The History of Erindale’s Missing Mills in Mississauga

McGill Flour Mill, Racey Tract, Credit River, Erindale, c1870

We commonly refer to the City of Mississauga as a city of villages, born through amalgamations over time. One of those historic village was (and is) Erindale (formerly known as Toronto, Credit, Springfield, Springfield-on-the-Credit and finally Erindale). The establishment of Erindale, like many other settlement era villages, can be linked to three main factors: the influx of people, the presence of major routes of transportation, and an available source of natural waterpower. We often think in terms of any early community consisting of a general store, post office, blacksmith shop, an inn or hotel, a church and a school. In this regard, Erindale was no different. But we often fail to include mills in our historical inventory, likely because most mills have not survived into the modern era. These once vital industries have faded, over time, into relative obscurity. Yet mills provide a vital link to our past, not only as places of service and industry, but also of employment, and as a vital building block that helped to form the historic communities that are a vital component of our city today. Places like Meadowvale Village and Streetsville, also established, like Erindale, along the course of the Credit River, were all shaped and influenced by the establishment of mill sites. Mills were often one of the primary catalysts that led to the growth of early villages, and the Credit River today belies its importance to the development of places like Erindale.

Brown's Flour and Cider Mill on right, Dundas Street looking west, Erindale, 1913

To think in other terms, likely without the “crook” (or bend) of the Credit River as it meets Dundas Street, or the large shale in the Credit River valley, there would likely be no village at this location. To early settlers, it was advantageous and essential to be located in close proximately to a potential mill site in order to fulfill many of the basic needs we perhaps take for granted today. After all, water was one of the only sources of available natural, non-animate, power, and as such almost all types of early industries, and therefore the villages that grew around them, were initially dependant upon waterpower.

This “crook” of the Credit River at Erindale allowed for the development of early water-powered sites along the river. Initial efforts eventually culminated in the construction of a mill-race that ran at the foot of the bank of what is now Erindale park, passed under the Dundas Street roughly where the park entrance is today, continued south of Dundas and rejoined the river as it makes its southward turn. There were at least eight distinct mills in Erindale, six of which were located along this millrace. The last of these mills was torn down only in the 1940’s prior to the widening of raising of Dundas Street.

Brown's Mill Ruins, Erindale, c1930

The first mill established, a simple drag sawmill, was built under Thomas Racey’s direction about 1822. It was located on the flats just to the south of Dundas, below Nanticoke Road. In 1825, 37.5 acres (which included the mill allowance), was purchased by John McGill. McGill operated a grist mill (possibly already built by Racey) on the north side of Dundas Street, roughly where the entrance to Erindale Park is today. This grist mill was later replaced by a flour mill. Further along the millrace, south of Dundas Street and south of Racey’s sawmill, a turning mill was constructed where the millrace rejoined the Credit River.

A knitting mill, built by Edwin Turner around 1860, was located along the bank of the hill just to the west of Nanticoke Road and slightly south of the old access road that leads down to the flats.

One of the few pictures we have of mills in Erindale is of Brown’s Flour & Cider Mill (the depression in the bank to the east of the modern O’Neill’s Vacuum Store marks its former location). It was built in 1903, survived the great Erindale fire of 1919, but burned itself in 1924. The stone shell of the mill was torn down in the 1940s. This same depression in the slope also marks an old road that lead to John McGill’s Flour Mill on the flats below Dundas. When Brown’s Mill was built, the building was two-storeys at road (Dundas) level, but three stories at the back as it was built into this depression. Alexander Proudfoot also had an Oatmeal Mill in the 1840s and 1850s on the north side of the modern intersection of Dundas and Dundas Crescent, likely located within the river valley.

Crozier Sawmill, c1870

Other Erindale mills included the Adamson Sawmill, which operated briefly in the 1850s and was located on the east bank of the Credit River, south of Burnhamthorpe, near where the Credit River and Mullet Creek join. A trace of the short millrace where this sawmill was believed to have been located is evident along that part of the Culham Trail. There is also reference made to a saw and shingle mill on Sawmill Creek operated by the Crozier family in the 1850s to the 1870s, but its exact location has been lost. Between 1835 and 1885, Henry McGill (John’s brother) also had a sawmill along Sawmill Creek, located close to where the creek originally joined the Credit River. It is likely this early and long association with Henry McGill’s sawmill that gave the creek its name.

The mills themselves were a product of their era, and as technology and materials changed, many mills faded into obscurity and obsolescence. Mills were often built of wood (only two in Erindale were at least partly constructed of stone) and often disappeared without a trace. The creation of the hydro dam and the head pond (where Erindale Park is today) in the early 1900’s and the more modern landfill raising of Erindale Park has erased even more evidence.

Erindale after 1919 fire showing the surviving Brown's Mill

Also, south of Dundas, at the base of the hill along Nanticoke, you might follow the swampy depression of ground that is slowly filling in naturally – this gully is all that is left of the millrace and leads past three mill sites prior to rejoining the river.

The two stone mills were each torn down in time, leaving no physical evidence behind. Some of the stone from Brown’s mill went to build a septic bed adjacent to the old Barker Store (now O’Neill’s Vacuum) – possibly under the small parking lot. All in all, the image that Erindale presents today is quite different from its industrial and industrious past.