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Showing posts from February, 2013

This blog is a project of Friends of Mary Allen (FoMA): friendsofmaryallen@gmail.com
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The Mary Allen neighbourhood is located within the Haldimand Tract: hundreds of thousands of acres along the length of the Grand River. The tract was defined in the 1784 treaty between the British and the Six Nations Haudenosaunee as reserved for the Six Nations and their posterity “to enjoy forever.” Non-Indigenous settlement of its northern half began c.1800, including what is now Waterloo Region. This land has been the territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples since time immemorial. The Mary Allen Stories blog acknowledges this historical context and ongoing reality. Find out more, including more about treaties, in the sidebar under INDIGENOUS LINKS.




What Was Here?...at Union, Moore and Mary

Today, Moore Avenue marks the informal edge of the Mary-Allen neighbourhood.  A century ago it was the very edge of town, and the land there, before it was developed, was put to an interesting and uncommon use... The earlier blog post  Who Were Mary and Allen?  introduced the Moores, whose name was given to Moore Avenue, and whose home stood at Union and Mary streets in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  ( Some images and details in this post come from Laura Wilford’s excellent Moore genealogy, located at the Kitchener Public Library:  Moore Lineage of North Dumfries Township: Unto This Land They Came .) Click to enlarge. The Italianate style George and Mary Moore family home, often referred to as "Hop Villa" in its heyday, stood on a large lot at the corner of Union and Mary Streets. Today, the site is occupied by the Richelieu Apartments. Reproduced from the publication  100 Years of Progress in Waterloo County, Canada: Semi-centennial Souvenir 1856-1906.    Image