1700's >back to top

1798
Crown Patent for Lots 29, 30, 32 & 33, Con. 1 with the Broken Front, Township of Pickering, County of York and Home District, Province of Upper Canada is granted to William Holmes Esquire.

1800's >back to top

1843
Henry Cowan, an immigrant from Ayr, Scotland buys Lots 32 & 33 from William Edward Holmes the "heir at law" of William Holmes, Esq. and settles, with his family, on the land. (#21143).

1848
Henry Cowan sells a small portion of his farm, down near the shore of Lake Ontario, to the Grand Trunk Railway Company (#1502).

1855
Mr. William Jackson and others purchase the piece of the shorefront south of the tracks from Henry Cowan (#3587) not a bad investment so far!

1860
Henry Cowan's son William, apparently the only one of four who stayed on the family farm, buys Lot 31, on the east side of the Rouge River from Mr. John Pollock. This "summer resort" became known as "Rosebank".

1868
Henry Cowan dies. With respect to the family farm his son William is to have a life estate, and it is to eventually go to William's eldest son, Henry Jr. (#124).

1875
William Cowan Jr., younger brother to Henry Jr. moves into "Rosebank" which he will inherit eventually.

1877
William Cowan Jr. marries Mary E. Pearce of Brantford and brings his bride home to Rosebank.

1882
Henry Cowan Jr. dies before coming into his inheritance, but not before he marries Janet Hamilton Purdie and becomes the proud father of a little girl, Janet Rae Cowan.

1897
William Cowan dies and the home farm (Lots 32 + 33) passes to Henry Jr.'s widow Janet Hamilton Cowan (#3978).

1900's >back to top

1906
The widow Janet Cowan, now Janet Hamilton Westney, and her daughter Janet Rae Cowan (spinster) now sell off a portion of the farm. They sell the portion of Lot 32 that lies north and east of the Rouge River to their brother-in-law and uncle, William Cowan Jr. (Winette & Pine Ridge Rd. in Pickering) (#10997).

1922
Riverside Development Company Limited is formed by Cecil White, a real estate broker from Scarborough, two salesmen, John Paterson McNair and Wilfred Joseph McNab, a bookkeeper, Gladys Muriel Bell and a stenographer, Daisy Hamilton. Dyson Craig Cowan (presumably the son and heir of William Cowan Jr. -I haven't seen the will yet) sells "Rosebank" to the Riverside Development Company Limited for the sum of $25,000 (#15903).

1925
Riverside Development Company Limited changes its name to Rouge Hills, Limited. The scope of the plan has obviously grown because Plans for subdivision and development are registered by vari- ous people who own portions of Lots 31,32,33
and 34:
Plan 274 - this is the east part of Rosebank, regis- tered by Rouge Hills, Limited et al. Plan 275 - this is Ridgewood and Chesterton Shores registered by Thomas Chester et al Plan 276 - this is "the flats" running south and east from the east end of Island Road registered by Janet Rae Eade nee Cowan. Plan 283 - this is the west part of Rosebank and includes Dyson Road, registered by Rouge .Hills, Limited et al. Plan 284 - this is Rouge Hills Drive, Taylor & West Point and the shorefront south of the tracks that Henry Cowan Sr. sold back in 1855 to William Jackson. Plans 277 to 282 - this covered most of the rest of the land east of East Avenue and south of Island Road.

1926
We have a deed from Janet Rae Eade (nee Cowan) to Rouge Hills, Limited for the sum of $35,000 (#17186 - details illegible). We also have the registration of a mortgage of Thirty-one Thousand Dollars in favour of the Equitable Life Insurance Company (#17187). And ROUGE HILLS is born, a unique summer playground and country estates on the banks of the Rouge. Summerland magazine is published by Rouge Hills Publishing Company. Summerland speaks of "The Dream and the Man Who Dreamt It" but never makes it clear if this was Dyson Craig Cowan or Cecil White or even a member of the Chester family but I suspect the Cowan family given their success with "Rosebank" in William Jr.'s time.

1938
In February a deed is registered conveying something from Rouge Hills, Limited to Dyson C. Cowan. This deed is registered as #21489 but has been lost. It might have been his family homestead at the comer of Dyson Road and Rougemount and presumably certain unsold lots in Plans 274 and 283 which he later sells to Suburban Homes Limited. Equitable Life forecloses on their mortgage in September (#21700).

1940
Dyson C. Cowan sells approximately 226 lots – mostly on the East side of the Rouge – to Suburban IJomes Limited for $500 in cash and a mortgage of Nine Thousand and Five Hundred Dollars (#22375)

1946
Equitable Life sells its holdings to Mattie Holdings Ltd. (#25307).

1948
Rouge Hills Golf and Country Club Limited, a private company, is formed with William Herbert Price, Solicitor, Lome Clayton Herdman, Broker & Muriel Alene Mitchell, Secretary, all of Toronto, as provisional directors. Mat tie Holdings sells the property to the Rouge Hills Golf and Country Club (#27970).

1949
A portion of the property described in instrument #29011 is conveyed by Rouge Hills Golf & Country Club to Ethel A. Dand.

1964
Rouge Hills Limited (that lost the property when the Equitable Life Insurance Company foreclosed) is still in existence and in fact signs a Quit Claim Deed in favour of the Conservation Authority for large parts of plans 274,276,283 & 284. These would be the parts of the valley lands which were devastated by the flooding associated with Hurricane Hazel in the 1950s 1966 -Rouge Hills Golf & Country Club sells approximately 135 acres to Nordel Development Corporation Limited with a mortgage back to the club for $885,000.00 (#149279).

1969
The mortgage held by Rouge Hills Golf & Country Club is assigned to Canadian Goldale Corporation Limited which became Hambro Canada Limited by 1974 (#177611).

1971
Nordel wants to demolish the club house but the Town of Pickering intervenes and negotiates with Nordel to operate the club house as a community centre.

1972
Nordel Development Corporation Limited sells to Melford Developments Inc. for the sum of $1,550,000.00 (#228115). Melford Developments Inc. leases the club house to the Town of Pickering for use as a community centre.

1973
Rouge Hills Golf & Country Club Limited is being wound up after 25 years

1974
West Rouge is transferred from the Township of Pickering to the Borough of Scarborough

1977
Fire guts Henry Cowan's old stone farm house on Rouge Hills Drive, built sometime between his purchase of the farm in 1843 and his death in 1868. Rouge Park Estates Limited is formed with Edward John Freyseng, Alexander Abram Mesbur, Douglas Geoffrey Lash and Donald Robert Brown as provisional directors.

1979
Melford, owners for 7 years, sell to Rouge Park Estates Limited, Trustee for Rouge Ridge Estates (#788146).

1984
Remember Rouge Hills, Limited the original development company that was foreclosed on by Equitable Life, well it's still around and in fact amalgamates with Suburban HQmes Limited to become Rouge Hills Limited (notice - no comma) with Ejnor & Susan A. Johanson as directors.

1986
The structural safety of the West Rouge Community Centre is called into question and decisions must be made as to whether or not the existing building should be saved and refurbished or tom down and replaced with a more modem community centre. The local community urges that the clubhouse be retained.

1987
City of Scarborough announces its commitment to the retention of the club house building and presents plans and designs for its restoration/renovation.

1990
October 20,1990 -The newly renovated West Rouge Community Centre reopens to the public.