This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.
132 Burton Ave.
The Tordiff name is one we’ve mentioned before: Harold, the projectionist at a downtown Barrie theatre, Harold’s wife Zelma Purvis Tordiff’s beautiful family home Ernecliffe and Ted the wonder dog, the family dog with a job.
Now let’s meet the parents.
Harold’s dad, William, was born in Darlington, Ont., in 1882. While he was a young man, William made two trips to Havana, Cuba in 1906 and 1907, to work as a planter, before settling down and marrying Miriam Routley in 1909.
Miriam was born in Brooklin, Ont., in 1888, the youngest of six children, raised by an aunt when her mother died a just a month after she was born. Will and Miriam had three children: Harold, Edward and Esther.
Will was very close to his younger brother, John, and together they ran a successful business in the Whitby area. Tordiff Brothers Furniture Dealers and Funeral Directors was in operation from 1909 until 1916.
It seems the brothers were preparing for a career change as they both enrolled at the Eastern Dairy School, formerly referred to as the Kingston Dairy School, which was started in 1894 by then Dairy Commissioner for the Dominion of Canada, James Robertson, as part of Queen’s University. Just two years after opening, it was taken over in 1896 by the Department of Agriculture.
About the same time the brothers were learning about the dairy industry and milk testing, in the spring of 1916, T.A. Stevens was advertising ‘cream wanted’ for his new Barrie Creamery on Dunlop Street. It was announced that the wagons would be out as soon as the roads made it possible.
Not a year later, in the winter of 1917, T.A. Stevens sold his interests in the Barrie Creamery — which he had moved by that time to the former Barrie Milling Co. building on Collier Street — to the Tordiff brothers of Brooklin. By the spring of 1917, T.A. Stevens had left Barrie and purchased an ice cream business in Dunnville.
During their early days in Barrie, Will, Miriam and the kids lived at 11 Berczy St., not far from the creamery on Collier Street and close to where their son Harold and his wife Zelda would one day raise their own family on Kempenfelt Drive.
The Tordiff brothers proved that they could build another successful business, making important connections across the district and establishing a large supply network for their cream. They recognized the dairy industry was a growth area, increasingly attracting more farmers to that business. Barrie was perfectly situated for an operation such as theirs.
They weren’t the only ones. After just 13 years in the business, in 1930, the Tordiff boys sold their company to two other dairy men, E.C. Cross of Stayner and C.N. Norris from Elgin County in western Ontario, both experienced in creameries.
The Norris Dairy later moved to the old Sevigny Carriage Shop on the north side of Collier Street and its horse-drawn wagons were a common sight around town.
By 1940, Will and Miriam were living across the bay in a charming home located at 136 Burton Ave., moving next door in 1942 to a larger home at 132 Burton Ave.
The land on which the Tordiffs' new home was built, had once belonged to Thomas Milburn, who operated one of the first saw mills in the area. The lovely brick home was perfect for families.
In the fall of 1913, Archie Walker, born in Quebec but also hailing from Winnipeg, wed Florence Hamlin of Allandale at St. George’s church on Burton Avenue. After their honeymoon, Archie and Florence left to live in Winnipeg only to be back in Allandale and starting their family in 1915. By the 1920s, they were living at 132 Burton Ave. The Walker kids — Grace, Jean, Marion, Dorothy and Lloyd — attended King Edward School, just down the street.
Walker’s occupation at one time was listed as trainman, but in the mid 1920s he ran a restaurant and confectionery in Bothwell’s Corner.
One spring evening, the police, convinced there was gambling on the Lord’s Day taking place in Archie’s restaurant, raided the premises, charging five men with the offence and Walker with running a gaming house. Archie confessed that at times, games of rummy were played in the restaurant stalls – not unlike what takes place at any hotel – and he willingly admitted the constables to the building that evening, but was not aware of any card games in progress nor would he consider it any of his business anyway.
It wasn’t the first raid, and like the previous one, the ‘tips’ from upstanding citizens proved unreliable. The charges were withdrawn against Walker, while the other five were subjected to an all-day trial resulting in their cases being dismissed as the police were unable to prove any offence.
A couple of decades later, the Tordiff family were now the occupants of the home at 132 Burton Ave., in the pretty Allandale neighbourhood. Their tidy property showed off Will’s gardens, which he was very particular about, according to his grandson Bob’s wife, Gerry Bourne Tordiff. Miriam, said to be a sweet and feisty lady, was busy in their community as well, as one of the founding members of the Burton Avenue Church Women’s Auxiliary.
The Tordiffs continued to reside on Burton Avenue, Will filling his retirement days by gardening, following hockey and his Masonic Lodge affiliations. William died in Brooklin in 1955. Miriam sold their Burton Avenue home in 1959 and moved to Innisfil Street where she lived with her daughter, Esther Knapp, until she passed away in 1980.
The Tordiffs are fondly remembered as well-respected Allandale folk.
Still a handsome building, Will and Miriam would be pleased if they could see their old Burton Avenue home today.
