[Anna]

I think it was called the Willows (=Willows Bridge) and gone directly or indirectly because of Hurricane Hazel.
http://data.library.utoronto.ca/datapub/misc/shsmap/shsmap7.1.html#image-32

 

[Goldie]

Yes, I believe The Willows was known as a camp ground and recreation area in the early days of Scarborough.
I've occasionally heard some old-timers speak of that section of Highland Creek as a summer playground.

Coincidentally, just a short distance north of 'The Willows' on the same creek, was the location of a popular Boy Scout camp - The Camp of the Crooked Creek.

See: http://www.campofthecrookedcreek.com/

 

[Goldie]

Demolition of the Guild Inn begins (photos Nov.1 2015)

 

[Goldie]

East wing (previous page) almost gone--

GONE!

East & West wings removed in preparation for restoration and new construction--

 

[Goldie]

Anybody know much about this place? A nice little community on Highland Creek at Lawrence Avenue between Morningside and Markham Roads. Looks like it was hit its peek just before Hurricane Hazel (older shot is from 1953), but to my surprise, most of these homes were still standing in 1957, and about half were still around in 1962. It's only by the city's 1971 shots, with the new Willows bridge, that these homes are finally all gone.

View attachment 43419

View attachment 43420

Some time after Hurricane Hazel, many similar areas were declared "flood plains" and the homes were ordered to be demolished.
Since the 'wheels of government' turn slowly, I expect that was the outcome many years later.

 

[Goldie]

 

[Armour]

Is anything going to replace the Inn?

 

[Goldie]

The east & west wings of the old structure have been demolished, leaving the original building which is to be restored.

Additional construction will provide restaurant, banquet and meeting facilities - shown in this sketch.

 

[Armour]

Thanks, Goldie.

 

[Koolgreen]

any estimated completion time?

 

[Scooter Smart]

Does anyone have any old photographs they would like to share of the ski hill located in the Rouge Valley south of the Zoo? It was at the end of Sheppard, or old Lansing cutoff, now called Twin River.
It was called Caper valley and was in operation in the early to mid seventies. I heard a story that it’s name “Caper” came from the factory about a kilometer away on the north side of Sheppard Ave. called Repac. Caper is Repac spelled backwards.

Here is a recent picture (Sept 2014), the second pic is of a concrete foundation (at the top of the hill) I assume to hold one of the ski lift poles. The third picture is of the steel cable (still in the bush) which was used for the ski lift.

View attachment 33528View attachment 33529
View attachment 33537

Hi Johnnie, yes Caper Valley Hill was named after a road building company called Repac LTD. I used to ski there as a kid. I'll dig out some pics and post soon.

 

[Michael Bruce]

Courtesy of Toronto Public Library & the Toronto Star Archives. Photo credit Frank Lennon -- A spring-like flood below the ski slope; More than an inch of rain soaked Metro and the area around it yesterday; swelling the Rouge River into a churning torrent below the Caper Valley ski slope -- 1975

 

[intervention]

When I first moved to Canada with my mother (to join my father) in the late 1980's, we lived in an apartment building off of Tuxedo Court with other folks from behind the Iron Curtain (...and Newfoundland). I remember thinking three things about Scarborough at the time: everything felt "new" in the sense that there wasn't much historical built form, the roads were wide and the parks were huge, ravines everywhere. I can very much see that reflected in this pictures here, I didn't realize so much of the historical farm houses came down for nothing and/or apartment buildings!

 

[Goldie]

any estimated completion time?

New construction was begun c. April, 2016
Completion is anyone's guess.
I'd give it a year from now, but like all government projects, who knows?

April 2016

 

[Johnieo27]

Courtesy of Toronto Public Library & the Toronto Star Archives. Photo credit Frank Lennon -- A spring-like flood below the ski slope; More than an inch of rain soaked Metro and the area around it yesterday; swelling the Rouge River into a churning torrent below the Caper Valley ski slope -- 1975View attachment 68456

Hi Micheal, great picture of the ski hill. Do you recall when the hill was closed down?