By Mark Gillies
May 22, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
On Thursday May 21, 2015 at approximately 9:38 AM, I witnessed the last vestige of life from a Burlington centenarian who was executed under the legal authority of a Burlington “judge and a jury of seven”. There was only one other person to witness this sickening death; the “executioner”, who undertook the task to terminate the life of this wonderful piece of Burlington’s historical past.
The “judge and jury” I am referring to is your City Council, Mayor Rick Goldring, and Councillors, Jack Dennison, Marianne Meed Ward, Paul Sharman, John Taylor, Rick Craven,Blair Lancaster and John Taylor. The City Council found the senior “guilty as charged” for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The historic Hiram Alton Walker homestead stands alone moments before the “execution” was to begin.
Once protected by Burlington’s Heritage Registry, this beautiful elderly “citizen” was removed from the registry about three years ago because it was designated a Heritage “B” building by the City of Burlington, and therefore expendable. That recommendation to the City of Burlington probably originated from Heritage Burlington, a citizen’s advisory committee under the dubious chairmanship of James Clemens.
I talked to the “executioner” just before he carried out his deathly act. He politely asked, “What makes a building part of heritage?” It was a good question to which I responded, “It’s many things, for example, who lived here, were they connected to historical families or events, what did they do, who built the house, when was it built, what materials were used in its construction and what significance did it have in the community.” He was interested to know, but quickly replied, “Well I have to do it, I have to feed my kids.”
The death of this heritage building was at 3292 New Street. It came down to make way for a controversial hi-rise building called Marantha Gardens. Nobody from the general public requested it, the concept and acceptance were forced down our throats.
The “executioner” with weapon in place is about to commence the “execution”.
The “executioner” has executed one more time; the centenarian is dead, just so his kids can eat. City Council without shame, can chock up another win. Heritage conservation loses once again.
The home at 3292 New Street was built for Hiram Alton Walker (1884-1971), the son of John Henry Walker (1850-1911) and Frances Isabella Alton (1856-1938). Most likely it was a wedding present when Hiram married Florence Ann Shayler (1886-1976) on November 7 1907. The newly wedded couple gave birth to Norman Hiram Walker on July 30, 1908. Norman died in 1976. The family happily lived in this home for many years.
Philip Walker and Susannah Cline, paternal great grandparents of Hiram Alton Walker
Hiram Walker, paternal grandfather of Hiram Alton Walker
The historical connection of this home and the family goes back to the United Empire Loyalists when Philip Walker (1785-1865) and his family made their way from Hillsborough, Orange, North Carolina to Burlington. His wife was Susannah Cline (1792-1875) born in Washington, Maryland, and her family were also United Empire Loyalists, who also came to Burlington to escape the hardships imposed by the revolutionaries. Philip and Susannah were the great grandparents of Hiram Alton Walker, the man who lived at 3292 New Street.
Hiram Alton Walker’s paternal grandparents were Hiram Walker (1814-1896) and Julia Ann Cline (1820-1904). They farmed the land north of New Street and west of Walker’s Line. Walker’s Line is named after the Walker family. On May 8, 1889 Hiram and Julia celebrated 50 years of marriage at their home. The whole family attended. Unfortunately, their historic home was demolished in 1946.
David Alton, maternal grandfather of Hiram Walton Walker
On May 8, 1889, Hiram Walker and his wife the former Julia Ann Cline celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a family gathering at their home. Most likely, one of the boys in the lower left corner was Hiram Alton Walker, who would have been five years old at the time.
Hiram Alton Walker’s maternal grandparents were David Alton (1830-1884) and Mary Ann Breckon (1836-1923); his maternal great grandparents were Thomas Alton (1795-1872) and Charlotte Cleaver (1803-1876).
All of these local historic surnames Walker, Alton, Cline, Cleaver, and Breckon go back to the beginning of this community. All of these families have contributed significantly to our growth. We just keep destroying it.
James Smith makes a very good point. I would like to add something to it.
Developers, if they wish to work in Burlington, and heritage buildings are involved, then our City Council should make a ruling that they must incorporate the structure into their development if no other workable solution can be found, and also, it must be to the satisfaction of those interested in retaining valuable pieces of our historical past. This is where Heritage Burlington can play a key role. We do not have to continually destroy our past. This is not the answer. Burlington already has a dismal track record on heritage conservation. Let’s not keep making it worse. We must learn to work with these buildings. They are not the problem. These buildings are great opportunities, if we just give heritage conservation a chance.
Developers should take the lead here, and incorporate these historical treasures into their projects, right from the get go, and not be forced into it.
When developers only propose demolition for these historical buildings, then they rightfully make themselves out to be the city’s major villain. This only creates hostility towards them, something that is unfortunate. All of this can be avoided. Developers can and must do better.
We all need to educate ourselves on how to be responsible custodians of our heritage. I look to our Mayor and City Councillors for this leadership. I hope they do not let us down.
Nice touching story, but who really cares about local heritage anyway? Just a bunch of old people, that’s who, and they’ll all be dead soon; so this problem is nicely solved. We’re very lucky to have voted in a City Council, not once, but twice, that doesn’t bat an eye when they start eliminating Burlington’s historical buildings. We should be thankful to James Clemens and his Heritage Burlington committee who continually remove historical buildings from the Heritage Registry. What a paradox, but who cares, it’s working. We’re on a roll here folks, keep it moving along, the more old unsightly buildings from the past we can demolish, the better this place will look for all of us. You can’t live in the past, so why try and keep it. It wouldn’t bother me at all to see a bulldozer go up and down Burlington Avenue, and clear out all of those antiquated houses. In fact, we should probably eliminate most of the houses in the residential core. They are all eyesores. Everybody knows it. The times are changing people. We’ve got to move on. The future is hi-rise. Just deal with it.
Interesting & sad to read the story about this home that is no more. Thank-you.
However; Burlington city council isn’t particularly to blame though, it’s all of us together.
NIMBYism killed the Heritage Conservation District proposed for downtown, a decade ago.
NIMBYism produced the present Heritage inventory of A, B, & C structures. While I disagree with the resulting policy, I think Mr Clemens did a very good job with a thankless task. Mr Clemens heard from many, including some who are members of this council, who questioned why Burlington needed ANY heritage structures protected; so that any structures are listed, is thanks to Mr Clements work.
In the case of this structure, if people were not irrationally fearful of a tall building on in an appropriate location (this site on New Street) perhaps the property owner could have incorporated the two heritage properties in a creative way similar to how the old PIG & Whistle was preserved at Burloak and Lakeshore.
If we are looking for villains on this topic we need look no further than the mirror.
I would like to add to the great insightful and truly eye opening story that Mark Gillies wrote about the erosion of the Walker family’s historical past, and how our civic leaders are blindly destroying this one, plus others just like it.
In this same group of houses that were all “executed” by the orders of this “judge & jury”, there was a second historical home at 3276 New Street, and it was owned by Hiram Alton Walker’s older brother. His name was Howard Eugene Walker, and he married Ida Bridgman in 1908. This was the second wedding present home for the Walker family brothers.
It looks like our City Council killed 2 birds with 1 stone.
I think as citizens of Burlington, we are facing what could be termed as, “HERITAGE CLEANSING”.
Perhaps if we were to teach more about our local history in our schools, people would associate more with their heritage and prevent this from happening. I’ve lived in Burlington all my life and never knew this about a house I have passed countless times. Thanks for telling me where walkers line comes from.