Modern Mississauga and Heritage Mississauga have come together to present an ongoing series called “Way Back Wednesday.”
We’ll share information about the history of Mississauga here and answer your questions.

Today’s topic is the history of Mississauga's Pearwood Place

Near the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and Clayhill Road, east of Mavis Road, is a small residential street named Pearwood Place. In the name game of modern streets in Mississauga, the origin of this street name might be lost to time, if not for a local resident, Keith Salt, who suggested the inspiration for the name.

Pearwood Place is located on the former site of the Cooksville Brickyard, and Keith’s grandfather, Ernest Salt, worked there beginning 1912. Years later, in 1992, Keith worked on clean-up of the quarry site at the former brickyard. As the site was developed for residential housing, streets were laid out and named. Keith was offered the chance to name a street, and he suggested “Pear Tree Street”. The name Pear Tree was chosen after Pear Tree Baptist Church in Derby, England, where Ernest Salt, Keith’s ancestor, went to church. However there was another road already named “Pear Tree”, so “Pearwood” was substituted.

Keith remembers Ernest as a quiet man with a slight build, who wore thick glasses. He arrived in Canada at the age of 28 with no experience in the brick business. Ernest retired in 1958 at the age of 76. Pearwood Place remembers Ernest Salt, who together with his wife Amy, charted a new course for themselves and their family in coming to Canada in 1910, and through working briefly at the Cooksville Brickyard, established roots in Canada for the generations that would follow.