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Original History of Buildings
The following is a list of the buildings in Upper Canada Village. In addition to providing the current name and use of each building, this list gives brief histories including each building's original location and purpose, and in many cases who its previous owners were.
Asselstine's Woollen Factory: The building came from Mill Creek, Third Concession, Ernestown Township, in Lennox and Addington Counties. Michael Asselstine was given ownership of the factory by his father-in-law, Isaac Fraser. The mill was built 1840-41.
Bakery: The Bakery is a reproduction building opened in 1962. It is based on typical commercial bakeries of the 1860s that supplied bread for railway workers and other industries.
Beach's Sawmill: This typical rural sawmill was first put up by Alvin and William Beach in 1846. It was located west of Heckston, near Kemptville, Grenville County.
Bellamy's Flour and Grist Mills: The mill was built in 1821 by the Bellamy brothers, in North Augusta, Grenville County. In 1863, it was destroyed internally by fire and rebuilt with improvements. It was reconstructed in the early 1980s at the Village and restored to the 1860s, complete with steam power. The Drive Shed and Cooperage adjacent to the mill is a recent construction by Village artisans.
Blacksmith's Shop: The smithy was owned and operated by the Bourbonnais family in Dalhousie Mills, Lancaster Township, Glengarry County. Originally only one large forge room, it was expanded around 1900 by the addition of a second log building which became a wheelright shop.
Blue House: This house came from lost village of Aultsville, Osnabruck Township, Stormont County. It dates from the 1840s, and is presently used as a residence for educational programmes.
Broommaker's Shop: Originally owned by the McIlraith family who settled on Lot 20, Concession 2, Lanark, near Perth, this log building was already on the property when the McIlraith family bought the land in 1846.
Cabinetmaker's Shop: The building came from the farm of John Loucks, Lot 22, Front Concession, Williamsburg Township, east of Morrisburg. Dating from the 1850s, it was a farm shed on the Loucks property.
Cheese factory: The cheese factory is a reproduction that was created in 1964, of the first cheese factory in Ontario (Canada West) built in Ingersoll in 1864. The structure was a gift to the Village from the Canadian Dairymen's Association to mark the 100th anniversary of the first factory.
Christ Church: The church was built in 1837 in the lost village of Moulinette, a community on the St. Lawrence river west of Cornwall. The land and the building were a gift to the village from Adam Dixson, a wealthy mill-owner.
Church Drive Shed: This structure came from Hallville, Mountain Township, Dundas County. Closed to visitors, it is used for vehicle storage.
Cook's Tavern: The tavern was built by Michael Cook, between 1820-1822, with compensation from British government for an earlier tavern destroyed by American troops who invaded the area prior to the Battle of Crysler's Farm in 1813. It originally stood along the river on Cook's Point just east of the battlefield. Cook's Tavern Barn was moved to the Village from Matilda Township, Dundas County.
Crysler Hall: This impressive home was built by John Pliny Crysler between 1846-1848, on a riverfront property purchased from his uncle, Geronimus Crysler. The house stood on the King's Highway east of Morrisburg, Dundas County. John Pliny Crysler was the son of Col. John Crysler, on whose nearby farm the 1813 battle took place.
Crysler's Store: This was originally an outbuilding found on the property of John Pliny Crysler (known as Evergreen Hall in the 1950s). With a restored exterior, it was converted into the general store of the Village. Col. John Crysler, like many others, had run a small store in the 1820s. Hence, it was named for that family. A typical front porch was added in the 1990s.
Dressmaker's House: This building was originally the stone kitchen on the back of Crysler Hall. Possibly an early home of Geronimus Crysler, it was an older structure than the imposing residence that John Pliny built in front of it, and so it was decided to re-construct it nearby as a separate stone house, now the residence of the Village dressmaker but earlier, the home of the schoolmaster.
Engine House: This reproduction building was put up in 1992 to represent the sort of structure that would house the community's fire engine and fire fighting equipment.
Family Activity Centre: This building is a re-construction and enlargement of a 19th century house called the "Shove House" which was moved there from the Front Concession of Williamsburg Township, east of Morrisburg. In the 1960s, it was re-designed as a naval warehouse and opened as The Carroll Memorial Museum of the River and, presently, is the location of an activity centre where families can engage in simulations of 19th century children's amusements.
Gazette Printing Office: The building, dating from the 1850s, was originally a general store in the village of Sandringham, Roxborough Township, Stormont County. Brought to the Village in 1973, it was restored as the Village print shop and newspaper office and officially opened in 1976 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Grey House: Built in the 1840s, the home of the Lane Grey family of Dickinson's Landing, Osnabruck Township, it was, for a time, the residence of the lockmaster stationed at Dickinson's Landing. Like the Blue House, it is presently used for educational programmes.
Hired Man's House: Originally owned by the MacDougall family on the riverfront of Charlottenburg Township in Glengarry, this two-story log home was built c. 1825. It sat along the St. Lawrence River four miles west of Lancaster.
Loucks Farmhouse: This building was constructed in the 1850s on the banks of the St. Lawrence on Lot 22, Front Concession, Williamsburg Township. Built on a farm owned by Captain John W. Loucks, a veteran of the War of 1812, who fought at Crysler's Farm and Lundy"s Lane.
