Beginning with this paper and for many of the Heritage Papers during the 1999-2000 season, the Archivist has submitted articles about Waterdown and Flamborough found in local papers. This first one entitled “Old Grindstone Creek Offered Fine Millsites” describes Waterdown and is taken from The Hamilton Spectator of Monday July 15, 1946.
“Observing picturesque Grindstone Creek, dividing the village of Waterdown neatly into two parts and rushing headlong on its way from its source in the swamps behind Millgrove to its resting-place in Hamilton bay, one is safe in surmising that in the early days it would attract the attention of men of vision who were looking for millsites. The water has been used to run five or six mills, situated all the way from above the village to below the falls. The significance of the name Grindstone Creek comes from the fact that big grinding stones were used in the grist mills. The name of Waterdown seems an Anglicized form of an early Indian name meaning water running down hill.
Waterdown is beautifully situated on high land that overlooks the Dundas marsh and Hamilton bay. The view from its hills is entrancing. One of the advantages of its situation is that it is on historic Dundas Street, now the King’s Highway No. 5. There are those whose memory goes back to the time when it was just a stone road, and before that, an Indian trail.* But as early as Governor Simcoe’s time it gained importance as a connecting link between York and the western settlements.
This large and prosperous village, with a present population of about 900 people, has an extremely modern outlook. It is a place of fine homes, many of them occupied by retired farmers. It has its own water system, supplied from an artesian well. All the leading churches are represented and have active congregations. It has a Memorial Community Hall to commemorate those who fell in the First Great War. Its educational facilities are the best, with adequate public school accommodation and a high school. The beautiful views and favourable situation has also led to the establishment of Notre Dame Academy, where grade and high school courses are given.
When the Canadian Pacific Railway built its line to Guelph, it used the valley of Grindstone Creek in passing through Waterdown. At this time the dam was blown out and the course of the creek changed. Some old industries passed away and the mills that survived were below the village near the scenic Waterdown falls.
The original crown charter for the 400 acres of land on which Waterdown stands was taken out in 1793 by Alexander McDonell. On March 19, 1805, Alexander Brown registered the deed for the 400 acres and built a small log house above the falls. The first house built on the site was constructed by a man named Cook. And in 1823 came Ebenezer C. Griffin, who built a log house by the side of a rivulet, where now has developed the modern Griffin street. Mr. Griffin built the first carding mill in Waterdown, the first of its kind in this part of Canada, with all appliances for carding, dyeing and cloth dressing. It was burned down in 1850.
The residents of Waterdown can justly pride themselves on the part their community has played in public affairs from the early days onward. They point out that the first temperance society in this part of Canada was formed in Waterdown in 1832 and the first total abstinence pledge signed there in 1833. In 1855 when they had a population of 175, there were six stores and 12 taverns, five blacksmith shops, one woollen mill, a tannery, three saw-mills, and a carpet-weaving shop.
In 1815 the first school for many miles around was built on the corner now occupied by the American Hotel. Another school was built in 1827 on the site of what is now Sealey Park. The first teacher was Miss Mary Hopkins, and a plaque to her memory hangs in the public school.
Another matter of pride is the fact that the freestone used in the building the University of Toronto was taken from a Waterdown quarry and shipped by boat from Brown’s wharf to Toronto. Indeed, they seriously considered the building of a large educational institution right at Waterdown, about the year 1853. Where later the McClung residence was called University Hill, because the Methodists almost decided to build their college there.
In 1873 the first entrance examination ever set in the Province of Ontario was written by the pupils in the Waterdown High School.
Names on the monuments in the cemetery usually reveal old families who have played their part in upbuilding the community. It is regretted that so many of them have passed, leaving few descendants in this part of the country. Some of the well-remembered names are: McGregor, Allison, Vance, Stock, Griffin, Spence, McMonies, Harris, Hoss, Rymal, Klodt, Thompson, Walker, Burns, Attridge, Flatt, Nicholls, Newell, Tuck, McCollom, Smoke, Trudgen, Baker, Long, Slater, Cummer, Featherstone, Beeforth, Gunby, Everett, Mullock, and Drummond.
