452 Reynolds Street - Walter Inglehart

This house was built by Walter Inglehart in 1913 He leased the property to various tenants and families before selling the property to Jack Lush in 1946.

This semi detached house is part of the Inglehart Survey which was planned in 1909 by Walter Inglehart. It is located between Trafalgar Rd. & Reynolds St. north of Spruce. This was considered the north end of town at the time. The house was one of two built by Inglehart. The semi to the north of this one as well as a portion of the north side of Pine Ave. was demolished when Cornwall Rd. was put in.

When Inglehart built the house in 1913 he retained ownership and decided to lease it out to families. The first tenant was William Lloyd Wright, his wife Amy and their children Norman, Carl, Marjorie & Hubert. William was born in Niagara Falls, and Amy in Toronto. They married in 1903 and lived in Toronto before relocating to Oakville in 1913. He was a machinist by trade and had his own shop. The family remained in the house for a few years before relocating to a house at the corner of Church & Reynolds Sts., and later to Allan St. Sadly, their eldest son Norman died in 1924 and is buried in St. Jude’s Cemetery. In 1929 their second son Carl married Audrey Syme and they remained in Oakville. By 1939 William & Amy were able to purchase their own house on Reynolds St. across from George’s Square. Amy died in 1945, and William married Mabel Rocke sometime afterwards and sold the property in 1950, moving to Fourth Line. He died in 1957. He, his wife Amy and two of their children are buried at St. Jude’s Cemetery.

The next two sets of tenants in the house in the 1920’s all worked at the nearby basket factory, as was common at the time for people who lived in the general area. The tenants were Elizabeth McWaters, a widow, her son Wilfred, and a lodger by the name of Mary Conder. Later tenants were Albert & Martha Frost. Walter Inglehart eventually sold the property to Jack Lush in 1946.