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20 - "WEEKEND STAR" A bureaucratic blunder, not once, but twice, changed forever the name of one of Whitby's most his- toric sites. And it all began with a bridge. Many Whitby residents are not aware that Thickson's Point, at the end of Thickson Road, and Thickson Road itself, have borne the name of Thickson for only 51 years. The origi- nal names were Corbett's Point and Corbett's sideroad. The story of Thickson's/Corbett's Point began 170 years ago when FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2001 I... check us out! How two clerical errors gave Thickson"s Point it's name lots 19 and 20 in the Broken Front Concession on the shore of Lake Ontario, were settled by John Corbett (1791-1853). Corbett pur- chased lot 19 in 1827 and lot 20 in 1833. The land was at the mouth of Corbett Creek, forming a small marsh and a strip of beach along the lakeshore which was to be a popular picnic spot since earliest pioneer times. Today it is known as Thickson's woods, and is the site of a number of homes. John Corbett and his descendants let the res- OAKRIDGE GOLF CLUB All Green Fee revenue will be donated! Wear a Costume and you may win an excellent prize too! 3 Best Costumes Win Prizes! A round of golf for a foursome during 2002 ($200. value) Win a gift certificate for golf merchandise ($100. value) Win a v Gift Card ($40. value) 4km. south of Utica, 4km. north of Ashburn on Ashburn Road - follow the signs. From 416 area code: 905.649.6212 * From Port Perry: 905.985.8390 \ 2 r css lf Fan AA AY Lelie 14, 119 ¢ LCT) idents use the point for pic- nics and summer camping. The earliest record of a pic- nic at Corbett's point is in the Whitby Chronicle of 1857, but use of the camp grounds goes back long before that time. Every summer, church, fraternal and business groups made use of Corbett's Point. The Ontario Ladies' College (now Trafalgar Castle School) held picnics there on the day of its May Court Festival, and dele- ~ gates to the summer mis- sionary conferences which began at the school in 1906, travelled to the site on hay wagons. On Jan. 30, 1919, Jane B. McIntosh, a descendant of the family of John Corbett's wife, sold 110 acres of lot 20, east of Corbett's sideroad to James Norman Thickson (1884-1967) for $1,000. Thickson proceeded to sub- divide the property into cottage lots and sold them to clients over the next 30 - years. A prominent citizen of Oshawa, Thickson was born on Jan. 5, 1884 at Bowmanville and moved to Oshawa in 1906, where he operated a garage until his retirement in 1947. During the Second World War, he was administrator of the Oshawa office of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. A Mason for more than 50 years, and an active member of Simcoe Street United Church, he died on Christmas Day, 1967, at the age of 83. The strange saga of the change of Corbett's to Thickson's Point cofff- menced in 1939, when con- ~ struction of Highway 401, then known as Highway 2-A, began through Whitby and Oshawa. In 1941 bridges were built across the new highway at Brock and Henry Streets in Whitby, and sev- eral locations in Oshawa, but there was no bridge or cloverleaf planned for the Corbett sideroad, leading to Corbett's Point. When he found our about this, Thickson approached the Department of Highways at Queen's Park to try to obtain a cloverleaf on the road to his cottage develop- ment. Eventually, permission was granted by the Ontario Government. In 1947, a bridge was built, and there was where the trouble began. On all the bridges con- structed on Highway 401 in 1947, the name of the street crossing the highway was chiselled onto each bridge. This had not been done open the 1941 bridges. To Thickson's surprise, the name "Thickson Road" was chiselled on the new bridge under the Province of Ontario's coat of arms. A few of his friends kidded him bout it, arid secretly, he was rather pleased that his name had been placed on the bridge. However, the name bothered some residents of the area who felt the Corbett name should be on the bridge. After all, it had been Corbett's sideroad as long as anyone could remember. The residents approached local MPP T. Kelso Creighton (18992- 1973) of Oshawa, asking that the name be changed back to Corbett Road. Early in 1948, Thickson was surprised when one of his friends came up to him and said: "What crime did you commit? They're taking your name off the bridge." Thickson went to have a look and found that his name had been removed from the bridge. Apparently, Creighton's comments to the Minister of Highways about the com- plaints he had received, produced this result. Now, Thickson was angry. It was one thing to name a road after him without his continued on page 21 Brooklin