In late November and early December of 1855 a series of four advertisements ran in the Toronto Globe, advertising the sale of 28 new building lots in Churchville. These announced the first recorded attempt to subdivide and develop land en masse in the village. The lots were situated to the east of the young community, just north of where Churchville Park is now. George Hawkins, a Streetsville auctioneer, had been hired to handle the sale, which was scheduled to occur in Churchville on December 19th at noon. The ads portrayed the small community in absolutely glowing terms, citing the beauty of the area, easy access to water and associated industry, and the return that a savvy investor might eventually realise on the lots.

         Wiman’s father, Erastus Wiman Sr., had come to the new community in its earliest years as a part of the gathering of Church family members in northern Toronto Township. Born in Paris, Oneida County, New York in 1793, there is some speculation that he left a previous family and financial ruin behind him before arriving in Upper Canada. He was known as a talented furniture maker. He married Theresa Mathews and, when her mother and Dr. Thomas Stoyell purchased and began to develop Main Street in the new community, the Wiman family opened up the first general store. They located it just south of the mills and across from Orange Church’s new hotel. Their home and the store, built in 1831, is still standing today at 7772 Churchville Road. Wiman Sr. ran an ad in the Christian Guardian, a Methodist newspaper, announcing the new business:

           Their first son, James, died in infancy in 1832 and was one of the first burials in the Churchville Cemetery. A second son, Erastus Wiman Jr., never knew his father. He was born in April 1834, only six months before Erastus Sr. died. While the cause of death is not known, the young family appears to have known that it was imminent. On May 9th they purchased a significant plot of land just outside of the village: the west 100 acres of Lot 14. This included land in the valley east of what are now Churchville & Creditview Road, south almost to 7573 Creditview (The Young and Daley home). On May 14th, Erastus Sr. sold off his general store to shoemaker William Leslie and on June 20th he sold 75 acres of his new land to Theodore Turley, a gunsmith and lay Methodist preacher (and eventual leader of the new Mormon congregation in the village). Wiman Sr. turned a tidy profit in those quick transactions, leaving some money for his son and widow to survive on. When he died on September 19th he was buried near Amaziah Church, with whom he was said to be a ‘friend in life’, in the Churchville Cemetery. 

           There have been numerous biographies written about Erastus Wiman Jr., some describing his life in the village as being extremely difficult after his father’s passing. A few even described the poor child as starving at times. With so many extended family members from the Church and Hall families nearby, it is puzzling to consider that Theresa and Erastus Jr. wouldn’t have had a support network in place during that difficult time. Two years later, Theresa married local tavern keeper John A. Dyson, who was operating Orange Church’s former hotel. They had a daughter, Sarah Amelia Dyson. The marriage to John A. Dyson did not last long, however and, although he is noted as dying in Waterloo in 1884, Theresa was married for a third time by 1846, when she and Henry B. Weir welcomed their daughter, Mary Francis Weir, to the world. Perhaps these remarriages played some negative role in Erastus Jr.’s early years.

         Despite his dire financial situation, Erastus Jr. excelled at school and eventually left the village to pursue his career in publishing and finance. He seems to only have returned to the village a handful of times; one of which was marked with a celebratory picnic at “Hall’s Grove” on August 12th, 1858, featuring performances by the Churchville, Streetsville and Brampton Bands and a rousing speech by the man of the hour; likely about reciprocity with the U.S., a lifelong cause of his. Almost forty years later he wrote a book on the subject, titled Chances of Success.

           For well over a century there existed a number of ‘invisible’ streets in the village. These appeared on maps but were not obvious to the human eye. These included Mill, Mill Pond, Bennet and Adelaide streets, all of which ran along the northern edge of the valley. Albert Street seemed to be located somewhere in an open field. Many might recall that 152 Victoria Street was said to be situated next to a non-existent east-west street. Most of these invisible streets were the legacy of Erastus Wiman’s planned, but never fully realised, subdivision. 

        With his new connections in the financial world, Erastus Jr. may have seen the writing on the economic wall for Churchville from even as far back as 1855. He began looking to cash in on the land that he inherited from his father. He engaged miller and community leader Orange Church to assist in some capacity; likely as his main point of communication in the village. He hired surveyor James William Bridgland, P.L. to create a new survey of his inherited property east of Churchville Road and north of the river, which was subdivided into 28 building lots. This survey was called the Tor 6 survey. While I have never seen an original copy of this survey, a traced copy, made in 1965, still exists in a private collection in the village.

