The History of Mississauga’s Wilcox Road

Parts of our city were subdivided and developed over time without a cohesive plan in mind. Some of earliest subdivisions, now engulfed within the City of Mississauga, trace their roots back to long before the city came to be. One such area is that of Wilcox Road, which runs north off of Bunrhamthorpe Road, just to the west of Cawthra Road. The roots of this road, and the residential lots along its route, trace back to 1924. But what (or who) is Wilcox Road named after?

But first, lets step back a bit further. Wilcox Road is located on the south half of what was Lot 11, Concession 2, NDS (North of Dundas Street). The Crown granted the south 100 acres of Lot 11 to William Cloughly in 1828. In 1838 the property was acquired by Thomas Hamilton. Thomas (1811-1849), together with his wife Hannah Wilcox (1811-1890), had three daughters: Susan Matilda, Mary Agnes and Sarah Maria. Following Thomas’ untimely passing in 1849, his widows and children continued to live on the property. When Mary Agnes married Robert Carroll, he oversaw the farm. Then things got a bit messy when it came to legally transferring the property, although there is no indication to anything being contentious within the family.

Wilcox Road aerial image 1954

Following the death of their mother Hannah, Mary Agnes sold her share of the property to her sisters in 1902. With Sarah Maria’s passing in 1911, Susan Matilda’s passing in 1913, (both of whom died without children), and Mary Agnes’ death in 1923, executor Thomas Hunter registered Thomas’ will in 1924 (remember, Thomas had passed away in 1849). Thomas’ will conveyed the property to his daughters, although by 1924 all three of Thomas’ daughters had passed away. This allowed Thomas Hunter, as the executor, to grant the property to the sisters’ cousin, Dr. Helen Barbara Willcox (1855-1937). Dr. Helen Willcox sold the property to the Standard Security Corporation Ltd. in 1924. On January 3, 1924 (the same date as all the above-mentioned transactions), the Standard Security Corporation Ltd. registered subdivision Plan A-24. There are some newspaper accounts that the Standard Security Corporation Ltd. was active in the Cooksville area of historic Mississauga in the early 1920s in acquiring former family farms for subdivision purposes.

It is not clear when homes were first built along Wilcox Road, although some lots were sold to individual owners between 1925 and 1943. Things really seem to get underway in terms of larger scale developments by 1949-50.

Port Credit News, June 27, 1934

As part of Plan A-24, Wilcox Road was originally identified as Hunter Avenue (presumably after the executor), but by 1925 the name Wilcox Road was listed. Interestingly, the Wilcox surname appears in family references as both Wilcox and Willcox, somewhat interchangeably. While the name of the road likely derives from its last owner, Dr. Helen Barbara Willcox, the farm had been in the Wilcox-Hamilton family from 1838 until 1924. At present, we known very little about Dr. Helen herself. She was the youngest child of Elizabeth and Allen Willcox. In 1889 Helen was listed as a Fey Goods (dresses, etc.) merchant in Toronto. By 1891 she was a schoolteacher, and by 1911 a medical doctor. Dr. Helen operated her own family practice on Sherbourne Street in Toronto in 1921. She did not marry or have children.

The Wednesday, June 27, 1934 issue of The Port Credit News recounts a visit by Dr. Helen Willcox back to her childhood home along Dundas Street near Dixie Road here in historic Mississauga, where she recounted the stories shared by her father Allen on the sheltering of William Lyon Mackenzie during the Rebellion of 1837.

Willcox Gravestone, St John's Anglican Cemetery

Dr. Helen’s grandfather was also a notable figure in local history. Absalom Wilcox (1765-1841) was involved with the building of the first Dixie Union Chapel in 1816. Referred to as the “Worthy Settler”, Absalom was a mason and builder by trade. He was injured during the construction of the chapel when a falling tree broke his leg. As a result, his leg had to be amputated. Absalom was also a strong supporter of establishing a school and for having his children educated. He served as an original trustee of the Union Chapel and for the Octagonal Schoolhouse, the first schoolhouse to be built in historic Mississauga.

Absalom’s eldest son, and Dr. Helen’s uncle, Daniel Wilcox (1793-1872) served with the 2nd York militia during the War of 1812.

Absalom and his wife Barbara Hull are buried in Dixie Union Cemetery, while their son Allen, with several of his children (including Dr. Helen Barbara Willcox) are buried in the adjacent St. John’s Anglican Cemetery.

Wilcox Road, most likely named for Dr. Helen Barbara Willcox in 1924-25 as part of subdivision Plan A-24, is a subtle reminder on our landscape of a historic family with notable ties to some of the earliest chapters of our city’s history.