The Adamson Estate, which forms the eastern boundary of the

Port Credit Port Credit is a neighbourhood in the south-central part of the City of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Its main intersection is Hurontario Street and Lakeshore Road, a ...

neighbourhood of

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

, was purchased from the family of

Agar Adamson Agar Stewart Allan Masterton Adamson (25 December 1865 – 21 November 1929) was a Canadian soldier who married the Toronto heiress Mabel Cawthra. He served with distinction in the Second Boer War and in World War I, and commanded the Princess ...

by Credit Valley Conservation Authority in 1975 upon the urging of the local ratepayers group known as Project H21 after a proposed real estate development which would have changed the character of the neighbourhood. It is now a public park on the

Waterfront Trail Stretching over 3600 km (2236 miles) from Prince Township, west of Sault Ste. Marie, to the Quebec border, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of interconnecting roads and off-road trails joining over 150 communities and First Na ...

. It was recognized as a Historic Place in 1978.

History

The land on which the property is built was acquired by Joseph Cawthra in 1809. The farmland, which came to be known as the Grove Farm, was granted to Agar Adamson and

Mabel Cawthra Mabel Cawthra Adamson (1871–1943) was a Canadian painter and decorator, who was active in the Arts and Crafts movement in Toronto. Early years Mabel Cawthra was born in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1871. The Cawthra family were wealthy Canadian m ...

as a wedding gift. Agar Adamson, born on Christmas Day 1865, was the grandson of William Agar Adamson an influential Toronto clergyman. He married into the

Cawthra family The Cawthra family of Toronto was famous for its business, social and cultural contributions to the city. It is one of the oldest families in Toronto, and many descendants of the family's founder, Joseph Cawthra, continue to play significant roles ...

whose legacy in Peel lives on through the Cawthra Estate located near the intersection of the

Cawthra Road Cawthra is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * John Cawthra (1789–1851), merchant, distiller and political figure in Upper Canada * Joseph Cawthra (1759–1842), Canadian merchant and politician *Joseph Hermon Cawthra Joseph ...

and the

Queen Elizabeth Way The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...

. Their legacy comes from supplying

eastern white pine ''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada west through the Great Lakes ...

logs for ship masts in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. He served under General

Arthur Currie General Sir Arthur William Currie, (5 December 187530 November 1933) was a senior officer of the Canadian Army who fought during World War I. He had the unique distinction of starting his military career on the very bottom rung as a pre-war ...

. Insights into his time at war may be seen in the CBC series ''The Great W

' which features Talbot Papineau, another of the four Canadians featured in the book. Agar Adamson designed and built the Belgian-style mansion on this land in 1919, after returning from the wartime service in France. In 1943, his son Anthony Adamson added a home for himself on the property. The estate was acquired by the

Credit Valley Conservation Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada, responsible for protecting, restoring, and managing natural resources at the watershed level. CVC operates within the Credit River watershed and smaller ...

Authority in 1975.

Architecture

Pet Cemetery-Adamson Estate-Mississauga-Ontario-HPC9996-20220826

The architecture of the main house, often thought to be Spanish is actually Flemish architecture, one of the areas in the European theatre in which Agar fought during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. One of the treasures of the Adamson Estate are the great

, the provincial tree of Ontario, which remain on the site and are ties to the heritage of the Adamson/Cawthra families and that of the early development of Toronto Township, Peel County, now known largely as Mississauga,

Region of Peel The Regional Municipality of Peel (informally Peel Region or Region of Peel, also formerly Peel County) is a regional municipality in the Greater Toronto Area, Southern Ontario, Canada. It consists of three municipalities to the west and northwes ...

. Another element of interest is the family

pet cemetery A pet cemetery is a cemetery for pets. History Many human cultures buried animal remains. For example, the Ancient Egyptians mummified and buried cats, which they considered deities, and the largest known dog cemetery in the ancient wo ...

which has been recently surrounded by a wrought iron fence with stone pillars and memorial plaque.

Today

The old mansion of the Adamson Estate is now leased to the City of Mississauga to operate as a public park.

References

{{Coord, 43.562, N, 79.567, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Mississauga Houses in Ontario Houses completed in 1919