The house at 2021 Blairholm Avenue was constructed circa 1858 for Nelson Ogg, who arrived at Wellington Square from Quebec in 1851. At that time, the house fronted on Brant Street and comprised a 50 acre fruit farm.
In 1898 George Blair purchased the fifty acre property and house from Ogg after residing at 472 Burlington Avenue for a time. It was during the time that the family lived on Burlington Avenue that George Blair, a widower, met and married Hannah Shepard, a widow. The union did not produce children but combined their five children from previous marriages under the same roof. It is said that Blair moved his family to the house which was just north of the northern boundary of the Village of Burlington so that his sons would not have to be raised in the downtown. He desired a more rural atmosphere which the Blairholm property provided.
2021 Blairholm Avenue on the left, ca. 1915Between 1880 and 1920, George Blair constructed many homes and churches in Burlington. It is surmised that the property at 1457 Ontario Street, also known as the ‘Miller-Bush House’, is the oldest extant house constructed by Blair in Burlington. Blair’s sons joined in his construction enterprise. George’s son Stanley recalls helping haul limestone from the Niagara Escarpment and assisting with digging out basements as part of the family’s construction business.
In 1950 the Blair family subdivided the farm lands for development. George Blair passed away in 1935 and it is likely that, with the encroaching development for the Town of Burlington, the remaining Blair family members took the opportunity to subdivide the land. Stanley Blair, George’s son, remained in the home from the family’s arrival in 1898 until his death in 1994. At the time of Stanley’s death he was 109 years old and had shared such memories as the first motor car’s arrival to Burlington!
Blairholm Avenue was named in 1952 following the survey of building lots in the subdivision. The Blair name is commemorated in the naming of the street.
