Applewood Acres first settlers included the Church, Haines, Graham, Stewart and Hedge families. Many Applewood streets are named after these early pioneer families. The cash crop of choice was apples. This part of Mississauga would remain largely rural until 1951, when ripe for development, G.S. Shipp & Son Limited purchased 23 acres of land for $43,000. Gordon Shipp, was the President of Shipp and Son and the mastermind behind the Applewood Acres subdivision. It was Gordon’s son Harold, who is credited with coming up with the Applewood Acres name which made reference to the apple orchards that once proliferated here.Applewood Acres would prove to be a huge success and won many building awards in Canada and the United States for their innovative streetscapes and housing designs. Shipp & Son were critically acclaimed for their brilliant marketing strategies and promotions which included: airplane banner advertising, stagecoach rides, and full page ads in the newspaper just to name a few of the eye catching techniques they used to draw homebuyers to Applewood Acres. The first Applewood Acres homes sold for $12,800.

Editor’s Note: Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame resided part-time in Applewood from the 1960s until 1980. Sanders would shuttle back and forth from his U.S. base in Kentucky to Toronto where his Canadian headquarters were located. By all accounts Sanders loved his adopted home and neighbourhood and was very visible in the neighbourhood much to the delight of residents.

A school, park, church and shopping mall were all constructed in the 1950s to provide service and amenities for the Applewood Acres families.Shipp & Son would built 733 houses in Applewood. Today, the total number of homes exceeds 1200. It all started with the vision of G.S. Shipp & Son who transformed apple orchards into a new vibrant neighbourhood.