
This photo-op park is located at 53 Lake Street and is at the mouth of the Credit river in the village of Port Credit. It's part of the waterfront trail that I've done quite a few times now.
This segment is to the west of Samuel Smith Park and offers super-sized picnic areas, barbecues, comfort stations, walking trails for joggers and cyclists and a children's playground as well as a pond.

If you come from the west of Mississauga Road and south of Lakeshore Park you will see about 73 acres of brown space known as the Imperial Oil Lands.

I took a few pictures of the Thomas Nightingale opened a brickyard on the west side of the Credit
River in the 1880’s. He added a stone crusher which increased the production until the 1900s when there wasn't enough local labour to run the brickyards.
A series of bunkhouses were constructed and
Italian workers were brought in to meet the demand.
After the First World War, the clay was becoming exhausted and the
yards started operating at a loss. By 1929 the brickyards were closed.
This brick was found on the property of the old brickyards where it was
made, perhaps over 100 years ago.

In 1933 the Lloyd Refining Company purchased part of the property to
build a modern refinery capable of producing 1,500 barrels a day. The
refinery changed hands a few times including 1937 and 1946. In 1955 the
property was purchased by Texaco and their Canadian subsidiary
McColl-Frontenac began operating the refinery. In 1959 the name was
changed to Texaco Canada Ltd. Petrochemicals were produced here
beginning in 1978 but by 1985 it was starting to be decommissioned. The
oil tank farm was removed first and by 1987 it was fully closed. Only
one small building remains on site along with a storage shed.
The property has sat vacant for a couple of decades now and is highly
contaminated from its years as an oil refinery. As of March 2017,
Imperial Oil is selling the property to a developer who plans to develop
a waterfront park, mid-rise condos and affordable housing on the site.
Today the property is home to a large selection of wildlife. Coyote
scat is everywhere and rabbits and squirrels provide food for them as
well as the hawks. A white tailed deer was casually feeding just inside
the fence from Mississauga Road.
Roadways and concrete pads mark the locations of the former tanks and
buildings. The property is marked as no trespassing because of the
numerous hazards that exist throughout. This story is presented to
preserve the site as it exists at this moment in time. Soon it will
change forever and this chapter will be lost. Choosing to explore here
is solely your responsibility. A large man-made pond covers a section
of the property and may feature in redevelopment plans for a central
park within the community. The pond is currently full of pipes that
have started to break apart over the years of abandonment.
The lower corner of the pond still has the dam and flood control
devices intact. Two sluice gates could be opened by turning handwheels.
The cover photo shows a closer look at the mechanics of the system.
Outflow from the pond was transferred to a series of settling ponds
to remove solids from the water. From here it was carried through a
concrete pipe and released into the lake.

We made our way to the end of the concrete pipe that discharged the
water from the pond on the Imperial Oil Lands. The round concrete pipe
has been encased in a concrete shell to protect it from the effects of
the lake.

The Waterfront Trail takes the name Imperial Oil Trail as it passes
along the lake side of the property. We followed it west to where you
are forced briefly to follow the road. That wasn’t such a bad thing as
we were treated to a broad-winged hawk sitting on a hydro wire. These
birds usually winter in the south and I wonder if this one was noticing
the -20-celsius wind and wishing it hadn’t come back yet.
Ben Machree Park has some interesting wood carvings by Jim Menkin.
Jim has converted dead tree stumps into art with his chainsaw in many
parts of Ontario including Orangeville and Mississauga. This park
features three wood carvings named “Sirens of Homer’s Odyssey”.

We returned along the Imperial Oil Trail east toward the mouth of the
Credit River. Just east of the concrete drainage pipe from the oil
lands is a lengthy finger pier extending out into Lake Ontario. This
pier provides great views to the west looking toward
Rattray Marsh.
To the east, you can see the Ridgetown with the city of Toronto in the
background. The ship is partially sunk at the mouth of the Credit River
to provide shelter for the marina. Our post on the
Ridgetown contains its fascinating history.

In the 1940’s Port Credit ended at Lake Street, of all places! Today
it extends out into the lake in the form of J. C. Saddington Park.
This park is built on a decommissioned dump that was in use from 1949
to 1970. A pond has been created for recreation and fishing and benches
positioned around for relaxation. The pond has a thin layer of ice on it
from the past two days of cold weather and a light dusting of snow. A
sliver of the moon can be seen above the trees in the middle of the
picture.

Three historic buildings stand in the corner of the parking lot.
Dating from 1922 to 1923 the Port Credit Waterworks pumping station was a
major advancement in the infrastructure of Port Credit.

Swans, Canada Geese and several species of ducks were all to be seen
in the lake today. Of interest was the fact that they have gone back
into pairs after spending the winter in groups. Spring must be coming
soon…
A 1973 Toronto Archive Aerial photo of the oil lands can be accessed
here.