Mills of Ancaster

Mills of Ancaster. . , A wooden gristmill and sawmill constructed near here in 1791-92 by millwright, James Wilson, with the financial support of entrepreneur, Richard Beasley, were the first mills built at the head of Lake Ontario. The gristmill was described in original documents as being built at the foot of a rock precipice, over which water poured on the head of an overshot waterwheel beside the road leading to the Mohawk Village (Brantford). This investment scheme gave rise to a settlement named Ancaster in 1793 by Lieutenant Governor Simcoe., Wilson sold his interest in the mills and some adjoining land to businessman Jean Baptiste Rousseaux in 1794. Rousseaux expanded the commercial activity of the village by building a general store, brewery, and hotel. By 1809 a syndicate of 15 shareholders called the Union Mills Company acquired the mills., The original gristmill burned down at the onset of the War of 18 12, providing a stimulus for reconstruction of a more substantial stone mill. After the war, a succession of owners included the Egleston brothers, who built a farm equipment foundry and then the existing stone mill in 1863., There is evidence of several mills and factories being built in this vicinity, including a woolen mill by Job Lodor, a threshing machine factory by Eyre Thuresson (now converted to a stone house), and an impressive stone, four-storey knitting mill (1854 - 1875) by Jasper Crane. The ruins of the knitting mill still exist beside the creek on the northeast corner of Wilson and Rousseaux Streets.,