›› Shoebox Memories: Eden Mills

Three Irish brothers, Robert, Henry, and John Ramsey, were the first to arrive in newly surveyed Eramosa Township in 1819 via the United States. They drew 100 acres each, and John also purchased land across the boundary in Nassagaweya, the east half of lot 32, concession 3. Tragically, John took ill and died when his son, John Jr., was six or seven years of age. When he was old enough, John Jr. took over the farm. He spent his life in Nassagaweya and Eramosa, and was instrumental as a recorder of history of the area.

John Jr. was very fond of Eden Mills, and wrote that the village was situated in the County of Wellington, on lot 1, second concession, on the Eramosa branch of the Grand River. The land had been taken up by Adam Stevens, and sold by him in 1842 to Aaron and Daniel Kribbs. The Kribbs immediately organized a work bee. Neighbours gathered to help build three shanties roofed with basswood scoops in only one day. The Kribbs then proceeded to build a dam on the river and erect a saw mill that autumn.

Ever industrious, in 1843 they erected a frame building for a grist mill, and employed Levi Hill (also known as “Yankee Hill”). Yankee crafted a sort of tub wheel, which unfortunately had very little power and consequently rendered the mill nearly useless. Two years later, the Kribbs hired John Taylor of Nassagaweya to reconstruct the mill, but again when it was finished “it was a very poor concern,” John Ramsey noted. The Kribbs became discouraged and sold the property to Adam L. Argo in 1846. Argo’s business sense made the mill a success before he moved on to new endeavours: he built and ran a general store in 1871, established a post office in 1851, and coined the village name of Eden Mills. He was the second “Adam” who owned the property, and it’s said that the Biblical reference to Eden was involved in his decision.

By 1871 Eden Mills boasted about 300 residents. In 1883 the Great N.W. Telegraph Co. office operated at the store. Residents were on a daily coach line with Guelph, and received mail daily.

Adam Argo eventually sold his properties, and the mills and a strip of land adjoining the creek was purchased by Henry Hortop Sr. Hortop succeeded with the mills until 1858, when he decided to build a new stone mill to manufacture most of the spring wheat grown in Eramosa and area. The farmers got bran and shorts for livestock feed, and assisted in teaming the flour down Guelph Line to Wellington Square on Lake Ontario (now known as Burlington).

Hortop’s ventures were so successful that he purchased the Everton mills and established his youngest son, Henry Jr., there. He returned to Eden Mills to remodel the old mill.

Some of the first settlers in the village were John Kribbs, blacksmith (who was a cousin of the early mill proprietors and only stayed a short time); James Robertson, successive blacksmith; Caleb Spragge, Conrad Hautrum, Andrew Boyle, and Thomas Fife, who conducted a general blacksmith and wagon shop for several years. James Wilson purchased the saw mill from Henry Hortop, and then erected an oatmeal mill which he ran for a few years before selling to Hortop. John A. Davidson, who arrived in 1846 with his family, was employed by Adam Argo as carpenter, builder, bookkeeper, conveyancer, and more, and he also took an active part with the Argos in erecting the first Presbyterian church about 1849.

Other early business proprietors were John Hay, shoemaker; James Frazer, wagon maker; John McDonald, cooper; Peter Wilson, weaver; John Essen, mason; George Hampson, butcher; Samuel Medas, merchant; Frederick Cook, cabinet-maker; David Shannon, pump-maker; and John E. Webb, cooper.

The Methodists erected a very substantial stone church in 1861, which is now Eden Mills United Church. The Presbyterians replaced their original church with a stone building in 1887.

The Independent Order of Foresters, established in 1888, grew to a membership of about 100. They met in a public hall of light brick that had been erected in 1893. The group continued until 1915, and the building burned in 1916, to be replaced by the current red brick Eden Mills Community Hall in 1917.

The stone hotel at the southeast corner of Barden and York Streets was constructed by John Harris about 1867 with 12 rooms, one of them providing a large spot on the second floor for dances. A trap door in the verandah opened into a chute that carried the heavy oak barrels down to the cellar. After the hotel fell out of use as a store and later a butcher shop, it was converted into a private residence.

The magnificent bow string bridge in the centre of the village was constructed in 1916. After some years of neglect and due to its one-lane capacity, it was demolished by the township in 1998 and rebuilt with a similar concrete structure.

Residents were also pleased to have an electric radial railway built from Toronto to Guelph in 1917, with a station in the village of Eden Mills. A trip to Toronto took a little less than two hours, more if the “milk run” involved the pick up and drop off of milk cans from farmers at nearly every station. The Toronto Suburban Railroad station was located in the current day Edgewood Park, and passengers could catch trains hourly. The train also did a brisk business shipping out turnips from Rockwood, and quite often heavy chunks of limestone from nearby Rockwood quarries. Due to the increasing popularity of cars and the crippling effects of the Depression, the railway closed in 1931 and the tracks were taken up in 1935.

Because 300 acres of Eden Mills were in Eramosa Township, Wellington County, and 200 acres in Nassagaweya Township, Halton County, the village always felt pulled in two different directions. Townspeople decided that they could best operate as a police village, and in 1930, Norman Marshall and Duncan MacDougall worked to achieve that dream. The first Board of Trustees was comprised of Normal Marshall, David Wilson, and James Gilbertson.

Although in the 21 st century Eden Mills has become a bedroom community and a haven for work-at-home individuals, offering very little in the way of trades or merchandise within the village, its residents create a closely-knit community in a cozy valley off the main highways. The year’s biggest event is the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, which takes place the first weekend after Labour Day every year.

 

 

Written and compiled by Deb Quaile of Wordbird Press.
Reproduced with permission of the author.

---

Sources:

W. F. MacKenzie. County of Wellington, Township of Eramosa; Eden Mills. Guelph: Guelph Weekly Mercury and Advertiser, July 26, 1906. Contributed by John Ramsay [sic].

Hazel Mack. History of Eden Mills and Vicinity. Eden Mills: Private publication, 1954.