My sister Kathy was a regular social butterfly, all before the age of 10.
Whether it was a birthday party, Brownies or a church event, my sister seemed to have a knack for getting mentioned in the South Peel Weekly’s social pages, which reported on the comings and goings of residents of all ages.
There she was in 1965, listed as a guest celebrating “Maureen O’Keefe, Welwyn Drive, whose 10th birthday was on January 20, was the guest of honour at a party held previously on January 16th. The guests were taken to the area to skate, after which they watched a hockey game, returning to the O’Keefe home later for refreshments and games.”
Then in March, “Glenda Speck, Balsam Avenue, entertained a number of friends at a party on March 27. Her guests were Mary Lou Dorios, Kathy Hrabluk, Maureen O’Keefe, Janet Showalter, Melanie Oda.”
The next month it was my sister’s turn to host. “The guests were Maureen O’Keefe, Patricia Hanson, Jacqueline Mobach, Janet Showalter, Glenda Speck. Michelle Waisman, and her sister Carolyn Hrabluk.”
And so it went, every week for decades, folks would settle in with the paper to find out what was new with people in their neighbourhood, and across town.
In August 1938, Mrs. Clark of Third Line was ill at home with neuritis, Allan Couse of Streetsville spent the weekend at Midland, and Venetian blinds “added greatly to the appearance of the Royal Bank” in Cooksville.
Collected and edited by women, social notices informed readers about the activities of social clubs, such as the Ladies Auxiliary, Brownies, Scouts, the Kiwanis Club, and the Lion’s Club.
Readers learned about fundraising drives by Church groups, school science fair winners, who attended bridal and baby showers, and who won this week’s neighbourly Bridge club.
Sometimes the notices were brief; “Mr. And Mrs. Fred Hall of Snow Crescent have returned home from a week’s vacation in Cleveland,” it was reported in the Applewood Acres column in November 1955. Almost like a Facebook update, pre-Internet.
Others were published to pass along important information to a target audience, such as this not-so-gentle nudge published June 19, 1958. “The Woman’s Auxiliary of the South Peel Hospital, Clarkson area are grateful to those who have supported the travelling baskets in the district. Fairfields West have turned in a substantial sum, and the Fairfield Manor basket should now be near its goal. Would the ladies on Wedmore South side please hurry it along, so that we may turn in the proceeds before the end of June.”
Still others were just plain cheeky. “The sign on the display of training panties in the Kingsway store window was changed this week from ‘seat covers’ to ‘tops for bottoms,’ wrote L.A. Lowndes for the ‘Inside Dixie’ report on July 27, 1950.
In addition to the neighbourhood reporters, the Welcome Wagon ladies also published regular updates, welcoming, by name, people who had moved into town, as they did for my parents and 11 other couples who moved into Port Credit in 1955.
Welcome Wagon was a company that introduced newcomers to the neighbourhood, always arriving with a basket filled with small gifts and coupons from local businesses. It operated in Canadian communities both big and small from 1930 until 2020 – welcoming people to the neighbourhood with some treats and a smile, as a way to make people feel a little more at home.
Taken together, social notices add some colour to the stories of regular folk living in the neighbourhoods of Toronto Township, Port Credit, and Streetsville.
You can hear more stories about the people and events that helped shape Mississauga via our podcast, We Built This City: Tales of Mississauga, available on your favourite podcast platform or from our website.