Waterdown has its famed beauty spots. Memories of early days linger about the old Snake road, with its 125 twists and turns in less than five miles. It was surveyed in 1853 by James Kent Griffin, and has always been one of the most picturesque drives in old Ontario, with its toll-gate at the bottom near the Valley Inn. The scenery is enchanting, especially during the autumn when the leaves are changing colour. It is sure that if any attempt were made to alter it or straighten out any of its curves, even for safety’s sake, a great cry of protest would arise from all who have loved it in times past.
Another beauty spot is the little park-like space at the top of the falls. Alexander Robertson first built a mill there but it was burned and lay in ruins for a long time. Then a basket factory on the same site was run by John Slater. Later came Alfred Palmer to greatly enhance the beauty of this site and W. Rolph Barnes, who has a sand and gravel business nearby.
Another man who thought highly of the Waterdown countryside was the Honourable Adam Fergusson, who built up a notable stock farm below the ridge east of the village. Mr. Fergusson was a Scotsman who came out to improve his condition in the new world and incidentally did much to improve the country of his adoption. He became the founder of the town of Fergus and with some other men of vision was instrumental in promoting the annual fair that developed into the great Canadian National Exhibition. His lovely residence, Woodhill, still stands in somewhat altered form and is occupied by Captain W. Spence.*
Three or four miles northeast of Waterdown lies the pretty little sheet of water called Lake Medad. This is not an Indian name, as one might suppose, but embalms the memory of one, Mr. Medad Parsons, whose farm bordered on the lake. The place has always worn an air of mystery, for which there are several reasons. The dark evergreens fringing the shores do not leave many openings where a visitor may safely approach the water’s edge and when this edge is reached it is found to consist of ooze into which it would seen easy to sink out of sight. Incidentally, this black much is now known to be the perfect soil for raising celery and other vegetables.
This was always a favourite rendezvous of the red man and was probably the village of Kandoucho to the Neutrals, or All Saints to the French. From the year 1884 onward the people of the district became much interested in the discovery of great quantities of Indian bones, flint arrowheads, stone axes, stone chisels, pieces of pottery, wampum, shell beads and stone pipes. Among those who built up notable collections were B. E. Charlton, a former mayor of Hamilton; Luke Mullock, of Waterdown; George Allison, Dr. McGregor and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Drummond, all of Waterdown. It was possible in those possible in those days to plough right into Indian burial pits, which had long lain unsuspected.
Another reason why Lake Medad was considered to be mysterious was that the rumour had been circulated that if a person drowned in it, the body would never be seen again. It would not float. This has been disproved. The lake is mysterious in that while known to be fed by several creeks, it apparently has no outlet, yet always keeps the same level. This has led observers to suppose that it must possess an underground outlet to the bay.
Some people have ventured the opinion that Lake Medad lies in the crater of an extinct volcano and the formation partly justifies the belief. It is a queer fact that the lake basin is placed away up on the hills and by actual measurements the hard bottom is not struck until a depth of nearly eighty feet is reached. The water is not more than 20 feet deep, but under that is an ooze that seems bottomless. None would take Medad’s mystery away from it. The mind fairly revels in myth and legend as one views its banks with their dense adjoining swamp growth. As the old story has it, “the lake takes and takes but never gives.” When water-power for the Waterdown mills began to fail some years ago, the people decided to dig a canal from Lake Medad to the Grindstone creek, so that the water supply might be unfailing. But old Medad would have none of it. At first there was a great rush of water, but very soon the lake level dropped below the level of the bottom of the canal and no more water came. It showed plainly that while it was willing to receive the contributions of many small springs and creeks, it would stand no large drain but was well able to dispose of its own surplus by some underground route.
It is said that Ralph Connor, the novelist, was so enamoured of the Waterdown scene that one summer he pitched a tent in the hills there, where he could revel in beauty on all sides, and set him down to write one of his best-liked books, The Doctor.”
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 1999, 2023.
