The home we lived in while living with the foster parents was a self contained unit built inside a barn. That probably sounds a bit odd, but we lived on what used to be farmland, Sunnybrook Farm to be exact, which was about 154 acres acquired by James Kilgour, President of Canada Paper back in the early 1900s. In 1928, Alice Kilgour, James’ widow, donated Sunnybrook Farms to the City of Toronto to be used as park land and then was later transferred to the Government of Canada with the heirs approval to build a veterans hospital on a portion of the parkland. The Christie Street hospital had reached maximum capacity during the war and had no way to grow.
Sunnybrook Hospital was built, on what was the Kilgour homestead, to provide medical services to veterans during and after WWII. The hospital is now call Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre which still cares for veterans in the “Kilgour” wing. Sunnybrook is an academic health sciences centre, a regional cancer centre, trauma centre and is reportedly the largest maternity hospital nationally.
Aside from my recent experience at the regional cancer centre, my memory is of one rather long skinny yellowish building which had a two lane driveway into and out of my residence down in the valley, which we called Divadale valley. When I was “not” focusing on cancer last year, distracting myself with the history of the area where I grew up, I didn’t find a reference to Divadale, but now I see that the school I went to, Northlea Public School, was built on the old Divadale estate which belonged to William Lea for whom the area, Leaside, is named. Explains why residents called where I lived Divadale Valley.
At any rate, back to the barn we lived in. During my first trip to Sunnybrook for testing my friend and I wandered about a bit afterwards. There were parks and rec employees in the building now and the main floor of the “contained with the building” house has been converted to change rooms and such, but the manager onsite allowed us access to nose around which was fun for me.
Later on, the manager and I got talking about the buildings that were here and how they were still unsure about the purpose some of the buildings (locations evidenced by cement slabs). He showed me a picture and I didn’t recognize it. But then as we were walking away and down this little incline (our toboggan hill) towards the creek, it came back to me. The picture he showed me was the “haunted house”. It was a dilapidated old building with broken boards and windows that my sister and I “just knew” was haunted. We were told not to go inside! Like moths to a flame, that old building became even more inviting. We just couldn’t get there fast enough! It’s funny though, I don’t actually remember entering the “haunted house” though I’m 100% sure I did. Maybe we were so filled with dread and fright nothing sunk in. We used to bet on who could get the most speed to get the toboggan closest to the haunted house.
The noisy ghost used to visit us regularly. There was the desk blocking a doorway at the end of the hall on the second floor of our “contained” home. On the other side of that door we could hear “it” making weird sounds and just about every night at the same time we’d be scared to death listening to it’s footsteps and then some clicking sounds. Years later I realized, based on tidbits of information I had including there being an air pilot training center in the area during the war and the description of barracks, and the hourly visits by a “ghost”, as well as the veterans coming down to the other part of our building to create poppy wreaths for Remembrance Day, there must have been a night watchman which I thought was related to Services in some way.
Now that I know the history of Sunnybrook Farms a bit better I now know that the building, our “contained” quarters lived inside of, was was once a horse stable.
So our noisy ghost was just a night watchman that punched a clock every hour on the hour and guess where that clock was placed in the building. You guessed it, the other side of the desk protected door.
If you’re wondering how it was we came to live on City of Toronto parkland, well my foster father was chauffeur for someone at Sunnybrook Hospital so I surmise we got living quarters as part of the bargain. That’s something I’d very much like to find out. Must be records somewhere.
Well this is interesting but where was that haunted house you weren’t to go in? Was it through the gates at the North end of Sutherland? To the East of where Lyndhurst is now? I’m to this day trying to work out who’s house that was. I just went for a walk through there the other day. If it is that mansion … then Yes I went in it, many times!! And I remember it too.
You’d pass through the gates at the north end and keep travelling down into the valley. With this route, the dog park is on the left, the 2 barns would be on your right on the other side of the creek. The one barn became housing for army during WWII, I believe, the other a horse barn (still is as far as I know). The one we lived in was the housing for the army, where there was a separate entrance inside the barn to the residence. Between the creek and the barn that acted as housing was a house that has since been torn down leaving only a cement or concrete pad.
wonder if this was part of the personal depot behind sunnybrook veterns hospital was there
15 years in kitchen as cook in administration building thats were you went to join the army
1955 -joseph a ingram crporal
I’ve obviously been absent these many years and woke up today after semi-retiring to start a new chapter and finally figured out how to sign in again., Only took a couple of hours!
When you drive down the road behind/beside the veterans centre it takes you down into the valley where there is a dog park on your right and walking access to the building that was the cafeteria, last time I was there that is, which is now ages ago. Once upon a time a barn, then a barracks, I believe and when I lived there a spot for veterans to make poppy wreaths.