Mulholland Farm

I pass by this park all the time and decided this rainy vacation day would be a great time to finally stop and read the sign. #alwaysreadtheplaque

The Mullholland Farm was a 400 acre property inherited by Thomas Mullholland, a son of early settler Henry Mullholland whose original 1806 farmland at Leslie & Sheppard was sold out of the family in 1814, reacquired by descendant George Stewart Henry (the 10th Premier of Ontario) and is known today as the Henry Farm community. Henry Mullholland and his wife Jane purchased the Bathurst property, where this park now sits, about 1812. Thomas was born here and inherited the property after his father, who had made a return visit to Ireland, died in May 1832 when his ship struck an iceberg on the way back to Canada.

The Thomas Mulholland home was demolished in 1950. Unfortunately, due to a cyber attack earlier this year the Toronto Public Library Digital Archives are not currently available, so I can’t access the photos they have of the home and farm.

The sign mentions Century Airport – that was the privately owned aerodrome located at the northwest corner of Lawrence Avenue and Dufferin Street, that opened that in 1927 and was renamed Barker Field on 6 June 1931, in honour of WWI fighter ace, LCol William (Billy) Barker, VC, Canada’s most decorated serviceman who had died in an plane crash in Ottawa the previous year.