Cottrelle Gate
Cottrelle Gate is a very short street that runs north off Rathburn Road, between The East Mall and Martin Grove Road. With only three houses on it, it is literally a gateway into the West Deane Park subdivision that was developed by Edmund Peachey in the 1958-62 time period.
The street is named for J. Elliot Cottrelle who owned a farm on the north side of Rathburn Road until selling it to Peachey.
Elliot was born in Toronto in 1911, the only child of George R. Cottrelle and Bessie Elliot. Elliot started working for the Abitibi Pulp and Paper Company in 1934 when his father was on their Board of Directors. Elliot rose to become a Senior Vice President. He married his secretary, Dorothy Gallaugher, and they had three children: Janet born in 1953, George born in 1955 and Stuart born in 1957.
Elliot and his family lived with his parents in their house at 241 Warren Road in Forest Hill Village. The Etobicoke property was a hobby farm where Elliot raised prize-winning race horses. Elliot also owned a farm near Airport Road and Williams Parkway in Brampton (then Toronto Gore Township) where he continued to raise horses after selling the Etobicoke property. A street called Cottrelle Boulevard now runs through what was once his Brampton property.
Always an avid horseman, Elliot died in a hunting accident in Newmarket in 1985 at age 74 after falling off his horse in muddy conditions and breaking his neck.
Elliot’s father, George R. Cottrelle, was also a highly successful and interesting man. After an education at the Ontario Agricultural College and a job with the provincial Agriculture Department, he moved into banking, working for Union Trust, the International Order of Foresters, and the Bank of Commerce. Following that, he became Chair of Union Gas, President of Western Canada Flour Mills, and then served on the Boards of Directors of about a dozen other companies, including the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1930s and 40s. He helped finance the building of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, and his name was engraved on the Stanley Cup when the team won it in 1942.
In 1940, Prime Minister Mackenzie King appointed George the Oil Controller for Canada, responsible for the administration of Canada’s gasoline manufacturing and rationing program until the end of the war. George’s highly successful efforts in that position earned him the Order of the British Empire. George died in 1953 and his wife in 1963, and they are buried with their son, Elliot Cottrelle, in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Researched and Written by Denise Harris
The street is named for J. Elliot Cottrelle who owned a farm on the north side of Rathburn Road until selling it to Peachey.
Elliot was born in Toronto in 1911, the only child of George R. Cottrelle and Bessie Elliot. Elliot started working for the Abitibi Pulp and Paper Company in 1934 when his father was on their Board of Directors. Elliot rose to become a Senior Vice President. He married his secretary, Dorothy Gallaugher, and they had three children: Janet born in 1953, George born in 1955 and Stuart born in 1957.
Elliot and his family lived with his parents in their house at 241 Warren Road in Forest Hill Village. The Etobicoke property was a hobby farm where Elliot raised prize-winning race horses. Elliot also owned a farm near Airport Road and Williams Parkway in Brampton (then Toronto Gore Township) where he continued to raise horses after selling the Etobicoke property. A street called Cottrelle Boulevard now runs through what was once his Brampton property.
Always an avid horseman, Elliot died in a hunting accident in Newmarket in 1985 at age 74 after falling off his horse in muddy conditions and breaking his neck.
Elliot’s father, George R. Cottrelle, was also a highly successful and interesting man. After an education at the Ontario Agricultural College and a job with the provincial Agriculture Department, he moved into banking, working for Union Trust, the International Order of Foresters, and the Bank of Commerce. Following that, he became Chair of Union Gas, President of Western Canada Flour Mills, and then served on the Boards of Directors of about a dozen other companies, including the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1930s and 40s. He helped finance the building of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, and his name was engraved on the Stanley Cup when the team won it in 1942.
In 1940, Prime Minister Mackenzie King appointed George the Oil Controller for Canada, responsible for the administration of Canada’s gasoline manufacturing and rationing program until the end of the war. George’s highly successful efforts in that position earned him the Order of the British Empire. George died in 1953 and his wife in 1963, and they are buried with their son, Elliot Cottrelle, in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Researched and Written by Denise Harris