Where Two Streets Now Meet
BELLEVILLE, Ont. [29/10/13] The intersection of Elvins Gardens and Elvins St. seems like part of any other suburban neighbourhood, but in fact helped to split up the 100 acre farm that was established around 1915 by the Elvins family in Belleville, Ontario. The farm remained open until 1949 when it was split up into 33 lots and the two roads were created, while the original Old Gardens Rd which serviced the farm, and connected James St (now Prince of Wales Dr) to Moira St, was broken up and left only as a short private lane way. Photo by Kaitlin Abeele
The landscape where Elvins Gardens and Elvins Street meet in Belleville, Ont. has changed dramatically over the past century. In fact, the two streets didn’t even exist 100 years ago. It was, for many years, a small family farm named Market Gardens, which was owned by the Elvins family from approximately 1915 until 1949, when the property was divided into 33 separate lots and the two streets were formed.
The Elvins kept a few pigs, a small herd of dairy cows, a couple horses, a rhubarb patch, and alfalfa fields. They had a farmhouse where the family lived, a greenhouse which they used to grow vegetables and a small barn for storing livestock and farming equipment. The total property covered just over 100 acres alongside the Moira River on the west bank.
Today, the property looks very different. There is no barn, no greenhouse, no rhubarb patch or alfalfa field. The original farmhouse still sits tucked at the back of the lot along what was once Old Garden’s Road, but is now just a long private lane bordered by fences and two willow trees.
BELLEVILLE, Ont. [29/10/13] The original farmhouse still exists and is accessed by a private lane way formally called Old Gardens Rd. Belleville resident Bob Elvins, grew up in the farmhouse from 1941 until 1953. Photo by Kaitlin Abeele
Few people can remember this little piece of Belleville history, except for the Elvins family members that still live in the community. Bob Elvins, 72, spent a large portion of his childhood growing up on the farm, and has distinct memories from living in the farmhouse for 12 years.
Elvins was born on Sept. 18, 1940 in Toronto, Ont. and moved back to Belleville with his parents and older sister in 1941 to live on the farm with his grandmother. He lived in the farmhouse until he was 13 when the family moved again to a house that his father built on Moira Street.
“Everybody in the family would sing, and Aunt Maude would play the piano by ear. She could play anything, just hum her the first couple of lines and she’d have it. Jeez we remember those days as kids.”
“I can remember we never had hydro in this house when I was a kid. We wanted to put hydro in, and my uncle Harry worked for the hydro company. They said that we could have hydro, but we had to put our own poles in. So Uncle Ken, Uncle Harry, and my dad went into the woods that used to border the farm and cut down a bunch of cedar trees, trimmed them down, and we had hydro,” recalls Elvins.
During the summers, the farmhouse would be filled with relatives and music, as Aunt Maude would play the piano in the front room, and big parties were thrown. The children would creep down the hall and sit just outside the door, listening to the laughter, feeling the vibrations of the music and dancing in the floor.
“Everybody in the family would sing, mom and dad would sing a song together, dad would sing a song by himself, and Aunt Maude would play the piano by ear. She could play anything, just hum her the first couple of lines and she’d have it. Jeez we remember those days as kids,” recounts Elvins.
BELLEVILLE, Ont. [29/10/13] Bob Elvins remembers the barn that used to house dairy cows and farm equipment, on what was once his family’s farm, called Market Gardens in Belleville, Ontario. Nothing remains of the barn and in its place several trees have been planted. Photo by Kaitlin Abeele
Story by Kaitlin Abeele