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Once the farm fields of Scarborough's first settlers, beautiful Thomson Memorial Park is now the idyllic setting for the Scarborough Historical Museum.

Established in 1962, the museum tells the tale of Scarborough's rural past and the universal story of experiences faced by immigrants to a new land.

David and Mary Thomson came to Scarborough in 1799 and were granted 200 acres of land in 1802. The Highland Creek ran through their property in the community that became known as Bendale, at what is now the north-east corner of Lawrence Avenue and Brimley Road. As the family worked and prospered, Scarborough grew and developed.

160 years later, Scarborough acquired from descendents of David and Mary a section of vacant farmland for use as a community park to commemorate the pioneering spirit of Scarborough's first permanent settlers.

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Entrance to Thomson Memorial Park
17 February 2005
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

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Thomson Memorial Park
August, 2004
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Photo: George Dunbar

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"We take our visiting relatives from Italy to this park because they are amazed that there is so much parkland in Canada. In Italy, it's not like that. Everything is farmed - every aspect of every corner is farmed and treed. So when they come here, and see all the open spaces, it's really impressive to them. They are always amazed at the green space and the trees".

-Maria Raeli, local resident

"I always think this park is the hub. Thomson Park is the real hub of the area".

-Ian Bargh, local resident

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Thomson Memorial Park
August, 2004
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Photo: George Dunbar

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"I love it here (Jack Goodlad Seniors Residence) because of where it is and the big park [Thomson Memorial Park] that we have out the back that's beautiful. Every morning I go out there. I don't know, I guess I just like walking around and you meet somebody and say hello to them. The next day you see them again and say hello to them. You look at them and say [to yourself] they're nice guys, you find out that they're nice people.

Wow. There's a big difference with this park. You take a look at this park and what it was like back in 1979, 1980. People that came to the park they were basically wasp, that's what you would have called this whole area, it was made up of wasps. Now, if I come out here on a Saturday or a Sunday and I go for my walk in the park I bump into all kinds of people from the middle east, people from Iraq and people from all these different wonderful countries. I've met a lot of those people. That's really wonderful to get to know these people".

-Barry Christensen

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Thomson Memorial Park
August, 2004
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

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I don't think it's changed much [Thomson Memorial Park], which is a good thing; it's been kept and preserved and looks beautiful. The trees are just bigger now, but I remember tobogganing down, I don't know if they still have that big huge hill, we set up toboggan runs and put mattresses around the trees, and used to swim in that creek actually too when I was younger. It looks like it's pretty much preserved, even the tennis courts, I remember when the tennis courts went in at Thomson Park, so that was a novelty, that was lots of fun".

-Tom Hayes recalls Bendale and Thomson Memorial Park in the 1970's.

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Canadian Northern Rail Line embankment circa 1900 and 2004
15 December 2004
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

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This embankment, forty-two feet high, is all that remains of the old Canadian Northern Railway which was built through this area in 1910 to join Toronto with Ottawa. The railway went bankrupt in 1917 and was taken over by the CNR who continued to use it until 1925. The tracks were removed in 1926 and the right-of-way abandoned. On July 29, 1919, Miss Jane Ann Thomson probably saved the lives of many innocent people. Early in the morning she was awakened by a freight train making an unusually loud noise. Upon investigation, she discovered a broken rail and warned the Malvern station agent to flag down the 14 car Ottawa/Toronto flyer due about 5:30 AM. Remnants of the old road to Markham can be found leading out of the valley just east of the railway embankment.

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Fishing for salmon
1920
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

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Highland Creek in Thomson Memorial Park
August, 2005
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

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Scarborough Historical Museum in Thomson Memorial Park
1962
Bendale, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

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The Scarborough Historical Society began a fund-raising campaign in 1961 to move the threatened historic Cornell House to a suitable location and set up a local museum. With the help of the West Hill-Highland Creek and Scarborough Lions clubs and the support of Reeve Ab Campbell, the necessary funding was secured and a site set aside in newly established Thomson Memorial Park to relocate the building and establish the Scarborough Historical Museum.

-Excerpted from Scarborough Historical Notes and Comments, Special Issue: Scarborough Historical Museum, 1962-2002. Scarborough Historical Society, publisher.