The Ackland Family

Howard Ackland came to Malton in June 1908. He was a businessman from the start, and in 1909 he opened an auto repair shop in Wyke Hills. In 1910 he married, and in 1911, they had two twin boys they named William and Fred Ackland. In 1928, Howard decided it was time to expand his income horizon, and bought a block of land in Havercroft. Before he could build on it however, He was stricken by an unknown illness. By 1929 he had difficulty speaking, and had developed a slight limp. On July 3rd 1929, Howard died. Since Fred and William had turned 18 earlier that year, William got the auto repair shop, and Fred received the block of land in Havercroft. His wife was to receive the family funds, but she seemed to have disappeared from the city.

The Two Ackland Boys

In July 1942 William was stricken by the illness that had befallen Howard in '29. Sadly, He died in October of that year. That auto repair shop was sold to a man whose name is currently unknown, but for the next 63 years, it bore the same name as it did the day Howard built it.

Fred's history is a little more cheerful, but not much more. In 1930 he built a grocery store on the block of land in Havercroft, And by 1935 was well known within the community. In 1940 he decided to expand his retail empire when he bought 3 blocks of land next to his store, and rented it out to other business owners. He went on to become one of the richer people in Malton until his premature death from a heart attack in 1956. All of his money was donated to the Malton Red Cross, and a man by the name of "James Kerr" bought the land.

By the end of 1957, a building had been built on the four blocks of land in Havercroft, which rented out space inside to many business owners in the area. It was named "Havercroft Shopping Center". In 1973, by the request of many people who had known Fred Ackland well, it was renamed to "Ackland Mall". The mall still stands today.