Some popular search engines and mapping tools would have us believe an east end residential area is known as Glenview Heights subdivision, but is it? For that matter, does Cornwall even have a subdivision by that name? Believe it or not, there is no such subdivision in our fair city!
Much of the area is part of the Glen Oaks subdivision as identified on registered Plan # 273, which includes several addresses on Anderson Drive, Fraser Avenue, Hamilton Crescent, Leitch Drive and Shearer Avenue.
Nearby residential areas include Lynn Street in Plan 386, as well as Jase Street in Plan 395.
But, how can this be? There is good reason for the misunderstanding. In December of 1960, newspaper advertisements stated that 29 of the 125 units in Glenview Heights were nearing completion. Glenview Heights was proposed as a CMHC geared-to-income housing “project” within the Glen Oaks subdivision. The project addresses were 1 through 125 Glenview Heights, but that name was not used in relation to other Glen Oaks properties. Additionally, real estate property listings often incorrectly referred to Glenview or Glenview Heights instead of Glen Oaks.
For a few reasons, it took several years to fully populate the geared-to-income housing project. In 1977, city councillor Pat Armstrong proposed that the Glenview Heights name be retired to help overcome a growing stigma attached to it. With one exception, council agreed. In late June of that year, Council announced that henceforth the area was rebranded, with each of three regions named after former Cornwall Housing Authority chairmen. The daily newspaper published their statement that the subdivision closest to Leitch Drive will be known as Armstrong Square (in honour of Pat Armstrong), the centre subdivision Thompson Place (for Mack Thompson) and the rear subdivision Dancause Court (for H.A.V. Dancause). I suspect that council was soon advised that decision might not be theirs to make in isolation; I see no further reference to those new subdivision names.
By 1998 Glenview Heights had disappeared as a street name. Ever since, the project’s 125 row house and apartment units, managed by Cornwall Housing, have borne the address of 650 Hamilton Crescent and 460 Leitch Drive, while maintaining the original Unit numbers 1 through 125.
Incidentally, the city’s Registered Subdivision mapping tool correctly identifies the Glen Oaks subdivision.
