MYRTLE VILLA

 Another large Mimico estate that was later to become the focus
 of much public attention was established about 1906 by A. B. Ormsby
 manufacturer of metal door and window frames.
The Ormsby's first acquired the property as a summer home and later built a large year-round residence there.
They often played hosts there to groups from Wesley United Church and there are still a good many people living in
Mimico today who can recall attending Young Peoples' Society
parties at the Ormsby estate.

 When A. B. Ormsby retired in 1925, and moved to California,
 his large lakefront property was purchased for a reported $150,000
 by James Franceschini who'd come to Canada in 1905 at the age
 of 15, without a cent in his pockets.

 After working at labouring jobs on construction sites, James
 Franceschini went into business for himself as a contractor
with phenomenal results.
He obtained contracts to build many of Ontario's
 first paved highways following World War I.
His Dufferin Construction Company was among
the first firms in Canada to use trucks and
power equipment on road building jobs.
In the years after James Franceschini
bought the Ormsby estate, he was reported to have
 spent $150,000 on new buildings including
an indoor show-ring and stables for his prize horses.

 James Franceschini sought to avoid public attention but many
 times during his spectacular career, his name made news.
Once was during the 1930's when a gang of extortioners
threatened to kidnap his daughter
and fired a shot through the window of his Mimico home.

 Again in 1940, during World War II, Franceschini was in the
 headlines. He was interned as an enemy alien in June of that year
 after his native Italy joined Hitler in the war against the Allies.

 Neither wealth, eminence, influential friends nor the fact he had
 been naturalized as a British subject could prevent his arrest.
 Franceschini was reported to have been on friendly terms with
 Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy.

 He emphatically denied any disloyalty to Canada. After a year
 in a prison camp, the wealthy contractor was transferred to hospital
 and a short time later unconditionally released. Full vindication
 came for Franceschini when Mr. Justice Hyndman was appointed
 to conduct an inquiry into his internment. The judge reported that
 he was convinced Franceschini was loyal to Canada and would not
 act in any way to prejudice Canada's safety.

 The Mackenzie King government faced a storm of criticism over
 the affair, was accused of having wrongfully imprisoned an innocent
 man. Failure of the government to release the Hyndman report until
 many months after it was written was another cause of criticism.

 Mr. Franceschini lived quietly after the war.
He died on September 16, 1960, at his country home at
Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

 He had sold Myrtle Villa, his Mimico estate in 1950 to Longo
 Construction Company. There were five acres of grounds,
a main house, and five other houses, a duplex,
stable with indoor track and swimming pool.

 Myrtle Villa became the site of an extensive apartment development..