On 21 September 1831, a young, ambitious, American industrialist, William McKinley, giving his place of residence as West Flamborough Township, married Elizabeth Van Every in Ancaster. According to his obituary published in the Toronto newspaper, The Globe on 14 August 1849, he “was a native on Johnstown, New York” and had been in Canada since 1828. Their home, the McKinley House, is located on three-quarters of an acre at the south-west corner of Lot 4, Concession 2, which William purchased from “Ross Robertson of the Township of London, Gentleman” for the “sum of twenty-eight pounds, two shillings and six pence” in 1834. The house, adjacent to his foundry, was built about fourteen years later, c.1848, and is one of the finest examples of domestic architecture in Wentworth County.
The Georgian-style, two storey residence, constructed of red brick with a low hipped roof, is copied from American homes of the period. It reflects McKinley’s heritage, and prominence in the West Flamboro’ community as a successful businessman, local philanthropist and a staunch supporter of the newly former West Flamborough Presbyterian Church congregation. The south-facing main façade incorporates a number of outstanding features, including an entrance with an elaborately recessed porch, framed by four elegant Doric columns and a second storey Palladian window with unusual Gothic Revival details. On each side façade are two sets of paired red brick octagonal chimneys, an unusual feature for a residential building.
William McKinley described himself as an Iron Founder at the time of his marriage. Shortly afterwards he purchased an acre in Lot 3, Concession 2 from his father-in-law, Andrew Van Every, on which he erected an iron and brass foundry. For many years this was the only one in the surrounding farming area, manufacturing stoves, gears, steam engines, threshing machine and agricultural implements. He was awarded Patent #209 in Montréal on 27 February 1846 for “An improvement in Horse-Threshing Machines”, an later in the year, in the November issue of the Ontario Farmer’s Magazine, McKinley reported that he “had sold 135 threshing machines the previous year and had commenced making separators that could be applied to any horse power.”
Although the McKinley foundry brought prosperity to the community during the 1840s and 1850s, for William and Elizabeth McKinley there was great personal sadness to their home. Ten children were born to the couple between 1833 and 1848, but only four survived to adulthood, a result of several fatal childhood diseases fduring the early years of the province’s history. On 8 August 1849, at the age of only 42 years, William McKinley died and was buried in West Flamborough Presbyterian Cemetery, alongside several of his children.
By the terms of McKinley’s will, the foundry property was sold. Purchased for £733 2s 6d by Robert Sanderson, a former employee and David Christie, it continued to operate during the 1850s. The house was left to his wife, who according to the 1851 Census Returns for West Flamborough Township, had remarried. Her new husband, John Hore, was described as “a gentleman” and related to the Hore family of Crooks’ Hollow. The house remained in the family until Elizabeth’s death in 1878, when it was sold to Israel Kelly, an Ancaster businessman and land agent, who led a quiet life and made a few changes to the house during the years he lived there.
The house sat empty for several years after Mr. Kelly’s death in 1915, because of complications in settling the terms of his will. Finally, it was sold in 1922 for $2,475.69 to Hugh McGinty Sr. of Beverly Township, who subsequently left it to his bachelor son, Hugh, in 1932. During the difficult years of the Depression, Hugh McGinty Jr. worked in lumber camps in Northern Ontario and was able to pay the outstanding debts of his father’s estate by small instalments. In later years he became rather reclusive, spending his time working in the garden, keeping bees and refinishing furniture. When he died in 1982, Hugh McGinty bequeathed his house, lot and residue of his estate to the Ontario Heritage Foundation, believing that the government agency would ensure the preservation of the historic property for future generations.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 2004, 2024.
