The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.
Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.
The last bag of feed left the loading dock at the old Aberfoyle Mill in 1952.
When Eugene Griffin closed the door for the last time in August 1952, few people could imagine that the building, suffering from years of deferred maintenance, would still be standing 70 years later.
But standing it certainly is, the product of one of the first adaptive reuse projects in Wellington County, following the purchase of the property by Stan and Marion Owens in 1960.
Unlike the area to the west and north of Guelph, Puslinch Township was never a centre for milling. The Aberfoyle Mill was the only major flour milling facility in Wellington County south of Guelph.
Puslinch did not produce the large volumes of wheat that came from some of the other townships. As well, there are no major streams in the Puslinch offering a significant power potential.
Nevertheless, Puslinch farmers did produce grain, and a local mill mattered a great deal to them. Despite its importance, the details of the early history of the Aberfoyle mill that have survived are scant and contradictory. Even the date is uncertain; depending on who wrote the account, the mill was constructed anywhere between 1859 and 1868.
The stream later known as Mill Creek did offer a small power potential at Aberfoyle. In the 1840s an Irish immigrant, Patrick Mahon, made an effort to develop the site, constructing a dam and raceway, and flooding some 15 acres in the process.
Mahon had worked as a miller in Ireland. Whatever plans he ultimately had for the Aberfoyle site are not known. He may have concluded that there was insufficient power, but it is more probably that he was unable to raise the immense amount of capital required to build and equip a flour mill.
In any case, a foundry and machine shop eventually made use of the power potential. Set up about 1850, this business was not a success, and shut down after little more than a year. Later in the 1850s a tannery moved into the building, but a fire destroyed the structure after a couple of years.
Patrick Mahon continued to live on the property, but did not acquire title to it until 1865. Before that happened, there were other developments on the site. George McLean, who with his partner Peter Clark operated a sawmill and small flour mill at Morriston in the 1850s, suffered a fire in 1861.
McLean then moved to the Aberfoyle site, setting up a sawmill (operated by a man named Fraser), and a flour mill, run by James Little. McLean directed the construction of a new dam and raceways, then constructed a brick mill and a drying kiln for oats.
Some sources give the date for this work as 1859, but the 1861 census gives no return for the mill, so this date is impossible. Several Puslinch historians believe that 1862 or 1863 is more plausible, and I agree with them.
McLean did not acquire title to the property surrounding the mill, consisting of 27 acres, until May 8, 1863, and he could not have borrowed money on the security of the mill unless he owned it. Considering the huge investment necessary for a 19th century flour mill, McLean no doubt wanted to be up and mill running to take advantage of the 1863 crop.
A Highland Scot born in 1827, George McLean was only in his 30s when he established the milling business at Aberfoyle. His business career and successful partnership with Peter Clark began in East Flamborough Township in 1850, when they established a sawmill. In 1855 they moved their operation to the south end of Morriston, and a year later expanded into the oatmeal and flour milling business. They called the operation Puslinch Mills.
Though there were five other sawmills in the township, the partners did well after the economic panic of the late 1850s. By 1860 they were employing five men and producing a half million board feet of lumber annually.
After the 1861 fire, the McLean-Clark partnership dissolved. With much of the white pine of Puslinch depleted, it made little sense to build a new sawmill. McLean believed that the future lay in the milling of wheat and oats, and he put all his energy into the new Aberfoyle operation, continuing the name of Puslinch Mills. McLean and his miller, Jim Little, were proud of their products. Puslinch oatmeal won a gold medal at a competition in Paris, France in 1867.
The equipment in the mill consisted of two runs of stones for oatmeal, one for flour, and one for feed. A 600-foot sluiceway connected the water from the dam to a turbine in the mill. With its associated activities of barrel making and the teaming of products to the railway at Guelph, McLean provided employment for up to 15 men in the mid 1860s.
Puslinch Mills suffered a major fire in 1868. The date is also given as 1866 in some accounts, and as 1869 in others.
Whichever date is correct, McLean rebuilt immediately, and the result was the Aberfoyle Mill in the configuration that survives today. In both the original mill and the rebuilding, McLean favoured brick, from a brick yard that once operated near Morriston. After the fire, McLean abandoned the production of oatmeal at Aberfoyle to concentrate on flour. In 1869 he leased a Guelph mill and processed oats there.
After a dozen years as proprietor, George McLean sold the Aberfoyle mill to William McDonald and Co. in February 1875. He kept the Puslinch Mills name, and moved to Guelph where he started a new Puslinch Mills. It was located on Wellington Street near what is now known as Gordon Street.
McLean later sold this mill to Henry Murton, an active Guelph businessman of the period.
Meanwhile, at Aberfoyle, William McDonald leased the mill to the Houston (or Howson) brothers for several years, and later to man named Nicolls. McDonald installed steam power to augment the failing and unreliable water power, constructing a small building on the north side to house the boiler and engine.
The mill changed hands again in 1889, when R.B. Morrison bought it. His son Charles managed the business for the next three years. It changed hands again in 1892, when John Hammersley took over.
A farmer, and reputedly the first male child born in Puslinch, Hammersley took in Thomas Day, an experienced miller, as a partner. He also invested considerable money in the business when he replaced the stone grinding equipment with steel rollers. Around 1896 John’s son Herbert Hammersley replaced Thomas Day as the partner.
In August 1908, Herb Hammersley signed an agreement giving fishing privileges at the mill and pond to the Good Times Fishing Club, a group of Guelph and Toronto nabobs. They constructed a lodge on the island and stocked the pond and Mill Creek with trout.
The Hammersleys sold the mill to Gilbert MacEachern in 1912. A year later he flipped the property to the Aberfoyle Realty Co., which was associated with the fishing club. James Murphy, a Hespeler miller who also operated a mill in Freelton, leased the milling business for two years, then bought it in June 1915. The fishing club maintained its fishing rights, and remaining active until the Second World War.
A spectacular accident occurred in the First World War era. The fireman allowed the water in the boiler to get too low. It exploded with a concussion that could be heard and felt for miles, destroying the roof of the boiler room and breaking most of the widows in the mill. A large piece of the roof landed on a stable across the road. Amazingly, there were no serious injuries.
Jim Murphy discontinued flour production, installed at great cost in the 1890s, around 1915. Small mills such as this could no longer compete with larger operations, such as Goldie’s in Guelph and the more famous nationally advertised brands. He turned exclusively to the production of cattle feed and chop. Murphy installed electricity in the mill in 1925 to reduce his power costs.
Jim Murphy continued to operate the Aberfoyle Mill as a feed mill until his death in 1948. His widow, Mary Murphy, sold the property to Eugene Griffin, who continued the business until 1952.
The old mill was starting to crumble when Stan and Marion Owens bought it in 1960. They had operated an antique business in Toronto, and could see an emerging market in Ontario for better restaurants housed in older converted buildings. Their renovation project took six years.
The Owens sold the property in 1973, but under successive owners the restaurant has become a local landmark. It has attracted both local diners and those from afar who appreciate the historical ambience of an old Ontario mill while eating.
*This column was originally published in the Wellington Advertiser on July 6, 2001.
