It could be said that the story of Applewood Acres started on the day Harold Shipp celebrated his 25th birthday, January 21, 1951 but the actual anniversary of the community might well be Mother’s Day, May 11, 1952.
It was on Harold’s birthday that lands south of the Queen Elizabeth Highway were purchased by G.S. Shipp and Son, a successful Toronto homebuilder. The land purchase was for 23 acres ( 9.3 ha.) at a total cost of $43,000. It was a piece of land 380 feet (115.8m) in width and 2,500 feet (762m) in depth and provided just room enough for a 66 foot (20 m) street which became Applewood Road. Interestingly, the Department of Transportation was quick to realize that a service road would be needed. At that time driveways emptied right onto the Queen Elizabeth Highway (QEW).
The plan was to construct 104 homes and then move north of the highway to begin a project that would become one of the largest single subdivision ever built in Canada by a family developer. There are some who would say it remains to this day the largest ever built. Without a doubt, Applewood Acres is one of the most unique communities built anywhere.
According to Harold Shipp, who 50 years later remains active in the community that he and his father Gordon S. Shipp built, lands for Applewood Acres were purchased in the summer of 1951 and sales of lots started May 11, 1952 on Mother’s Day. When the final sales contract was written, G.S. Shipp and Son had constructed 836 homes above and below the Queen Elizabeth Highway.
The firm would continue to build north of Hwy. 5 (Dundas Street) creating communities known as Applewood Heights and Applewood Hills. But this story is primarily about the six Plans of Subdivision that constitute the first major community constructed on the western outskirts of the City of Toronto.
Situated north of the Queen Elizabeth Highway, south of what is now The Queensway and between Cawthra Road on the west and Dixie Road on the East, Applewood Acres became a celebrated community, which was covered extensively by the three daily Toronto newspapers, The Telegram, The Toronto Daily Star and The Globe and Mail. In addition, The Financial Post, Daily Commercial News, and numerous trade publications, including the prestigious American Builder, hailed the coming of Canada’s largest housing project.