Todmorden Mills

Todmorden Mills was a small settlement located in the Don River valley in Toronto, Ontario. It started out as a lumber mill in the late 18th century. It grew into a small industrial complex and village before becoming part of East York in the 20th century. Currently the valley site is occupied by a heritage museum, an art gallery, a theatre and a wildflower preserve.

History

In 1795, the settlement of York in Upper Canada was a small but growing community on the shores of Lake Ontario. In order to supply construction material, Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe granted land on the Don River to Aaron and Isaiah Skinner for the purpose of building a mill to supply lumber. Simcoe wrote to a friend "A mill should be build (sic) thereon". The mill was operated by the Skinners until about 1855 when it was sold to the Taylor family. In 1820 a brewery was built next to the mill and operated by Thomas Helliwell and John Eastwood. The Helliwell family operated it until 1855 when it too was sold to the Taylor family. Todmorden Mills acquired its name from John Eastwood, one of the original brewery owners. His family had emigrated from Todmorden, a town then straddling the two counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire in England.

The Taylors owned a number of industrial mills in the neighbourhood including the Don Valley Brick Works. Under their ownership the mill was converted to produce felt paper. The mill continued to operate until the 1920s when the building was converted into a riding stable.

In the early 1940s, the site became the location of a small German prisoner of war camp. The camp housed men from the German merchant marine, mostly interned in Allied ports at the start of the war. Shortly after the war ended the camp was destroyed by fire, likely by vandals.

Between 1930 and 1967, the property housed a collection of horse riding schools and light industry. In the 1930s, the "Windemere Riding Academy" used the property. "Don Vale Textiles" occupied the property in the late 1940s. From 1950 and 1963, the "Whitewood Riding School" was housed at the stables. ["Todmorden Mills - A Timeline", "Town Crier", April 2004.]

During the building of the Don Valley Parkway, the site was extensively modified. The river which used to pass through the site in a wide meander was straightened so that it was entirely cut off from the site. The former riverbed was turned into a pond and the bridge that used to cross the river is now only used to reach a parking lot.

In 1965, the mill site was proposed as a centennial project by East York's mayor, True Davidson. On May 22 1967 it was opened as the "Todmorden Mills Historic Site" and started to function as a community museum. Davidson remained as an honorary curator until her death in 1978. Currently the museum maintains four buildings from the original settlement including the old mill and brewery.

In 1991, two local naturalists, Charles Sauriol and Dave Money proposed that a small forested area adjacent to the museum site be turned into a nature preserve. A committee was formed and the "Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve" was created. Since then the committee has performed restoration in the forest to remove non-native invasive species and restore flowers and trees native to the Toronto area.

ee also

*Distillery District
*John Taylor (paper manufacturer)
*Pape Village

References

Bibliography

*Darke, Eleanor. 1995. "A Mill Should be Build Thereon: An Early History of the Todmorden Mills". East York Historical Society. ISBN 0-920474-89-6

Notes

External links

* [http://eastsideplayers.ca/ East Side Players community theatre group]
* [http://www.toronto.ca/culture/todmorden_mills.htm Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum & Arts Centre]
* [http://www.hopscotch.ca/tmwp/index.html Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve]
* [http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/CommunityMemories/ACMI/000a/Exhibits/English/index.html 20th Century Todmorden: A Community in the Don Valley]