Meadowvale Village, Mississauga
Meadowvale Village is a preserved hamlet and neighbourhood in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, within the larger suburban Meadowvale district, which gets its name from the historic community, which is located at Old Derry Road and Second Line West. The larger neighbourhood's approximate boundaries are the Levi and Fletcher's Creeks to the west and east respectively, Highway 401 to the south, and Mississauga's city limits to the north.
As the village is partially situated in the floodplain of the Credit River, where development is prohibited, there is a sizeable swathe of preserved rural land immediately to the west, extending to south of Highway 401.
Notable landmarks include:
- Gooderham Estate - a Georgian manor house built by Charles Horace Gooderham and later became Rose Villa under John Watt
- Meadowvale Conservation Area - on lands once home to Silverthorne Grist Mill
History
The Meadowvale hamlet was founded in 1836 and is Ontario's first heritage conservation district. Charles Horace Gooderham, son of the founder of Gooderham and Worts William Gooderham Sr., built his "country property" Georgian manor on Main Street in northern Toronto Township in 1870 as he was sent there to manage Silverthorne Grist Mill acquired by his family firm. Gooderham's mansion was sold in 1884 when the family Gooderham and Worts left the area and was later sold to in 1895 John Watt. After successive owners, the home was re-purposed for other uses and after abandonment it became home to the present day Rotherglen School's Meadowvale Campus in 1996. The population growth increased after Gooderham built his property. In 1968, Meadowvale Village, within Toronto Township, became part of the Town of Mississauga when the township was restructured, with Mississauga becoming a city in 1974.In the early 1990's, Peel Region began construction of a new alignment of Derry Road to bypass the village, after years of opposition by residents with the original plan to widen the road through it, which would have required demolishing most of the historic buildings. The new Derry Road alignment opened on November 5, 1994, with the original road through the village later being renamed Old Derry Road. Second Line West was later also bypassed by a northern extension of Mavis Road, and cut off to the north and south.