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A brief History of Old East Village
The boundaries of London East were established by survey in 1810
as the Thames River to the south, Oxford Street to the north, and
Adelaide Street and Highbury Avenue to the west and east respectively.
Until 1857, the largest single landowner was the Church of England
(Diocese of Huron) which owned most of the land south of Dundas
Street to the Thames River. By the 1880’s, most of this property
had been sold off and had been redeveloped.
The history of London East proper (that area we now call Old East
Village) begins in the early 1850’s when Murray Anderson purchased
a lot on the northeast corner of Adelaide and Dundas Streets. The
home that he built here for himself was the first brick home in
London East, and the only brick home east of Burwell Street. He
subsequently constructed a large ironworks, the Globe Foundry, on
the southwest corner of the same intersection. Many of the first
homes in Old East Village, primarily consisting of “workmens’
cottages” clustered north and south of Dundas Street, east
of Adelaide, as well as along Hamilton Road, were built by employees
of the Globe Foundry from that point through the turn of the century
It was the oil industry, however, that really drove the early development
of Old East Village. The first oil wells in North America were drilled
in the Petrolia area in the late 1850’s. The refineries, however,
were located in Woodstock (for reasons I have yet to discover –
any amateur historians out there?) They were relocated in the early
1860’s to Adelaide Street – the first being constructed
in 1863 on the present site of the City Works Department Yards on
Burwell Street – and soon there were several different refineries
in operation in the area. The consolidation of several of these
independent refineries (and there were nearly 50 in the area) resulted
in the formation of the London Oil Refining Company in 1876, and
a further merger of this company with its chief rival, the Silver
Star Works (established in 1870), resulted in the establishment
of the Imperial Oil Company. All refining was subsequently completed
at the Silver Star Works on Bathurst Street. In July 1883, there
was a fire, spectacular by all accounts, caused by a lightening
strike, in which the entire refinery was destroyed. The refinery
was rebuilt in Petrolia.
The other major employer in Old East Village was the Grand Trunk
Railroad which had located its quite substantial Car Works on the
corner of Egerton and Florence Streets, and which employed 300-400
workers.This facility was also destroyed by fire – in September
1884 – though it was rebuilt after amalgamation with London
in 1885.
Fueled by this industrial development, the population of Old East
Village grew quite quickly.By 1864, the population was estimated
at 500 persons, and there was a recognizable business district in
place at the corner of Adelaide and Dundas Streets.Charles Lilley
had erected several business establishments on the south side of
Dundas Street by 1864 (hence the naming of the area Lilley’s
Corners), and this development was followed shortly after by the
Anderson Block on the north side of Dundas Street, and others. In
1910, the East London Businessmen and Property Owners’ Association
was formed to protect the distinct nature of the area.
London East was officially designated a Village in 1874. In 1881,
it was designated a Town. A Town Hall (at a cost of $14,000) was
built in 1883-84 at the corner of Dundas and Rectory Streets. This
building still exists and is known as the Aeolian Hall. Together
with nearly $40,000 spent in 1882 and 1883 on a town waterworks
system, the financial burden on the ratepayers became too much and,
in 1885, after much acrimonious debate, the citizens of London East
voted in favour of amalgamation with the Town of London. The vote
was heavily influenced by the promise of water from the Springbank
Waterworks, police and fire protection service, and a number of
street improvements. The population by this time was about 4,000
persons.
With the decline of the importance of the railroads to the industrial
sector after the Depression, many of the employers located in this
area moved their operations elsewhere. This has contributed to some
socioeconomic decline in the area, and Old East Village has gained
the perception, until fairly recently, of being a “troubled”
neighbourhood. From the 1950’s onward, there was substantial
conversion of what had once been single-family homes into duplexes
and triplexes. This led to a more transient population mix. While
one hesitates to use the term “downward spiral”, the
neighbourhood did develop a reputation as a tough one. In the past
several years, it has become readily apparent to anyone familiar
with the area that the decline has been halted. Conversions of homes
back to single-family status have become quite common. The housing
stock is improving substantially and, while there are still pockets
where renovation should be encouraged, I truly believe that Old
East Village represents one of the areas of the City where the potential
for equity build-up is highest. In point of fact, I believe this
strongly enough to have bought in this area. We are presently involved
in the renovation of a two-and-a-half storey brick home in the Village.
I was attracted to the area initially by the architecture. The
architecture of the Village tends to be somewhat more uniform than
is the case in many of the other core areas of the City. The neighbourhood
grew quite quickly, it must be remembered, particularly in the 1870’s
and 1880’s, though also right through to about 1910. Most
of the original residents were employees of the industries here
and, consequently, shared the same socioeconomic status. It should
not be surprising, therefore, that Old East Village is, generally
speaking, rather architecturally homeogeneous. The dominant style
is the “cottage” style: one-and-a-half storeys, front-gabled,
of brick or frame construction, usually possessing a front vernadah,
and often with quite intricate ornamentation. This homogeneity of
style is one of the most endearing features of the Village –
in walking or driving the tree-lined streets, one is constantly
reminded that the neighbourhood is one built on a human scale.
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