Old Horton, new homes

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Advertiser

Land preparation has begun on the site of what was the football field at the old Horton District High School.

The bulldozers just went to work, but real estate agent Debra Porter of Royal Lepage says interest is already growing in Gryphon Landing.

MIR1 Developments have commissioned Denim Homes to build tri- and quad-plex homes on two-thirds of the former school property in Greenwich. Porter says the east side will be developed first, with approximately 32 units. Built on what will be called Horton Ave., the individually-owned homes are termed town houses.

The centre section of the 17-acre property will have commercial development around the renovated music/ garage building.

“They’ll have affordable prices,” she notes, “about $169,900. Each one will be low maintenance, and five appliances are included.”

It’s a nice site, says Porter, “and it was due time.

“The old school had become an eye sore.”

Porter says the town houses are not intended for any age bracket.

“It’s a nice development site. It’s central, and it meant so much to so many people.”

The old Horton school closed in 1998 almost 40 years after it opened in October 1959. Land for the old Horton was purchased for $8,241 and the original work on the grounds totaled $374.47. According to school historian David Sheppard, the first principal, Chuck Eaton, arranged for a staff artist of London’s College of Arms to design the school’s emblem, borrowing the griffin from the Montague family crest. The school’s yearbook was renamed the Horton Gryphon in 1980 and its spelling was changed the following year to Griffin. Horton’s sports teams became known as the Griffins.