1.0 PROPERTY INFORMATION Civic Address: 327 Townsend Avenue Common Name: Joshua Filman House Legal Description: Parcel C, Plan 873 2.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2.1 History Property of James C. Filman o Filman purchased 119 acres of Lot 4, Broken Front from Mary and Isaiah Kerns in 1878 (Abstract Index) o James C. Filman was Joshua N. Filman s father (AO 1915) o James Filman s father Jacob Filman and grandfather, Conrad Filman, arrived in Ancaster from Pennsylvania in 1850 (Turcotte 1989:72) Residence of Joshua N. Filman o Joshua Filman purchased the property from James Filman in 1884 (Abstract Index) o The house was constructed between 1884 and 1891 (Abstract Index; LAC 1891) o In 1891 Joshua was residing in the two storey brick house with wife, Emma, and their children (LAC 1891) o The house is featured in Martha Craig s Garden of Canada in 1902, and is erroneously captioned as Residence of G.N. Filman, Esq., Aldershot (Craig 1902:59) Residence of Walter Filman o Joshua Filman granted the property to son Walter Filman in 1905 (Abstract Index) o Walter Filman and his wife, Ethel, resided at the back of Joshua Filman s house until Joshua s death in 1915 (AO 1915) o Walter created a bird sanctuary on the property that inspired the street names in the Birdland Survey including Partridge Drive, Eagle Drive, Condor Drive and Wren Avenue (Machan 1997:135) o Ravine area of Teal Greenway Park (881 Teal Drive) is the location of the water bird sanctuary (BHS 2012) o A 26 acre market garden produced potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, cantaloupe, strawberries, plums, pears and spy apples (Langton 1997) Residence of Helen Langton o Helen and Elgin Langton and their children Margery, Jack and Carol moved into the house in 1943 to live with the widowed Ethel Filman who did not have any children (BHS 2012) o Helen Langton is a Filman family relation (BHS 2012) o In 1956, the Langtons sold the property to Francis Oxley following the death of Ethel Filman in 1955 (Abstract Index) At the time of the sale, the house was a double house with two apartments (BPL Filman n.d.)
Part of Plan 873 of 1952 (Abstract Index) Residence of Carol and Robert Giles o Robert and Carol Giles purchased the property in 1994 (Abstract Index) o Carol Giles is the daughter of Helen and Elgin Langton, and resided in the home during her childhood o The Giles received a heritage award from the City of Burlington in 1995 in recognition of their work restoring and maintaining the home following a period of use as apartments (1960 1994) (BPL 1996) The Filman family is best known as the The Filman Brothers, Fruit Growers of Aldershot (BHS 2012) o The Filman boys carried on in the fruit business after the death of their father Joshua, gardener/fruit grower Apparently the well and water pump have been preserved on the property (a site visit will be needed to confirm) Also to be confirmed with a site visit is if the addition on the rear of the house, that Walter Filman and his wife lived in prior to Joshua s death, is visible on the building s exterior 3.0 SUMMARY The Joshua Filman House is associated with the Filman family who were prominent Burlington citizens. The Filman family and descendants resided in the house from circa 1885 1956 and from 1994 present. James C. Filman purchased 119 acres of Lot 4, Broken Front in 1878. In 1884 it was purchased by Joshua Filman and the two-storey brick house was constructed between 1884 and 1891. Joshua granted the property to son Walter Filman in 1905. Walter Filman created a bird sanctuary on the property that inspired the local street names in the Birdland Survey including Partridge Drive, Eagle Drive, Condor Drive and Wren Avenue. During his tenure, the 26 acre market garden produced potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, cantaloupe, strawberries, plums, pears and spy apples. The Filman family is best known as the The Filman Brothers, Fruit Growers of Aldershot. A number of successive Filman members owned the property, and it remains in the family today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES Archives of Ontario (AO) 1915 Joshua Filman in Registration of Deaths Series: MS935, Reel 215. Accessed online at ancestry.ca Craig, Martha 1902 Garden of Canada. Toronto: William Briggs. Burlington Historical Society (BHS) Digital Collections 2012 327 Townsend, Burlington, ON. Accessed online at: http://vitacollections.ca/burlingtonhistoricalsociety/3219930/data?n=35 1972 327 Townsend Avenue, 1972. Accessed online at: http://vitacollectionst.ca/burlingtonhistoricalsociety/8832/data?n=20 1970s Filman Family Farmhouse. Accessed online at: http://vitacollections.ca/burlingtonhistoricalsociety/7636/data?n=16 1930 Model A Ford, 1929, in front of the Filman house and drive shed, Townsend Avenue, Aldershot, ca.1930. Accessed online at: http://vitacollections.ca/burlingtonhistoricalsociety/63966/data?n=27 1906 Filman Birdland, ca. 1906. Accessed online at: http://vitacollections.ca/burlingtonhistoricalsociety/51034/data?n=19 Burlington Public Library (BPL) 1996 Burlington LACAC Heritage Award to Bob and Carol Giles. Accessed at the Burlington Public Library-Central Branch, Local History Room. Irwin, Jane 1996 The Filman Family of East Flamborough & Their Historic Houses. Burlington: Burlington LACAC. Accessed at the Burlington Public Library-Central Branch, Loca History Room. Land Registry Office (LRO) #20 Halton 'Parcel C, Plan 873 East Flamborough Township' Abstract Index. (Formerly Pt. Lot 4, Broken Front, East Flamborough Township) Abstract Index. Langton, Marg 1995 Warm Family Ties to Birdland in The Hamilton Spectator. Accessed at the Burlington Public Library-Central Branch, Local History Room. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) 1891 Census of Canada. Accessed online at: www.ancestry.ca Machan, Claire Emery 1997 From Pathway to Skyway Revisited. Burlington: Burlington Historical Society Book Committee.
Pope, John Henry 1877 Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Halton, Ont. Toronto: Walker and Miles. Accessed online at: http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php. Turcotte, Dorothy 1989 Burlington: Memories of Pioneer Days. Burlington: Burlington Historical Society. Tremaine, George C. 1858 Tremaine's Map of the County of Halton, Canada West. Accessed online at: http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/datainventory.pl?idnum=1055&display=full.
Appendix A: Background Material Image 1: Residence of G. N. Filman in The Garden of Canada Burlington, Oakville and District, 1902 (Craig 1902:59) Image 2: Walter Filman House, ca 1970s (BHS 1970)
Image 3: Filman House, 1974 (BHS 1974) Image 4: Photograph of 327 Townsend Avenue (November 21, 2014)
Image 5: Photograph of 327 Townsend Avenue (November 21, 2014) Image 6: Photograph of 327 Townsend Avenue (November 21, 2014)
Image 7: Photograph of 327 Townsend Avenue (November 21, 2014) Image 8: Joshua Filman and Family in the 1891 Census (LAC 1891)
Image 9: Joshua Filman Death Registration, 1915 (AO 1915)
Image 10: Subdivision of Filman Family Lands (Irwin 1996)
Image 11: Heritage Award, 327 Townsend Avenue (BPL 1996)