Friday, April 23, 2010

Miles Park - Miles Road

Miles Park straddled both sides of present day Miles Road down to Lake Ontario.  Miles Park was the creation of Arthur Miles.   Miles was born in Toronto in 1873. He originally worked on a dairy farm before leaving for South Africa in 1894 to seek his fortune in the gold fields of South Africa. Within a few years he obtained a senior position with the Crown Deep Mine Company owned by Paul Kruger.

He returned to Toronto in 1900 and founded A.W. Miles Company, Undertakers, setting up the first funeral chapel in Toronto and modernizing the undertaking business in Canada. He introduced the first motorized hearse and handled the funeral of many of Canada's most notable statesmen and citizens including Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Sir William Mulock, Sir Joseph Flavelle, Sir Henry Pellatt and Sir William Hearst to name a few.

He established his 3 acre lakefront estate in Mimico in 1912 complete with a private zoo. The zoo was established on the north side of the street and included birds, monkeys, ostriches, horses, donkeys, camels and an elephant. On the south side of the street was the pleasure grounds including a dancing pavilion, picnic area, snack building and a baseball diamond. The Park was open to the public for use by all.  Many community and church groups availed themselves of Mr. Miles' hospitality.  At the foot of the street he built a large "U" shaped wooden pier into the lake which held a number of decorative swans.

At the foot on the street on the south side he built his large home at 11 Miles Road. Mr. Miles was generous with his good fortune, and the grounds were open to the public free of charge. Many organizations availed themselves of his warm hospitality over the years. However, as the Town of Mimico grew, complaints about the smell of the zoo grew in number. In the early 1930s Mimico Council asked him to consider leaving. Reluctantly, he left and purchased a large 200 acre estate in Erindale, to which he was able to move the zoo animals.

11 comments:

  1. A W Miles also being in attenance at the T P Loblaw funeral, as well as many of the neighbours from that area.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well then ... I suppose that by living at #14 I was living where the zoo was! I love the street and only knew part of the history, thanks for this information.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I lived at # 27 - did you live there in the 1950s ?

      Delete
  3. Thanks so much - I will try to remember who lived at #14

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Gord - great info.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember the Kingsway Lambton United Church Sunday School Picnic was held at Miles Park Farm in the mid to late 1950s. I don't recall a thing about it except that my parents thought it was "an awfully long drive" to Erindale!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Im so pleased to learn anything about Miles Park and AW Miles. He was my grandfather and AW Miles JR was my father. A very difficult life as I didnt know much about my beginnings. Catherine Miles Williamson

    ReplyDelete
  7. I REMEMBER MY UNCLE , A VET FROM WW 2 USING HIS MOVING VAN TO TRANSPORT
    ITEMS FROM THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL , BLOOR STREET EAST OF YONGE FOR A PINIC AT MILES PARK AND FARM IN THE 50s . GREAT MEMORIES .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Anonymous. I would like to connect with you. Arthur Miles, whom I never met, was my great uncle (my father's uncle). I stayed at his house #11 Miles Road for a few days in summer 1965. At that time there was nothing but grass between the house and the beach. dsporter@telus.net or dporter@alternatives.com

      Delete
  8. Miles runs north and south. So could this article actually be correct? Or did the road end go beyond Lakeshore?
    There is a small jog onto Symons. The Miles home is on the west side of the street and his care takers house is a small cottage across the street.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The orientation here is that the former Lakeshore Road (now Lake Shore Blvd West) essentially runs in a north south direction which results in Miles Road having an east/west orientation hence the description of the area north and south of the street.

      Delete