December 20th, 2023
D. Rollings

    Until the 1960s, a traveler on Steeles Avenue (formerly known as Baseline) who wanted to cross the Credit River had to either turn south and cross down in Churchville, or head north and cross at Eldorado Mills. For most of the village’s history, there was no Steeles Avenue bridge. This enabled residents who lived north of Steeles, on the Chinguacousy Township side, to be connected with Churchville in a way that is almost impossible in modern times. The opening of the Steeles Avenue bridge has created a virtually impenetrable border between the two communities, but throughout the 19th, and most of the 20th centuries, families like the Bransbys, Ingrams, Snures, Kees, Huttons and Borgstroms considered themselves members of the Churchville community. The river crossings down in the village brought people, and their money, into the community.

          Since its earliest years, Churchville has always been accessed from the south by a bridge located on the road between concessions 3 and 4, WHS. Richard Pointer, who owned land on the south side of the bridge, is noted as having either sold or donated ¼ of an acre to the Home District Council (precursor to Peel County) on November 29th, 1845, which may have been done to enable the regional government to take responsibility for this important crossing.

          For most of the village’s first century the bridge was made of wood and was maintained by local residents who were then reimbursed by Toronto Township. Council minutes recorded that Meadowvale's Albert S. Lambe was paid $42.00 for conducting repairs on the wooden bridge at the south end of the village on May 28th, 1887. Two months later William Hardy, one of Churchville’s three local blacksmiths, was paid $14 by the Township for conducting his own repairs. Doubtless the wooden bridges were regularly damaged, or even washed away completely during spring flooding. In 1907 Toronto Township installed the single-span steel Warren pony truss bridge over the river. An open-top pony truss design was chosen to allow for men on horseback to easily cross. This bridge is still in place today.

         The bridge has seen its fair share of flooding over the years, and actually contributed to the problem on many occasions by trapping the ice flow on the west side of the river. Some of the very worst recorded floods happened on April April 5th, 1950 (water levels rose 12 feet) and between February 15th and March 2nd 1954, when early thaws resulted in water levels rising dramatically several times. Disaster struck again that October when Hurricane Hazel swept through the village. Other noted floods include March 7th, 1922, February 12th, 1932 (“one of the worst floods in village history”).

         On September 12th & 13th, 1992, the Churchville Cemetery Board erected a voluntary toll at the bridge in order to raise $3000 for much-needed repairs. 

         In 1996 following several years of controlled access, the bridge's abutments desperately needed major repairs. The City of Brampton opted to remove the structure entirely in June and reinstall it at the end of August. Many in the village will remember the impressive spectacle of seeing a crane lift the entire bridge out and then back into place. 

           The bridge persists as an icon of the village, connecting different generations within the community and serving to remind us of the important role that Churchville played in connecting Toronto Township to Chinguacousy Township and Brampton. Countless numbers of people, traveling on foot and horseback, on carriages, sleighs, tractors, cars, bicycles and trucks have paused midway across to gaze down at the river since the first crossing was built on that spot in the early 19th century.