Standing at the foot of the path leading to the McIntosh Gallery, the grand black walnut trees swaying overhead look like steadfast guards of the university.
Jim Galbraith, Physical Plant supervisor, grounds and recycling, and Alan Noon, media specialist in photography in the Department of Biology, look for clues on campus of the former Kingsmill family farm, such as the house that stood in the wooded lot next to Middlesex College.
But upon closer glance, the Social Science Centre and the Physics and Astronomy building appear to be connected by an invisible line defined by the stoic soldiers of black walnut and spruce standing in two perfectly defined rows.
It is not by chance, but by design the trees form a perfect pathway through The University of Western Ontario campus – a design drawn up far before Western erected University College at the top of the hill.
The 160-year old trees (planted around 1850) marked the laneway to the former home of the Kingsmill family, which was situated in the wooded area near the west side of Middlesex College. The family, which also owns the department store downtown, lived on the 150-acre farm, known as Bellvue Farm.
Access to the Kingsmill farm was from Western Road.
“You are looking at the past here,” says Alan Noon, Department of Biology media specialist in photography, looking up at the majestic trees. “There’s not a lot of evidence of the old farm.”
Noon, who holds a wealth of knowledge about the university’s history and the development of the grounds, says the Kingsmill family’s farm was one of three local farms that made up what is now known as Western’s campus.
Purchased in 1875, the Kingsmill family raised cattle and occupied part of the property, which was shared with two cottages and the London Hunt Club. The Kingsmill land made up approximately one-sixth of the entire campus. A few bricks from the original house have been unearthed within the wooded area, but little evidence remains of the two-storey home.
Two cottages stood on the property: one built to the east of Middlesex College, near the Laurene O. Paterson Building (Western Science Centre) and another along Western Road near what is now the Siebens Drake Research Institute.
Next to the cottage near Middlesex College, later used as the university’s superintendent of the grounds’ home, the Kingsmill barn stood. While the structure burned down, the foundation remained and was used to form the base of the Collip Building. “The Collip lab is a ghostly reminder of that barn,” Noon says.
In 1916 the university bought the Kingsmill property to develop as the new site for the campus. At the time, the house was abandoned as the family decided to move back into the city.
When it was proposed to move the university to its current location, the idea was contested by many saying “it was halfway to Lucan,” Noon notes. But the university went ahead with the plans based on the foresight that the city would eventually surround the university.
“The right people came together at the right time and they put everything together,” he says. “They had the vision to come here and develop the land.”
Jim Galbraith, Physical Plant supervisor, grounds and recycling, says the university has an “unofficial policy” to preserve relics of the old farm, namely the trees marking the laneway. As well, the university grounds have been designated the Sherwood Fox Arboretum. In spite of all the changes through the years, some parts of campus can feel like you are stepping into the past, especially when the tree-lined pathway is revealed to unassuming eyes, Noon says.
“People are just amazed that something remains the same,” says Galbraith.
Black walnut trees lining the pathway to Middlesex College harken back to the university’s past. The trees are among the remaining markers of the Kingsmill Farm.