183 Allan Street - The Joseph Lawrence and Edith Burdett Lawrence House

Joseph founded a successful cartage business which originally operated from this property.

Joseph Lawrence was born in Oakville in 1887 to parents James and Elizabeth Lawrence. He was one of 9 children and his family once owned a farm on Lot 1, Concession 3, which is on the west side of Winston Churchill Blvd. north of Lakeshore Rd. It was granted to the Lawrence family by the Crown in 1812.

On November 29, 1913 Joseph married Edith Burdett, who was originally from England, and a nurse at the time. Three weeks later, on the 19th of December, they purchased their house at 183 Allan St. which had been built in 1910 by the Shaw brothers, who lived next door. By this time, Joseph had already established his successful cartage business in town, carrying sand and gravel for local construction projects as well as other materials with his horse drawn wagon. He carried out the business from his home on Allan Street and remained active in the business until shortly before his death at age 83. The garage situated behind his house was used in the course of his business and still exists today.

The successful business, which was later run by his sons Charles and Ted, remained on Allan St. until moving to Speers Road shortly after Joseph’s death in 1966.

The house in the early years would have been a busy enterprise with several children underfoot and a bustling business. At this time, Allan Street was little more than a cow path and it would have been a dusty and slow affair with Lawrence and his neighbour, Shaw, carting all kinds of building materials up and down the road.

William, one of the sons who worked with his father and siblings in the business, had other means of transportation on his mind. In the summers of 1938 and 39 he spent his time at the Galt Aircraft School learning to fly. When war broke out, he joined the Royal Air Force and was assigned to ground duty as an airplane mechanic with Number 75 (New Zealand) Squadron, Royal Air Force. In 1942, however, after taking off on an operational sortie in England, his plane crash landed in a field and he was killed. He is commemorated on memorial plaques at Oakville Trafalgar High School and St John’s United Church.

After Joseph’s death in 1966, Edith remained in the house until her death in 1975, after which time the house was sold after over 60 years of ownership by the Lawrence family.