Main Street Georgetown 1900
I have found a wonderful site about Georgetown and surrounding towns history, The Esquesing Historical Society. I found many fine pictures there. I hope you find the old photos amusing if not interesting!
In 1781, the British Government bought blocks of land form the Mississauga Nation. In 1818 the purchase that was made would become the townships of Esquesing and Nassagaweya. Later known as Halton Region. Georgetown, so named in 1837, is in this region.
This is back in the time of big hats, scarves and muffs made out of beaver fur. Perfectly acceptable then. This is a family on a winter outing Their feet are buried in the snow.
Ten years later, 1910, a horse and buggy running up Main Street. The steeple in the distance is of the Baptist Church.The electrical arc lamp was hung at the intersection in 1890. Note the dirt road.
City Hall 1908. Two children wait for the women. The Library is located here now.
Barber Paper Mills
The mill is right on the Credit River and listed as in Georgetown. There is a little hamlet, technically Georgetown, called Glen Williams just outside of the main thorough fare. The shell of the mill still stands and it has been controversial as to whether it should be an historical site or not. The wait has been so long it is in ruins. A company wanted to build condominiums on the site, another to restore and make a restaurant and shop. It is up for sale now, so we will see.
This is the Georgetown Coated Paper Mill. There were a few mills in the immediate vicinity of Georgetown .This one located by the rail yard.
In 1910 this is the Smith and Stone Factory where electrical apparatus was made. It is still there, working.
Life was grand in 1912 at Wilber Park Lake. It was here that sweethearts met for a canoe around the lake, a picnic on it's shores or a skate in the winter. The steeple that you see in the distance is the same one seen from the Main Street view 1910. Wilber Lake was drained in 1915 to make way for the Guelph Radial Line. This line was the Toronto- Guelph Electric Suburban Railway that ran through Georgetown. It opened in 1917 and closed in 1931. It radiated out of Toronto. What a shame to drain a lake!
Naive Canadians who worked on the farms in the area posing in front of one of the farm houses.They would have been Algonquin Ojibwa, also known as Mississauga. In 1850 the remaining Mississauga natives were removed to the Six Nations Reserve where the New Credit Reserve was established.
This is a Birds Eye View of Georgetown and Silver Creek That still runs through it. Once it spilled into Wilber Lake. This little creek is just down the road from me.
Boating on Lawsons Pond.
The beautiful lawns of Dr. Webster and Wife. This was the pride and joy of its owners. Dr. Webster was born in Ireland in 1840 and came to Canada with his parents. Good schooling was provided and he graduated as a medical doctor in 1864. He married Belle Gollop, Daughter of a Pioneer family and whose Grandmother had walked the Credit Valley path from Glen Williams (Georgetown) to Muddy York (Toronto) with Maple sugar and a crock of butter to trade for needles, threads material and possibly a bit of chocolate for a treat.. The good Doctor traveled by horse and buggy to sick calls as far as Bronte to Brimstone and all points in between.
A young couple and thier daughter dressed up for a portrait on the porch. Look at the collar on that poor guy!
The old train station still stands but the water tower does not. Built in 1854 an addition was added in 1908.
Glen Williams, of which I mentioned earlier, is a little hamlet just off Georgetown. Other than the road being paved and of course no horse and buggies, it looks the same.
In "The Glen" as it is called hereabouts, the Credit River runs right through the middle of town. This is the original iron bridge, since replaced with a two lane for cars to navigate. The Credit would freeze in the winter and when the ice broke in the spring it often caused widespread flooding due to ice jams. You can see the large blocks of ice behind the bridge. I live just up the road from here and when I first moved here they often had to "blow up the ice" with dynamite further up the river to prevent the banks and therefore houses being flooded. In this picture the employees from Glen Woolen Mills are standing on the bridge watching the ice break up.
Thanks for coming on the the trip down memory lane and learning the history of Georgetown.
Love the photos. I enjoy looking at the way things used to be. Thanks for the walk down the lane.
Sandra - I was excited when I found it. It is fun to look back on the past.
Wonderful history, I loved the family on the porch, standing so stiffly for the photographer. A great collection.
I left a couple of comments for you on my blog, never know if people click on to 'email follow up..' or not. Hugs and thanks...
I really enjoyed this, the history and photos. I as such a sucker for old photos, people, places I don't even know...there's something about captured time, and window into the past, that always grabs me.
Carole Anne - Thanks I will be over!
Deborah - I know!. I like it too!
i enjoyed the old photos and i hope they renovate the old mill - it looks full of character. lovely, thanks
I very much enjoyed your trip down Memory Lane. It's nice that you could find so many old pictures of your area.
Val-Thanks Val!
George- I was surprised as well. It is a great site.
great history. We looked at buying a place in Glen Williams, but it fell through. I just LOVE the Hobby Horse, great quilting materials there. That's where I learned to quilt.
Gill
Fascinating, I love all the old buildings, and the fact that Glen Williams still looks more or less the same! Draining a lake is quite something, too...
Gill, too bad it fell through. We could have been near neighbors! The Hobby Horse is a wonderful store.
Karen - The Glen is a quaint part of Georgetown and it is nice to see little change.
Enjoyed your look at the history of your area.
I am still trying to remember if the streets in the little village I grew up near had paved or dirt streets. I really cannot remember for sure. I do remember when I was young that there was a working blacksmith shop across the street from the general store. This was a very small place in the state of Kansas.
Someone has been collecting old photos and deserves kudos! These are so much fun to look at. ;-)
Ontario Wanderer - You should write about that.It's very interesting. Thanks for visiting!
EG - I was surprised at what I found!
I used to live in "The Glen " back in the 60's. It sure is nice to go down memory lane. CB
The picture of the Town Hall is on Back St, We used to climb that tower to catch pigeons, it burnt down when I was a kid.