Even the city’s urban planner says she gets lost in the paved, labyrinth-like subdivision known famously in Sault Ste. Marie as ‘the P-Patch.’
City urban planner Tori Prouse talked all about the P-Patch at a unique walking tour that happened as part of Jane’s Walk Sault Ste. Marie recently.
On the tour, local residents learned about the history of the area, while also sharing stories with one another.
P-Patch resident Brenda Miron smiled, remembering a time in the 70s when she said the P-Patch children were plagued by very strict police officer - Constable Beckett, she recalled - who would go around giving out tickets for biking on the wrong side of the street.
“I’m not sure if they were actually real tickets now… maybe they were just warnings,” she said.
Her husband Brian said he used to go up to the P-Patch to hunt snakes.
Another P-Patch resident described a time, perhaps the 60s or 70s, when a Finnish man ran a rope tow service on Finn Hill that cost 25 cents a day and that started at the bottom of Black Road, which was actually referred to as “Black Dirt Road” back then, she said.
“Nobody else remembers that man,” said the resident.
And of course, people talked about the nightmare of navigating the area.
“I’m scared of the P-Patch,” said Anne O’Connor, who was on the tour. ”I’ve been here 25 years and I still can’t find my way around it.”
Before the walking tour, Prouse spent weeks searching through the snake-like streets of that area and digging through city archives trying to get an understanding of how and why the P-Patch came to be.
The name of the area obviously comes from the fact that almost all the streets start with the letter 'P'. However, even with all her research, Prouse couldn't figure out why planners did that.
As developments built up, more streets that started with 'P' kept getting built. Perhaps they started with Pine Street.
The first development included streets like Passmore Road, Princess Crescent, and Palace Drive. It kept going as more developments cropped up with streets like Pentagon Boulevard, Pinemore Boulevard, Pawating Place, and Partridge Court.
“I guess they just kept going with it,” said Prouse, who said the area was strangely fascinating to her as a child because she thought it might actually be a giant patch of peas.
Prouse said that while the city may generally consider the P-Patch one large area, from an urban planners perspective, it's actually several small subdivisions that slowly built up over time.
Before its development, the area was part of the Township of Tarantorous and was mostly farm and forested area.
The earliest house is actually on McNabb street and was built in 1952. The first subdivision – Forest Heights – was built in 1953 and at the intersection of Pine Street and Passmore Road there still sits a somewhat-quaint sign marking that area to this day.
In 1959, the city created an official plan for the area that was to set the stage for the next 50 years of development.
It was at that time that city planners designed its now almost famously difficult to navigate layout.
They did it on purpose.
“The trend at that point was for suburbs to be pastoral and natural and have lots of trees. The idea was that the people that lived there didn't want the through-traffic. So, (they thought) if people didn't know their way through there, they wouldn't go through,” said Prouse.
Not all city plans for the P-Patch came to fruition.
At one time, the city considered building a 12-acre man-made lake in the P-Patch as well underground pathways at street crossings and other areas.
Walking around the P-Patch, it's easy to spot on several 1950s homes little blackbricks that say ‘SHIIPP-BUILT’ on the front of their property.
Shipp Corp. was a Canadian construction company that was particularly prolific in the post-war years.
Having a 'Shipp-Built' was perhaps a prestigious thing at the time, said Prouse.
“From the 30s to the 50s there wasn't much home building happening at all because of the Great Depression and the war, and these (new P-Patch homes) were brand new and sparkling. I’m sure it was a source of pride,” said Prouse.
Another interesting aspect on Prouse’s walking tour was that some older subdivisions and some new ones crossed paths in interesting ways.
Peach Drive, for example, has 70s houses from an earlier time of development on one end and more recent houses – the last one built just a year ago – on the other end.
The newer section is also characterized by having street lights and sidewalks, a sign of changing city requirements, said Prouse.
On the walking tour, those that reside in the older half talked about how when the new section was put in, they were invited to also have sidewalks and street lamps but voted against it because it would mean their property taxes would go up.
The ‘Promenade through the P-Patch’, as the tour was officially called, was part of Jane’s Walk Sault Ste. Marie, a three-day walking tour event inspired by renowned Canadian-urbanologist Jane Jacobs.