Loucks Main Barn: Owned by the Summers family who built it on the Williamsburg township riverfront directly south from where the Village now stands, this structure is a typical Loyalist barn built in the style of so-called "Dutch" or "Scoharie" barns, with three bays separated by supporting posts and beams.
Loucks Poultry House and Pig Pen: This small log building was brought to the Village from the Kingston area near Cataraqui. It represents the sort of early log house built by Loyalist pioneers and subsequently used as an animal shelter. It was built around 1795 by the Loyalist Harpell family who had a 200 acre farm where Highway 401 presently intersects with Sydenham Rd. The original mantel of the fireplace was reconstructed and placed in the kitchen of the Hired Man's House.
Lutheran Pastor's Home: This building was given to the Village by the Lutheran congregation of St. John's, Riverside, corner of Highway 2 and the Church Rd., Williamsburg Township, Dundas County. It was built by the congregation in 1842 at the request of their pastor, Rev. William Sharts.
McDiarmid House: This home was originally built in 1864 on the east half of lot 9 in the Eighth Concession of Roxborough Township, Stormont County.
Montgomery House: This building was first situated on Lot 26, Eighth Concession, of Kitley township north of Brockville. It dates from shortly after 1847. In 1964, the structure was moved to Frankville on County Rd. 29 and opened as a small museum. It was brought to Upper Canada Village in 2004 and reconstructed across from the Blue House to be used for educational programmes.
Physician's Home: This house was originally located on Highway 2 just west of the lost village of Aultsville, Stormont County. It was built in the 1840s and later, in the 1880s, was the home of Michael Urias Cook, who imported the first Holstein cattle into Canada. The house was never occupied by a doctor.
Providence Chapel: This small log church was built in the 1850s, in Kitley Township, Lot 4, Seventh Concession. It was originally a shared facility used by local Methodists and other Protestant groups.
Robertson House: This building started off as a small timber-frame house built by Jeremiah French, a Loyalist, who settled, in the 1780s, on his riverfront land grant between Cornwall and the lost village of Mille Roches. Later, the house was expanded and re-designed by his son-in-law, George Robertson, who purchased the property in 1812. Both the residence and the small community around it were called Maple Grove.
Robertson Stable: The stable was originally part of the Willard's Hotel property on Lot 21, Front Concession, Williamsburg Township. At one end of the building is a small residence for a hired man or day labourer.
Ross Farm: This log home was built on the Front Concession of Lancaster Township, in Glengarry County. Lot 29 along the river was part of a Loyalist grant to Thomas Bane Ross, who built the house in the early 19th century. The barn behind the house is a reproduction building put up by Village staff in 1987 to demonstrate a typical 19th century barn-raising.
Schoolhouse: This small one-room log school is a replica built to represent the many small rural common schools that existed in the 1860s. It contains some timbers that were said to have come from a small log school that stood on Lot 22, Eighth Concession of Kenyon Township, near Athol, in Glengarry County.
Shoemaker's Home: This small one-room log house, with a loft above, was built by John Grant, a Loyalist, who settled on Lot 25, Concession 2, Charlottenburg Township, Glengarry County, near Martintown. The building dates from around 1810.
Signal Tower: The tower is a replica based on an early 19th century drawing of one that stood on Point Henry, Kingston, where Fort Henry now stands. The Kingston tower was built in 1813 by Captain Viger of the Voltigeurs Regiment. They were meant to be a system of visual telegraph signal towers for relaying important military messages up and down the St. Lawrence. Only a few around Quebec City and Kingston were ever built since the electric telegraph soon made them obsolete. Our present replica, built in 2002, is a replacement of the 1963 one that was dismantled for safety reasons.
Tenant Farm: This building is a replica, incorporating a few original timbers, of an early 19th century house that stood at 306 Queen Street, Kingston, from the 1820s to 1935. Originally designated Simcoe House, it first became part of an 1812 interpretive area of the Village. Claims that it housed Governor Simcoe and his family in 1792 when the civil government of Upper Canada was instituted at Kingston, and that it was the scene of the first meeting of the province's Executive Council, could not, subsequently, be proven true. In the early 1980s, it was re-interpreted as the canal's lockmaster's house and a few years later, it became the home of a tenant farmer. The log barn behind the house is a re-assembly of a log building that came from near Merrickville in Wolford Township, Grenville County.
Tinsmith's Shop: The shop was constructed on site in 1994 by Village artisans. It is a replica of a small commercial building of the 1860s that stood in Merrickville. Its style is that of a false front façade, typical of main street buildings of the period.
Transportation Museum: This is a 19th century barn, part of the Loucks Farm area, that came from the Front Concession, west of the lost village of Aultsville, Osnabruck Township, Stormont County. It has been called the Kirkwood Barn, named for the family that gave it to the Village.
Willard's Hotel: Dating from sometime in the 1790s, this structure was built by Jacob Myers, who owned Lot 21 of the Front Concession of Williamsburg Township overlooking the St. Lawrence River. It served, in its early years, as both a tavern and a general store. It is the only complete building in the Village that dates from the 18th century.
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The information contained in this site was prepared by Parks of the St. Lawrence.
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