Yawkey Farms

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• Aron thanks for the additional info. is there any way i can view the aerial photos? i'd like to see them. apparently someone in the yawkey chain was willing to rival hiram walker for beef and dairy cattle production. I have 2 other photos of this barn, it's quite obvious it was built by someone with unlimited reasources, just by the magnitude of this building it had to be the talk of the town at sometime. thanks Ken.

• no problem ken! all you have to do is google "DTE aerial collection" it'll be right at the top of the results page. when you go to the site it will give you a map of of southeastern michigan and a bunch of dates on the right. select the date you want (i suggest downloading the hi-res) then it will give you a map of detroit with a bunch of green lines and numbers on it. click on the number that's in the area you want to look at and the aerial will come up shortly.
  hope that helps!

• Despite the city’s claim (my post above) that Yawkey was a family living “in the area” in the 1800s, there is no mention of them in the online Canada census databases for 1871, 1881 and 1891. Also, Frederick Neal’s book “The Township of Sandwich” (1909) which details the history and families of the area has not a word about Yawkey. That is despite having a picture of the Oak Ridge Golf Links clubhouse,which we know was on the Yawkey Farm. “Lumber baron” William Clyman Yawkey of Detroit may have had a summer residence on his farm, but it is hard to find evidence the family actually lived here.

• RWS IS RIGHT - THE YAWKEY PROPERTY WAS OWNED BY A WEALTHY MICHIGAN MAN - SO WILLIAM CLYMAN YAWKEY MUST BE THE GUY.I SWAER I READ THAT SOMEWHERE.

• Robbie - I appreciate your comments, but the constant caps lock makes it hard to read. Brighton Beach was a really neat area - I used to deliver pizzas there in the late 90s/early 00s when the last remaining homes were still around.

• I'm not sure if anyone else has seen this... I was looking up the history of the Essex Golf and Country Club and found this document, which mentions the Yawkey farm, part of which was rented to the Oak Ridge Golf Club for a course, back in 1909. here's the link:
  http://www.essexgolf.com/index.cfm?ID=582

• I spent many, many days as a kid playing in Yawkee bush. The location was south of Chappus (formerly Chappell) and east of Matchette. The site is now the former landfill, directly across from Mic Mac ball diamonds. Ojibway park is further south, and is now a nature reserve owned by the COW. I also did some boyhood camping at Ojibway park, and can confirm the two are not one in the same.

  My two cents.
  (great website BTW)

• Great information I'm working on a documentary on west windsor being my family has lived in the Yawkey / Ojibway / West Windsor since 1927 I want to record the stories and history before it is wiped off the map with the new bridge project. My father has lived on the same 500 ft stretch of Matchette Rd since 1939.

• Great site!! Pat Davies, please keep me posted on your documentary. garygonefyshin@yahoo.ca

• We used to rent horses at the Flying Dutchman to ride in Yawkey Bush in the late 60s. The Flying Dutchman stables were probably located on Matchette Rd. I think there were 2 or 3 different stables in the area.