Huron Road Crossroads at Bechtel’s Ford

Huron Road Crossroads at Bechtel’s Ford. . , Original Settlers , This area has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years. In the early 1800s, the first settlers of European background arrived. Among these were four Mennonite families from Pennsylvania who farmed near this crossroads: Cressman, Biehn (Bean), Bechtel and Kinzie. These and other founding families are honoured by the nearby Pioneer Tower built in 1925-26., Bechtel's Ford , Soon after 1800, Bechtel's Ford was established allowing an east-west road to cross the Grand River. , The river bank on the west side was so steep that the road had to be built on a gradual incline from south to north up the bank. In 1836, a bridge replaced the ford to accommodate traffic flow along the Huron Road., This bridge lasted until 1857 when it was washed away in a spring flood. The bridge was never replaced. The Huron Road crossing was moved four kilometres south near Blair and the ford returned to local use., The Bush Inn , The Bush Inn was built at this crossroads in the winter of 1853-54 by Henry Hilborn. It was one of several inns that provided rest stops for travellers along the Huron Road in the days when stagecoach services used this primitive route. The introduction of the railway in 1857 changed transportation patterns, causing the eventual demise of many small stagecoach inns. In 1867, the Bush Inn burned down and was not rebuilt., 14 Mill Park Drive , For nearly 150 years (1856-2005) a small stone house stood on this site. In 1856, John Wolff, a labourer living at the Bush Inn, bought the one-acre site from Abraham Cressman and built a 1½-storey, four-room structure. The walls were 38 cm (15 inches) thick and made of rounded stones from the river. The exterior stones were covered with stucco and then scored to look like ashlar stone blocks. In 1860, Wolff ran a tailor's shop out of the house. In 1864, he purchased the adjacent property that housed the Bush Inn and a barn. , In 1870, an L-shaped addition was constructed, wrapping around the back and the left side of the building. At one time there was a roofed verandah across the front of the house. The outline of the house is shown by the layout of the large stones you see in front of you., Huron Road Crossroads , Where you are standing was once a busy crossroads. Mill Park Drive, formerly known as Cressman's Road, Bush Road and Wilson Avenue, was part of an early road that linked Berlin (Kitchener) to Preston, Galt and Paris. In 1835, a tri-weekly stagecoach and mail service used this road on its way from Waterloo through Berlin to Preston. The Huron Road crossed the Grand River from the east just below this site, came up the slope and continued west toward Stratford and on to Goderich. In 1831, mail was carried from Guelph to Goderich every two weeks and many stagecoaches travelled this road stopping at the numerous taverns and inns., Homer Watson , Homer Watson (1855-1936), a Canadian artist of international importance, lived and painted around the Doon area (now part of Kitchener). His painting, shown on the left, was painted after the Bush Inn burned, but suggests what the Inn looked like, as does Watson's 1890 recollection: "The old Inn had a charm for me. Its long sloping roof, built to carry off the rain and three dormer windows broke the skyline..."