The programmes that were presented by the Society in January and February of 1989 focused on the history of mills in the village of Waterdown, and some of the families associated with the Smokey Hollow area. While the development of mills along the Grindstone Creek saw Waterdown become an important industrial community during the 1850 – 1890 period, another area of East Flamborough Township also contained mills and factories – that of the village of Progreston located on the Bronte or Twelve Mile Creek.
Situated approximately one mile east of Carlisle along the Progreston Road, the small village of Progreston or Progresstown is located on lots four and five in the eighth concession of the township. The area was first settled by George L. Beardmore who later moved to Hamilton, laid out as a village by Andrew Patton, James Kievel, Joseph Tansley and William Campbell, and reputedly given the name by James Kievel “to reflect the growth or progress he hoped the community would have”.1
The village developed along the banks of the Twelve Mile Creek which provided an abundant supply of hydraulic power die to a sixteen drop fall in the water. During the 1860s and 1870s there were numerous small mills using this water to propel machinery. Among the important businesses listed in the Wentworth County Directories during the 1860s were grist mills, saw mills, a peg factory, flour mills and a last, siding, and turning mill.2
In 1867, the “City of Hamilton and County of Wentworth Directory” noted that: “In the peg factory there are five hands who turn out about four hundred thousand feet of sawn lumber per annum.”3
The entry for Progreston in the following year included even greater detail about the industrial community that had developed:
In the peg factory about twelve hands are employed by Mr. Charles Lawry. It is the only factory in the Dominion that turns out the “Ribbon” peg for pegging machines, as well as the ordinary split peg. The factory is under the management of Mr. W. C. Burton. In Campbell’s saw mills there are eight hands who turn out about 500,000 feet of sawn lumber per annum. Campbell’s flouring and grist mills are built of brick, 4 stories high, 42 x 36 feet, have three run of stone and turn out about 100 barrels daily. At Patton’s saw mills about 300,000 feet of lumber are turned out annually. Mr. John McIntosh’s flour and grist mills contain two run of stone and are built of wood, three stories high, 36 x 20 feet.4
Late in 1869, the Progreston Woollen Mill was established by Freeman Green.5 This was to be one of the longest family owned and operated mills in the Progreston area. The property that was purchased by the Green family from Andrew Patton, included a small building built for a grist mill that had never been used for that purpose, and this was converted into a woollen mill that is recorded in the Wentworth County Directories of the 1870s.
The mill was renown for the splendid quality of its products. On July 30, 1868, Freeman Green secured a patent, #2726 for “a certain new and useful improvement” on the Spinning Wheel, to be called or known as “Freeman Green’s Canadian Spinning Wheel”.6 Eleven 8½ x 14 sheets of paper were required to draw up the patent — presumably this invention was in use in the Green mill. Little is known of the building, except that it had a large bell that was rung three times a day – 7AM, 12 Noon, and 6PM, a familiar sound throughout the village.7
After the death of Freeman Green, his son Peter Seth Green carried on the business for 36 years until the mill was destroyed by fire in 1911. During its years of operation, this mill was an important aspect of the community. Many of the blankets that were made in the mill are reputedly still in use in this area today. Even women were involved with the mill operation, as much of the yarn was knit into socks and mitts — a system being in place by which women in the community would receive yarn from the mill and in return would knit the products for the mill to sell.8
Howard Lee, son of Peter Seth Green helped in the mill and was a salesman too, calling on the General Stores throughout the Flamborough-Nelson-Nassagaweya area, with horse and buggy, selling the blankets, yarn, socks and mitts.9
The saw mill located across the road from the Green property built by the Campbell family existed until 1882, when it too was destroyed by fire. Although the mill was rebuilt by Spencer Bennett10, changed to a flour mill, and later operated by his son, Bert Bennett, the industrial community of Progreston slowly disappeared during the early decades of the 20th century, unable to compete with large scale factories that had been built in cities such as Hamilton.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 1989, 2021.
