Silverthorn Family and Mill Farm
In 1811, John Silverthorn, a Loyalist who first settled in the Niagara Peninsula, registered 160 hectares of land on the north side of Dundas Street, east of Etobicoke Creek. With his son Aaron, he constructed a two-room cabin and a saw- and gristmill. In clearing the immense pine trees of the old forest, the sawmill was able to produce - daily - over 3,000 linear metres of lumber. Mill Road was built for easier shipments of lumber and wheat to and from the mill.
A small community began to grow around the mill at the intersection of Mill Road and Dundas Street. First known as the District of Silverthorn, it was later the Village of Summerville. The mill operated successfully until the 1850s. The Silverthorn family continued farming, and began reforesting 40 hectares of the area in 1878. Mill Farm was sold in 1958 for the development of Markland Wood, at which time many of the trees in the area were preserved.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.