HomeMy WebLinkAbout301"Article copied from the News Advertiser, Wednesday, March 7, 2002, page 6.
At the outset of the Second World War, the federal government quickly realized a steady supply
of heavy ammunition would be needed. To address the requirement, a shell-filling plant in a safe
place was essential. The farm fields of Pickering Township seemed ideal with acreage,
water and good transportation. The government expropriated 2,800 acres from Duffins Creek in
the west to Pickering Beach Road in the east and from Lake Ontario to just north of Hwy. 401.
Eighteen farm families, some of them descendants of the original families that had cleared the
fields, saw their homes and land expropriated for little more than $100 an acre. This was the
Heber Down farm which is now the site of the Rouge Valley. Ajax and Pickering hospital,
Ajax Community Centre and residential areas south to the lake.
Photos supplied by the Heritage Ajax Advisory Committee on behalf of the Ajax Community
Archives. For more information about either, please call Brenda Kriz at 905-619-2529 ext. 343.
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