William Ewart Young

William Ewart Young
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I was pleased to read in the March 1994 issue of the Scarborough Arts Council's "Surface and Symbol" that ScotiaMcLeod is sponsor of the 1994 Consilium Art Show. Did you know that one of the founders of the original investment firm of McLeod, Young, Weir and Co. was none other than Scarboro Heights' very own William Ewart Young?

Ewart Young was born in 1886 in a small farmhouse just east of Arby's on Kingston Road. He and his partners started their firm in February, 1921, with working capital of $23,000. Mr. Young was the hero of their first day of operation. While Mr. Weir was visiting financial institutions and the other partners were buying second hand desks, chairs and typewriters, Mr. Young was busy on their only telephone. By the end of that first day, he had made trading profits of about $650 -- quite a substantial sum at that time.

In spite of the domination of the industry in those early years by the three largest investment houses -- "The Holy Trinity" -- McLeod, Young, Weir and Co. prospered. More recently, regulatory changes, operational enhancements such as computerization and global markets ultimately led to a new corporate structure -- and a new name. It is unfortunate that the name "Young" was dropped from the corporate identifier six years ago. We hope that someone will write a fitting tribute to Ewart Young, one of Scarborough's great business success stories.

From The Scarboro Heights Record V2 #2

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Birthplace of Ewart Young
Kingston Road at McCowan Road
(Drawing by George Duncan)

A number of architectural remnants and pieces of furniture from the Young home are still in the McCowan family.

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