When I saw this aerial photo in a stack of random images from the Cambridge Reporter collection at the Cambridge archives, I did a double take.
No information was on the reverse of the black and white photo, but I knew exactly where the photo was taken and roughly when.
It shows the neighbourhood around my house near Blair Road and Sherwood Drive, constructed in 1962 near the Rosehill Estate.
Judging by the history I’ve learned from long-time residents after we moved there, the photo would have been taken around 1965. That’s when the Kenmore Avenue extension was build and looped around to Blair Road, as shown under construction in the photo.
West Galt’s Suburban Frontier
To orient you, look for Blair Road running across the photo, from north on the left to south on the right. It’s the newer section of the West Galt neighbourhood, north of Mount View Cemetery.
The photo is looking east, with the Grand River at the top. The Canadian Pacific Railway is arching from right to left around the new subdivision. The one-lane railway bridge over Blair Road is in the centre-left of the photo and still carries around 20 trains a day in 2025.
The big Rosehill house is hidden in the cluster of big trees in the centre of the photo, immediately right of the road construction. It’s still surrounded by grand old trees today.
North and west of the tracks, there are green fields in the aerial photo. Today, those areas are covered by houses along Sunset Boulevard and Bismark Drive.
Cambridge Reporter Collection
This photo is from the Cambridge Reporter collection at the Cambridge Archives. I was the editor of The Reporter when the last edition was printed on September 19, 2003.
I expect to find other aerial photos taken the same day, as I look through the Reporter collection at the City of Cambridge Archives. Based on my experience working 17 years at the very thrifty Reporter, I’m convinced the Thomson-owned newspaper wouldn’t have sent a photographer up in an airplane for one photo. Dozens of photos, most likely. Not just one photo.