509 Lakeshore Road East - Owned by Robert Hobbs and Alice Lyon Hobbs

Robert Hobbs was a carpenter and likely was involved in the actual construction of the house.

The Information below is derived from the Heritage Research Report prepared by the Town of Oakville in June 2024:
In 1808, the Crown granted Lot 12 to Samuel Fraser, an American settler. In 1810, Fraser sold the southern portion to Charles Anderson, an Irish immigrant. When the War of 1812 between the US and Britain began, Fraser joined the American forces. Because of this, he was viewed as a traitor after the war and his lands were forfeited to the Crown. In 1819, this portion of Fraser’s land was purchased by Charles Anderson. The estate was bounded by Lakeshore Road to the south, Gloucester Avenue to the east, Spruce Street to the north, and Allan Street to the west. The lands would stay in the Anderson family until 1902. Charles Anderson was a friend of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. When Charles had a son, he was given the name Joseph Brant Anderson, and Joseph left the land to his son Cyrus Anderson in his will in 1879.
Between 1897 and 1902, Anderson was the owner of a private bank located in Oakville’s downtown. The Anderson bank failed when it was discovered that it had a shortage due to the misappropriation of funds. The Bank of Hamilton, its principal creditor, acquired title to the Anderson farm. To help recover their losses, the Bank of Hamilton planned a large subdivision in 1907 on what had been Anderson’s farm. The Cumberland Land Company Limited, a syndicate formed by the Bank of Hamilton to subdivide and sell off the 200 acres of Anderson’’s land, oversaw the project and its infrastructure—planning streets, sewers, and sidewalks—as well as selling the lots along with William Sinclair (W.S.) Davis, a local real estate agent who was appointed sales manager. The newly surveyed land was called the Brantwood Survey.
The northern section of this survey was sold by Cameron Bartlett, who represented the Bank of Hamilton, to Mary Sophia Snyder, the wife of Louis Philip Snyder. This section was known as Reserve Lot L, just to the north of the Brantwood subdivision. Snyder used this property—as well as property he had purchased west of Allan Street, in what had been John A. Chisholm’s farm—to create the subdivision of Tuxedo Park in 1910.
The subject property sits in the eastern portion of the Tuxedo Park neighbourhood, which was created around the same time as Brantwood and marketed in a similar manner.
Both the Brantwood and Tuxedo Park subdivisions had brochures that were developed to target Toronto and Hamilton upper middle-class workers and their families to relocate to the new subdivisions in Oakville. The neighbourhood was advertised to escape the city and live surrounded by nature, with large lots and picturesque homes.
There were several owners of the subject lot before it was purchased by Robert Hobbs. Robert William Hobbs was born in 1888 in London, England. At some point he immigrated to Canada and was here by 1911. He first boarded at the Sidney farm in Trafalgar Township and worked as a labourer. He married Alice Lyon in 1913 and they purchased the subject lot the following year. By this point, Hobbs listed his job as carpenter. Since the house was built between 1916 and 1917, it’s possible that Hobbs built the house himself in the style of a Craftsman Bungalow. By 1931 Robert and Alice had two sons, Mervyn and Frederick. Not much else is known about the Hobbs family.
They sold the house in 1945. Robert died of a heart attack in 1968 while on a trip in North Carolina. Alice died in 1983.
Glen and Elizabeth Ogilvie purchased the house in 1945. Glen Ogilvie was listed as a journalist in a 1958 voter’s list. It is likely he was the same Glen Ogilvie who worked for the Toronto Star for 47 years, where he started as an office boy in 1925 and became a regional editor. He and Elizabeth Owens were married in 1945, the same year they purchased the house.
Graham and Rosemary Tough purchased the house in 1977 and lived in it for 39 years. Graham was the son of Douglas Tough and Elizabeth (Betty) Tough, nee Perdue. Graham grew up with his family in the nearby heritage designated Glassco House at 338 Spruce Street. Graham’s grandfather Gordon Purdue served as chairman of the Board of Education and was instrumental in building a new technical high school on Maurice Drive, Gordon E. Perdue High School. The Tough family was involved in many local businesses and groups, including the Ford Motor Company, the Oakville Club, the Oakville Golf Club,the Oakville YM-YWCA and the Oakville Hospital Auxiliary. The house’s history is interesting in that the likely builder lived in the house for several decades, and that only six owners have lived in the house since it was constructed. This continuity has helped to protect the house’s unique historical elements.