Standing in Square One, you would hardly imagine that not long ago, this metropolitan area was nothing but farm fields. The name itself alludes to this fact. Square One builder S. Bruce McLaughlin (1926-2012) gave it this name because he was quite literally starting what would become the City Centre from… “square one”. But beneath all that “nothingness” was something and that something was the Carr family farm. It was rural, there were fields, but it certainly was not nothing, not to William “Bill” Carr anyway. To him, it was home.

William "Bill" Carr lived in a precarious time between the new and old worlds of Mississauga. He saw tremendous change in his lifetime, probably more than any of us will in our lives. Bill was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in the city of Toronto in 1931. Shortly after his birth, he was brought back to the family's 100-acre farm in Cooksville where he lived with his parents Robert Norman Carr and Mary Alice Hawkins. His father Robert was the son of William Park Carr and Mary Ann Carr from Pockington in Yorkshire, England who immigrated to Canada in 1838. They initially settled briefly in Alliston, Ontario, and then moved to Merigold's Point (Lorne Park) before settling in the cross-roads community of Burnhamthorpe.

The family's farm was located on Concession 2, Lot 16, on the north-west corner of Burnhamthorpe Road and Highway #10 (then known as Centre Road). The Toronto Suburban Railway, which travelled from West Toronto to Guelph, went through the property beginning from 1917-1931. The farm practiced mixed farming, though they were primarily dairy farmers. They had about 25 head of cattle and shipped products out to Silver's Dairy at 588 Dupont Street in Toronto for 35 years. They also farmed wheat, oats, and barley which were ground either at home or in the Streetsville or Derry mills into chop for the cattle. They also kept about 300 hens and 200 capons at any one time. The main portion of the farmhouse was constructed out of stone and was square with a cellar kitchen, while the back portion was frame and sat roughly three feet, or three steps, lower than the rest of the house. The farmhouse predated the family. According to the Carr family, the first owner of the property was probably a blacksmith in Cooksville known as "Pardy". It is unclear who this Pardy was, though it is possible this is in reference to Philip Pardy who owned a harness shop in Cooksville. The farm was then owned by Charles Wilcox, and then bought by William Park Carr before being passed down to Bill's father, Robert Carr, in 1926.

As a child, Bill Carr attended Cooksville Public School. He walked a mile and a half to school each way, which at the time was considered quite close as some children walked 3 or 4 miles each way. He went to school until the latter portion of high school when he had to switch to Port Credit High School. Growing up in the Depression, Bill said, "There was no money, because I was a Depression child, and I guess I was like other kids, I wanted toys and trains and planes and trucks and this kind of stuff and no matter what I wanted, I was told there was no money. And there wasn't. You know, we could buy bread for four cents a loaf--and we didn't have the four cents." As soon as he was tall enough to hold two pails of feed off the ground, he was feeding the chickens and helping out on the farm. For entertainment, Bill would sleigh down the neighboring Kee's hill and skate on a pond behind their orchard. When he eventually received skis, he used brooms as poles as the family could not afford ski poles. In 1948, a neighbor made a skating rink and kids, including Bill, flocked from far and wide to play hockey every weekend.

During the Second World War, life was very difficult. Mississauga was still very rural and there were rations on gas and food. Steel, too, was being used for the war effort. Bill recalls, "We could get gas because we had the farm and you could get gas for the tractor, we could get more sugar than anybody else because we had to feed thrashing and corn-cutting gangs. […] There was no money to hire a hired man, so that's where I filled in as much as ever, I guess. During that time, I was up at 5:30 in the morning cleaning out stables and this kind of stuff."

Chores on the farm varied depending on the season. In the summer, they had to store the milk to prevent it from going bad. Bill remembers, "The one well where the water trough was, we had a stone vat that was built out of the former widow's watch on top of the house. And [in the winter] we used to cut ice from the lake at Erindale, behind the dam and haul it by […] sleigh right back. […]. Then we stored it in sawdust. We had to gather up sawdust after we sawed the wood, stored [the ice] in sawdust all summer". Each time they put fresh milk in the vat, they had to add the ice to prevent it from going bad. In the winter, they had to cut wood for the furnaces to keep warm. Not many people had electricity, but Bill recalls that, "I guess we were the first one on Burnhamthorpe Road West to acquire electricity [in the early 1930s]." In the 1940s, they also got indoor plumbing, before that; there was a privy out behind the woodshed.

In the late 1940s, prospective buyers became interested in the Carr farm with the intention of subdividing the land. His father was offered $12,000 for 100 acres, which was quite a bit of money at that time. After that, more and more people began offering to buy the farm, though some were more unscrupulous than others. Finally, they sold the farm to Bruce McLaughlin in 1960, though they continued to farm the land until 1963.

Looking northwest from Square One, 1973, courtesy of Ron Duquette

In 1969, construction began on Square One and the shopping mall opened in 1973. Bill and his family had considered Cooksville's 4 corners to be the centre of Mississauga; little did they know then that their former home would become the new City Centre. Of the experience, Bill recalled, "[It] made me kind of sick, to tell you the truth. In fact, I had a professional appointment over in the Sussex Centre, right up on the 16th Floor on the north side and I could look out and I could see all those buildings and cars and parking lots and I could see 403 and all that kind of stuff and I told the lady I was talking to, I said, ‘I used to plough in those fields, right there below your window.’ She thought that was fascinating. It takes you back a long ways and it makes you kind of sad."

Square one photo by jay kana, Modern Mississauga Media

Next time you walk through the hustle and bustle of City Centre, remember that people have walked where you are for thousands of years. It may be covered up by brick, concrete and glass, but the history is always buried deep down.

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Starting from Square One: Remembering Mississauga’s Carr Farm

Modern Mississauga Media

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