          As mentioned above, Wiman advertised the sale of these lots in The Globe, where he was an Editor. No account of the actual sale seems to exist, though it likely occurred at Church’s Mills or at the hotel across the road. It was -10 C in Toronto on December 19th, 1855, so it seems probable that the sale took place indoors. Attendees were provided with refreshments.

         Evidence, in the form of land records, seems to indicate that the advertising campaign and sale did not yield quick results. The following April, Lots 2 & 3 sold to John Marshall, from Meadowvale, for £36. These were located at the southwest corner of Church and Victoria Streets. Marshall turned around and sold these to John Moore, a manager at the grist mill, for £50 four months later. With an increase of only £14, it seems unlikely that Marshall did anything substantial to improve the lot.

         It wasn’t until November 25, 1857 when Wiman sold the next two lots: George Tye, the editor of the Brampton Times, purchased Lots 17 & 18 for £17.10. The significant decrease in cost may be attributed to the fact that these two Lots were located at the corner of Albert and the Church Street extension; two roads that would never actually be built. 

          Sales proved so slow as to be almost non-existent. On April 3rd, 1858, Elizabeth McClure purchased Lots 11, 12 & 13 from Wiman for £20. These fronted Victoria Street and included the lot where the Preet house would eventually stand. I have often wondered if the original Preet home actually dated to this time and was one of the only houses actually constructed in the Wiman subdivision. That same day, William Forster, who eventually ran an ill-fated mill in the village, purchased Lot 16 for £26. The higher price is difficult to explain, as this lot stood at the southwest corner of the unbuilt Albert and Church Street extension. So far, after three years, only eight of the 28 lots had been sold. Wiman visited the village for his homecoming picnic later that summer. It seems likely that the poor sales of his lands would have been on his mind that day.

         That October two more lots, numbers 19 & 20 were sold to James Edwards for £49. These lots were situated at the northeast end of Albert Street and now feature a large home and a tennis court, though nothing appears to have been developed there in the days of the subdivision. 

          On December 3rd, 1860, Theresa Weir gave her property back to Erastus, who then sold it to one Jane Crooks. At a cost of $100 (the dollar became legal tender in Canada in 1858), it must have had a house built on it at that point; likely one of the only to ever actually be constructed in the subdivision. Theresa’s third husband, Henry Weir, had died twelve years before. It is likely that she moved in with one of her daughter’s families for her remaining 14 years. 

          On November 8, 1865, a decade after the initial offering, Wiman sold Lots 8 & 9 to William Roddy for $250. This increased sale price may imply that the lot featured buildings. Lots 8 & 9 are situated at 152 Victoria Street, where the Justrubecki and Lafoley home is and it is possible that this home and associated outbuildings may date to this time. Only 12 of the 28 lots had been sold in the first decade. 

         The next sale, on April 5, 1878, was the last. John Reeve managed to purchase Lots 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 (pretty much the entirety of the eastern side of Albert Street) for only $125. With that, the initial sales were finished. It’s hard to imagine that Wiman was pleased with how it turned out. For his efforts, Wiman made less than $1000 over a period of about 23 years. It seems unlikely that Wiman would have lost sleep over the matter, however. By 1878 he was already a full partner at Dun, Barlow and Company in New York City and about to become General Manager. In a short while he would become president of the Great North Western Telegraph Company of Canada, become a powerful force in the development of Staten Island and become an internationally famous millionaire. The topic of his home town likely only ever crossed his mind when he described his poor upbringing or thought about his mothers’ welfare.

          Most of the lots in the Wiman Subdivision were never developed at all and, for the most part, sit empty still. Throughout my childhood in the village the only homes to stand on the lands were the Horsleys, Laffoleys and Preets, as well as a home on Lots 1 or 2. A small abandoned home stood on Lot 5, but it was demolished at some point in the 1990s. The properties facing Victoria Street have survived, with strange addresses left intact (i.e., 152 Victoria Street, even though there are only four homes situated there). The tract of land just south of the subdivision developed separately and eventually an orchard was planted there, ultimately operated by the Horsley family. 

         The actual land where the subdivision sits was assumed by the Township, then both the Credit Valley Conservation Authority and the City of Brampton. It was likely considered a flood plain for the river. As you can see from the map at the top, it has now been naturalized and serves as the location for several stormwater ponds. A few beautiful new homes now stand on the lands. 

         Traveling down Church Street and turning down Victoria towards the park has always felt like a journey back in time for me; especially in recent years as the city has encroached more and more upon our once quiet, rural village. It is easy to tune out the noise of Brampton there, and to imagine Erastus Jr., Orange Church and the agent, George Hawkins, walking over from Church’s Mills on a summer day to discuss their big hopes and plans for the land.