Wishing everyone a very Happy Canada Day on this 159th Anniversary of Confederation.

Our community and our province is in mourning as we reflect on the lives lost in the service of others.

I inadvertently opened a book to a chapter of the Cooksville Fair where it highlighted a story about the “Auto Polo Contest” in 1922. Think of a combination of polo, car racing, and a demolition derby!

While we no longer, generally, observe Decoration Day, as veterans of the Fenian Raids of 1866 we remember their brave service.

The road was simply referred to as the “Road Allowance Between Lots 8 and 9” in Range 2, in the Racey Tract, Credit Reserve. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

Malton is a fascinating part of Mississauga – it truly has some stories that make it unique amongst the founding villages of Mississauga.

You would be forgiven if, while zooming along the QEW past Winston Churchill Boulevard today (on a good traffic flow day), you did not recognize the few physical reminders that remain on the landscape from the historic crossroads hamlet of Sheridan.

The Model Bakery in Cooksville opened relatively quietly in April of 1917. The bakery was an immediate success, and became known for its pies, breads and exceptional cakes.

When German troops invaded Belgium in 1914, Marie Therese was a beautiful, dark-eyed girl in her early 20s.

The “great chase” as it was dubbed lasted some nine miles, with over 50 shots being fired. Detective Burrows’ car was struck by bullets nine times.

Thankfully, tornadoes are infrequent here in Mississauga and our immediate surrounding area, although they have happened.

I paused at the intersection of Isabella Avenue and Parker Drive and recounted what I knew of the history of the Parker-Gordon families and the development of the Gordon Woods subdivision beginning in the 1920s.

Hard to imagine Robin Hood in the wilds of historic Mississauga, so what on earth are those name references doing here?

He had lived in the Dixie area for over 40 years and was described in his obituary as a “typical Irishman – blunt, outspoken and at times aggravating, but warm-hearted, generous and forgiving.”

Exploring three heritage landmarks here in Mississauga that have an early Irish connection.