‘The kind of confidence that created miracles’
Bolton Camp was founded in 1922, funded in part by the Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund
When Bolton Camp was founded by a volunteer social organization nearly 100 years ago, it started on “a prayer and a promise.” Members of the Neighbourhood Workers’ Association didn’t have any money when they found the unused fishing camp on over 36 hectares one hour outside Toronto. But after a few years hosting a children’s camp on borrowed land, the association believed there was a desperate need for a camp that welcomed both children and abandoned or widowed mothers and signed a commitment to buy the property without a penny in the bank.
They had, as the Toronto Star reported almost 50 years into the camp’s operation, “the kind of confidence that created miracles.”
Buoyed by support from Star founder and publisher Joseph E. Atkinson, the camp opened in 1922 and hosted 1,004 campers in its first year. It would eventually grow to an over 136-hectare paradise that was heralded as “the prize gem of all camp operations in Canada.”
The Star’s Fresh Air Fund contributed funds to its operation for decades. It was a place where mothers could relax and their children could play outside of the growing and intimidating city metropolis. The camp was a place memories were made, a safe and welcome refuge where countless children marked their childhoods.
Camper Ian Tweyman can attest. He went three years in a row.
“I blossomed from camp,” he says now, 60 years after he went. “I went in a really shy, introverted little kid and turned into a people person ... It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Tweyman was growing up in Regent Park in the 1950s at the height of recession and widespread unemployment when he started going to camp. His mother was working full-time and supporting three kids on her own. The op- portunity to send them out of the city to Bolton was a welcome reprieve.
For Tweyman, the hot summer days were spent playing soccer or baseball. There were countless hours spent swimming and the best meals were eaten sitting by an outdoor fireplace.
Some memories are more lasting than others. One day he slipped off a ledge and into the deep water of a pool where he nearly drowned. Lifeguards fished him out, but he jumped up and went right back to playing with other kids. There was too much fun to be had and no time for fear when you were at camp.
Another day he met actor Johnny Weissmuller, best known for playing Tarzan in films through the 1930s and 1940s, when he paid a visit to meet kids.
The camp experience stayed with Tweyman. It became a lifelong love. His son and daughter went to their own camps and eventually became counsellors.
His grandchildren are now going, too. The experience at Bolton started that tradition.
When Tweyman first attended in 1958, there were 100 screened-in cabins, 10 dining rooms and 70 other buildings for recreation. There were three outdoor swimming pools, over 30 outdoor fireplaces and expansive playing fields for team sports and games. Other countless recreational programs included arts and crafts, archery, fishing, music and dramatic arts. It wasn’t too strict. Students were encouraged to choose their own activities.
Most of the counsellors were volunteers and more than 60 per cent of campers came from the downtown Toronto area that year. Others came from across Canada, the U.S. and even England.
In 1972, director Bob Christensen described the camp as a “lively place” where active youngsters could be released from restraint to whoop, holler, run, jump and climb. The fun grew to be year round. Around 3,000 children studied nature and outdoor survival at Bolton over the fall, winter and summer months in that year.
But it all came with a hefty price tag. Operational costs were high. The camp relied on government grants, private donations and contributions from the Star’s Fresh Air Fund to cover operational costs. The food bill alone was $27,000 one year.
There were costly incidents, too. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel smashed into the camp and caused more than $250,000 in damage. Two fires followed in the late 1960s, destroying buildings and costing thousands in damage. In 1968, United Appeal gave $143,000 in help. The Atkinson Charitable Foundation donated $340,000. The Fresh Air Fund also continued to help with annual grants.
Through it all, camp operators said no camper was ever refused a holiday.
Bolton Camp shut down in 1999 after 75 years in operation. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority purchased the camp in 2011 and, according to its website, plan to repurpose the property as a cultural hub.