Our community has always been brimming with colourful residents including millionaire undertaker Arthur William Miles, who operated a full-fledge public zoo on the grounds of his Mimico estate.

Miles, or A.W. as he was called, founded the A.W. Miles Company, Undertakers, in 1900, and earned his fortune after introducing the country’s first motorized hearse and funeral home chapel. He also had the city’s first ambulance.

He was the Undertaker of many of Canada’s top politicians and citizens including Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Sir William Muluck, Sir Joseph Flavelle, Sir Henry Pellatt and Sir William Hearst.

He also arranged the 1914 mass funeral of 109 Torontonians on the Empress of Ireland that sank in the St. Lawrence River, in what is considered Canada’s worst maritime disaster, which took the lives of an entire Salvation Army Band.

A.W., an animal lover, is better known though for his “Miles Park” three-acre summer estate that was home of a busy zoo that took up most of Miles Rd., in Mimico.

He travelled the world collecting animals for his collection that contained a beloved elephant named “Tootsie,” two camels, two giraffes, about 40 donkeys, several monkeys, ostriches, and other exotic birds.

His workers erected a large wooden pier in Lake Ontario which held a number of swans.

The waterfront property also contained a dancing pavilion, picnic area, snack kiosk and baseball diamond, which was opened free to the public and popular with church and other groups.

A.W. also provided free lunches, ice cream, and transportation for Sunday school classes.

By 1930, A.W.’s zoo had become fairly large and widely known with thousands of people travelling to admire the colours of the peacock, ride the pet mules, play on the slides and swings and hold picnics.

Miles Park within years was circled by homes and neighbours began to complain of the foul odour from the zoo that led to Mimico Council passing a by-law prohibiting the keeping of animals in the township.

Despite appeals, A.W. in 1936 reluctantly moved all his animals to a 200-acre farm in Erindale. The Township then named Miles Rd. after him.

The popular undertaker passed away in June 1956 and his son, A.W. Miles Jr., became president of A.W.Miles Funeral Directors, which was purchased in 1981 by Humphrey Funeral Home.