Vaughan unveils public display paying tribute to local veterans
Exhibit features photos, maps, artifacts telling story of war hero, politician Major Addison Alexander "Lex" Mackenzie

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 1, 2016
Adam Martin-Robbins

A main thoroughfare, two hospitals, a school and the local Legion branch bear his name, but the story of Major Addison Alexander “Lex” Mackenzie, a war hero and long-serving politician, isn’t widely known.

A new exhibit honouring Vaughan’s veterans on display at city hall may help change that.

“It’s terrific because it remembers him and it gives people context; why is it called Major Mackenzie Drive?” Peter Glynn, Mackenzie’s grand-nephew, said following a special Remembrance Day ceremony and exhibit unveiling Tuesday, Nov. 1.

“It’s the story of his whole life. He served in the war and then became a politician. He was an old-time politician. … His view was that you served the people, you solved their problems and you helped them with government issues and everything else.”

Mackenzie was born Nov. 1, 1885 to Donald Mackenzie and Lydia Ann Addison on the family’s Woodbridge farm.

Raised in Woodbridge along with his four siblings, Mackenzie pursued a military career, joining the Governor General’s Body Guards in 1904 as a private.

He eventually attained the rank of squadron sergeant-major and received a commission to lieutenant in 1912.

Mackenzie was transferred to France as part of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles at the beginning of the First World War.

In 1916, Mackenzie fought bravely at Regina Trench during the Battle of the Somme, one of the war’s bloodiest battles, for which he was awarded the Military Cross.

He rose to the rank of major before being severely wounded by shrapnel from an artillery shell at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.

Though Mackenzie survived, his younger brother, Donald Ross, was killed in 1918 fighting in France.

Upon returning home, Mackenzie settled on the family homestead in Woodbridge and took up farming.

A few years later, he became immersed in municipal politics, serving as a Village of Woodbridge councillor from 1922 to 1926 and as reeve from 1927 to 1935.

In 1945, Mackenzie jumped to provincial politics, serving as a Progressive Conservative MLA representing York North until 1967, when he retired at age 82.  

He died May 13, 1970 and is buried at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Pine Valley Drive, just north of Major Mackenzie Drive, named in his honour.

Alexander Mackenzie High School in Richmond Hill, Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and the Royal Canadian Legion Mackenzie Branch 414 in Woodbridge also bear his name.

The exhibit tells his story through photos, maps, personal items and historical artifacts including the sword he carried as a member of Governor General’s Body Guard and a piece of shrapnel removed from his shoulder in 1935.

To honour Vaughan’s other veterans, the display at city hall features plaques bearing the names of Vaughan residents who served during the First World War and the Second World War.

There’s also a poppy mural. Residents are invited to write a personal message on a paper poppy to post on the mural, which will hang in the atrium until Nov. 30.

“Nothing rejoices the human spirit, the human heart, than to have people that actually live meaningful lives,” Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said.