Deer Park

In 1802, a Hessian Captain in the York Militia, Frederick (d.1816), Baron de Hoen, was granted a lot of 200-acres of farmland west of Yonge Street, most of which he sold in 1810 to Chief Justice John Elmsley. In 1837, Elmsley’s widow, Mary Hallowell, sold a 40-acre lot of this land for £1,050 to Agnes Wallace (1788-1874), a widow with three children newly arrived from India by way of Switzerland and Italy. In today’s terms, Mrs Heath's estate was roughly bounded by Yonge Street, Oriole Road, St. Clair Avenue and Lonsdale Road.

 
Mrs Heath and Deer Park Farm

By 1838, Mrs Heath had built "Deer Park Farm" that back then enjoyed an uninterrupted view down over the lake and a cool breeze that came with its elevation. It was named for the tame deer she kept here, the same that would often be found around about dinner time at the hotel on St. Clair & Yonge, charming the guests for a free meal. Mrs Heath lived here with her two unmarried children (Charles and Elizabeth) - her youngest daughter (Emily) having that same year moved to The Lawn at Cobourg with her new husband, Lt.-Colonel D’Arcy Edward Boulton.

 
Charles Heath and Development

By 1844, Mrs Heath's only son, Charles, had married his sister's sister-in-law, Sarah Ann Boulton, at The Grange, and that same year Mrs Heath and Elizabeth moved to Cobourg where they lived at Heathcote, next door to her other daughter at The Lawn.

 

Charles Heath - “a very tall and remarkably fine-looking young man” - bought Deer Park from his mother in 1846 and began to sell off parcels for development, including six acres to Lt.-Colonel Arthur Carthew on which he built Lawton Park. By 1850, Charles had registered a plan for the subdivision of his estate but it wasn't until 1874 that he sold off the still as yet undeveloped lion's share of the property to Weymouth Schreiber. It was Schreiber who subdivided it into 52-lots with three streets (one of which he named Heath Street) and by 1908 “Deer Park” had been annexed by the city.