There is a small road in the Mineola East area of Port Credit that has a unique name origin. Willa Road came to be when the initial subdivision was registered by McLaughlin & Young on February 4, 1954.

The road name’s origins are tied to the McCauley family of Port Credit. Albert McCauley (who was born in Streetsville in 1868) came to Port Credit in 1907. He purchased a 10-acre farm in 1907, and in 1910 he expanded the family’s farming interests by renting 92 acres from the Hamilton family. Albert eventually purchased 56 acres from the Hamilton family in 1914. Albert and his wife Mary (Osborne) had seven children: Charles, John, Susan, Mabel, Ethel, Roy, and Helen.

The McCauley family operated a substantial market garden farm featuring plums, apples, grapes and pears. In 1927 the family built a new home. Sadly, Albert lost his life because of a car accident along Mississauga Road in 1939. The family farm was then operated by his son, Charles McCauley. Charles also served as a Toronto Township Councillor for Ward 1 and later as a Deputy Reeve. After Mary’s passing in 1952, a portion of the family farm passed to another son, John McCauley.

John married Gladys Innis in 1928, and couple had two daughters: Helen (born 1930) and Willa (born 1933). The family continued the tradition of a market garden farm, harvesting bountiful fruits and vegetables. Gladys was maintained a renowned flower garden and was a member of the Cloverleaf Garden Club. Their farm was located to the east of Hurontario Street and north of Mineola Road East.

John and Gladys’ daughters attended the Middle Road Public School (later renamed the Queen Elizabeth Public School) and Port Credit High School. The family was also involved with the activities of Trinity Anglican Church in Port Credit. The McCauley family sold their farm to McLaughlin & Young on December 8, 1953. This was an early iteration of S. Bruce McLaughlin’s business interests. In 1954 a small subdivision (Registered as Plan 502 on February 4, 1954) on the former McCauley farm was laid out consisting of two roads: Elaine Trail and Willa Road. Willa Road was named after John and Gladys’ youngest daughter, Willa McCauley.

Willa was born and raised on the family farm in Port Credit on October 11, 1933, and she passed away on October 28, 2022, at Fergus, Ontario. According to her obituary, in 1951 Willa represented her school in the Simpson’s Collegiate Club public speaking event, where Willa emerged from the field of 160 participants to win a trip to New York City to visit the United Nations and debate with students from New York.

After high school, Willa attended the Parkdale Toronto location of Shaw Business Schools. Here she learned bookkeeping and secretarial skills, achieving high marks. Her success at Shaw led to work in Toronto, which entailed a daily trip on the commuter train from Port Credit. It was on one of these trips that she met William Thomson. In September of 1954 the couple were married and moved into a house built for them on Willa Road, a road named after Willa in the subdivision that was built on her family’s former farm. Willa and William (Bill) were married for over 67 years and raised three children. The family lived in several places after Port Credit, including Etobicoke, Halton, Milton, Bath, and Guelph.

A small road in the Mineola East area of Mississauga carries Willa’s name to this day and remembers that McCauley family who farmed here for almost 50 years.