Old Oakville Heritage Conservation District
Designated in 1981, the Old Oakville Heritage Conservation District is a unique, living historical account of what the original village of Oakville, first surveyed in 1833, was like.
Extending along the Lake Ontario lakeshore from Allan Street in the East to Sixteen Mile Creek in the west and Robinson Street to the north, the Old Oakville Heritage Conservation District retains much of it's original charm with many of Oakville's original early homes having been preserved.
The original homes of Oakville are commemorated with a white plaque near their doorstep.
The plaque, erected by the Oakville Historical Society, indicates the year the structure was built and who the original owner was.
The original survey of Oakville, completed in 1833, consisted of the area south of Rebecca and Randall Streets, east of Brock Street and west of Allan Street.
The area was subdivided into 1 1/2 acre blocks. Each block was further broken down into 6 lots and the lots were lettered alphabetically from A to F.
In May of 1833, the most valuable town and water lots were sold publically. This was the first public sale of lots in what was to become the Town of Oakville.
Conditions were placed on the sale of the lots and each buyer had to agree to build a structure no less than 24' x 18' within 18 months of owning the lot.
You can just imagine the building activity that took place during those 18 months in 1833 and 1834.
The little harbour village would have been alive with hammers and workers as the exciting anticipation of each family's first home took hold of the community.
The years passed and Oakville prospered. In 1851 census records show a population of 916.
The town of Oakville, named after the great abundance of Oak trees in the area and after it's founding father, William 'White Oak' Chisholm, grew to a village of 130 frame homes and 4 brick homes by the mid 1800s.
Today you can take a walk through this Old Oakville Heritage Conservation District and view many of these quaint and beautiful historical homes, that have stood the test of time and are still alive today with residents, gardens and activity.
©2010JoSmith
|
Jo-Anne Smith, the author of this article, is a REALTOR® with Brekland Realty Group, Oakville, Ontario and welcomes your real estate inquiries. To contact her, visit www.oakville-burlingtonhomes.com |
Jo,
Oakville sounds like an awesome place to visit. I hope I will get a chance to come and see some of these beautiful homes.
hi Marzena,
Oakville is a beautiful town/city with an intriguing history, much of it preserved. I do hope you get to visit sometime!
Jo
Maybe I can find a way to visit when I'm in Buffalo. Looks lovely!
hi Carolyn,
We're about an hour from Buffalo....you'd love it here. Give me a call if you're coming this way and we'll take a walk through Old Oakville together.
Jo
Jo,
I once put in an offer on the William Wass estate on Lakeshore Road in Old Oakville.
It was built in about 1880.
Brian
Brian,
Do you mean you and Susan personally put in an offer on the William Wass estate?
If so, this must mean you have an appreciation and love for historical homes, such as I do.
~Jo
Jo - having lived in the Bellvile area this historic area of Oakville must feel like home for you.
Oakville looks like a great community and you know how I feel about historical buildings.
Jo,
Yes, but it was far too expensive, and we needed a severance to finance the deal. So, that was the basic problem. The house is one of the featured properties in the book "Old Oakville".
Brian
Kathy,
How insightful you are! I certainly do feel right at home in Old Oakville and it reminds me a great deal of Belleville's Old East Hill.
On another note, I've always been drawn to history and heritage areas and I believe I would feel right at home in any town's heritage district....maybe I was born in the wrong century. ((-;
Jo
Jennifer,
I think you would really love it there....
Jo
Brian,
Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be....
a friend of mine in Pennsylvania (who happens to be a member of AR), bought a historic house many years ago and it was so expensive to restore and maintain that he eventually had to sell it before ever completing the work on it.
These properties are definitely labours of love .....
Jo
Jo,
I suppose not. It was expensive at the time, but about the cost of a starter townhouse today.
Brian