci, who lives just outside the community and also owns Fiermoasa Trattoria in Toronto. After a succession of owners, including the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Micucci took over the property, which includes the Terra Cotta Tea House, specializing in weddings, in 2001. The Terra Cotta Inn is open six days a week from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. (closed Mondays) and specializes in Italian Cuisine. It is also very capable of handling Canadian dishes, according to Micucci. The head chef is exquisitely trained Roberto Florindi, who worked seventeen years at La Fenice in Toronto. For Micucci it was love at first sight. "I loved the area, loved the people, loved the geography," he exults. "You don't have to go to Huronia of the Kawarthas to enjoy beautiful scenery - it's all here. "Also, people of the community made me feel welcome! It's a piece of heaven," says the 56 year old who plans on spending his retirement years in Terra Cotta. In the meantime he wants to provide a world class restaurant for both travellers and his immediate neighbours. The land, the scenery, the geography, the topography is what draws people to Terra Cotta.
The Caledon Trailway and the Caledon Trail Link are just north of Terra Cotta. Area resident John Cummins, 86, has hiked the Bruce Trail, including the Terra Cotta Heritage Road Loop, a total of seven times, from it's beginning in Queenston, to it's final farewell in Tobermory - a distance of approximately eight hundred kilometres. His love of the outdoors and hiking was sparked when he was a youngster and has never dimmed. Concerning the Heritage Road Loop, Cummins suggests that it's no Sunday jaunt. "It's good hiking," he says, "but a lot of it is through mud and clay. You've to be aware and stay on the blazed trail. You're out in nature and if you don't mind your P's and Q's, you could fall off a cliff!" Despite past setbacks, the people of Terra Cotta demonstrate many of the traits of the early settlers. They determinedly pull together as a community to preserve the environment our ancestors worked so hard to cultivate and to continue the battle to provide a better place for our children. |
The final name change to Terra Cotta occurred in
1891. The name Terra Cotta is generally accepted as referring to the large
deposits of clay which dot the area, and provided a second source of employment
in contrast to working in the mills.
William Flavelle and Robert Kennedy opened the
Halton Brick Company in 1911, built on land they purchased from Elijah Townsend.
L. Plant's Brick Plant followed in 1914.
Bootlegging in Terra Cotta was not of the Al
Capone vintage. In fact, it was more like a Keystone Cops caper.
His father Charlie was a quarry man, and his
mother Olive (nee Hancock) was a Terra Cotta girl. Both are now deceased.
Charlie was also a bootlegger specializing in liquor and wine. "Mostly wine,"
adds George somewhat sardonically. Charlie worked in the quarries until he was
50, and then worked for the Town of Halton.
When you think of Terra Cotta, the Terra Cotta
Inn comes to mind. It is considered by many to be a world-class establishment.
It has also gone through its' trying times. The first owners were Betty and
Harry Farrar, immigrants from England, who introduced fine dining with
exceptional service.
The Terra Cotta Conservation Area under the
auspices of the Credit Valley Conservation Area, offers fishing, picnicking,
group camping, nature trails, bird watching, and interpretative programs almost
all year round.