Historical Plaques of
Halton Region

The first prehistoric village in the eastern woodland area of North America to be accurately dated, this archeological site has revealed much about Iroquoian agriculture. A study of sediment collected from Crawford Lake in 1971 lead to discovering of the site. A small, deep body of water, this meromictic lake has limited circulation and little oxygen below the 12-metre level, insuring the preservation of annual deposits of sediment in undisturbed layers called varves. Analysis of their pollen content showed vegetational changes in the area over time and a concentration of corn pollen, dated 1434-59, suggested the existence of an Indian village near by. In 1973 this site was located. Excavations undertaken here during the following decade confirmed that native agriculturalists contributed subsequently to the region's changing environment.

In 1854, brothers William, James, Joseph and Robert Barber, prominent manufacturers in the Credit Valley, established a paper mill here. Within a few years it had become an important producer of fine rag paper. Fifteen years later, James acquired sole ownership of the mill, soon afterwards it came under his son John's control. John Reaf Barber was an innovative manager who substantially increased the mills production by employing new technology. He equipped the mill to manufacture wood pulp and, in 1888 installed a dynamo to supply additional power. This power plant was reputedly the first in Canada to produce hydro-electric power for use in industrial production. The stone ruins of the dynamo building are still standing, about three kilometres downstream.

Methodist preachers Ezra and Zenas Adams and their brother Rufus settled on the west branch of the Credit River in the 1820s. A community of pioneer families grew around the Adams family farms. Nicklin's saw and grist mill and Nelles' tannery operated here by the early 1840s. They were the nucleus of a hamlet first named Danville, then Adamsville after its first settlers and, by 1844, Acton. In 1856 the Grand Trunk Railway arrived, stimulating growth east along Mill Street from the river to the railway station. By 1869, Acton had some 700 inhabitants and boasted woodworking mills, tanneries, glove makers and a carriage works. It was incorporated as a village on January 6, 1874.

Electric railway service on routes radiating from Toronto began in 1889. Within 20 years, the Toronto and York Radial Railway Company operated lines north on Yonge Street to Sutton, with a branch to Schomberg; from the east end of Toronto to West Hill; and from Sunnyside to Port Credit. In 1917, the Toronto Suburban Railway Company completed its line from west Toronto to Guelph, it also had a route to Woodbridge. These companies operated about 115 miles of trackage. Because they failed to reach downtown Toronto, the radials fell easy prey to through inter-urban highway bus service after 1925. Most services were discontinued in the 1930's. The last, from Toronto to Richmond Hill, was abandoned in 1948.

This plaque was unveiled by the Primate of Canada, Archbishop Michael Peers, on May 24, 1992, in the presence of the congregation, and the Rector, Rev. Charles F. Masters. It commemorates the 150th anniversary of the establishment in 1842 of an Anglican congregation in Nassagaweya Township, Halton County. A simple white frame church, built on this site in 1844, was replaced by the present church in 1870. It was partially destroyed by a windstorm in 1913 and rebuilt the following year.

"JESUS CHRIST the same yesterday, and today, and for ever."

                                 - Hebrews 13:8

In 1834, Collings Church, a frame building, was deeded over by Joseph Colling to the Trustees of Lowville Wesleyan Methodist Church for 5 shillings. By 1873 the present church was built and in 1925 it became Lowville United Church. The building is an example of early Ontario Vernacular Gothic Revival architecture.

The first firm in the world to produce socket-head screws, the P.L. Robertson Manufacturing Company was formed in Hamilton in 1907 and relocated here the following year. It was established by an Ontario inventor Peter Lymburner Robertson and, using an ingenious process he had developed to punch square holes into cold metal, it manufactured the innovative new screw for industrial markets. In its first two decades the company steadily expanded operations. By 1930, when the last patent on the Robertson screw and the equipment used in its manufacture expired, the firm had already begun to diversify its products. Now operated as the Robertson Whitehouse Company, it has become one of the largest manufacturers of light fasteners, including the original Robertson screw, in North America.

At the 1954 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, William E. Breckon of Burlington won the World Wheat Championship with grain grown on his Nelson Township farm about two miles north-east of here. He led the white winter wheat class seven times before becoming "wheat king" with a sample of Genesee, a variety developed at Cornell University, N.Y. Since western Canada's hard spring varieties had long dominated the wheat awards at the Fair, Breckon's world championship, the first for an Ontario farmer and the first for winter wheat, was widely acclaimed. This school and the adjoining park were named after W.E. Breckon, who served Nelson Township School Board as chairman or trustee from 1943 to 1956.

In 1669 René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle, intent on reaching the Ohio River in order "not to leave to another the honour of finding the way to the Southern Sea, and thereby the route to China", set out on the first of his many journeys of exploration. Accompanied by the Sulpican missionaries Dollier and Galinée, he left Montreal in July and reached Burlington Bay at the head of Lake Ontario some two months later. La Salle continued inland to Tinaouataoua, a Seneca hamlet midway between present-day Dundas and Brantford, where surprisingly he met Adrien Jolliet, an explorer returning from a mission to the Great Lakes. Having decided not to proceed westward, he then left Dollier and Galinée and by 1670 had returned to Montreal.

The original house on this site was built about 1800 by the famous Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea). Two years previously Captain Brant had been granted some 3500 acres of land in this area for his military services to the Crown during the American Revolution. He died here in 1807, and the house, around which grew the community of Wellington Square, was thereafter occupied by his wife Catherine and his youngest son Captain John Brant (Ahyouwaeghs). The present house, a replica of the original, is the result of an extensive restoration carried out in 1937-38.

The founder of Oakville was born in Nova Scotia of Loyalist parents who moved to Burlington Bay in 1793. William served with distinction in the militia during the War of 1812. He settled in Nelson Township in 1816 and became a successful storekeeper, timber merchant and ship owner. In 1827 he purchased from the Crown 960 acres of uncleared land at the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek. Here he built mills, laid out a town plot and opened the harbour to shipping. Chisholm was thrice elected to represent this district in the Legislative Assembly.

Verner was born at Sheridan, Halton County, and educated at Guelph. In 1856 he went to England to study art. Returning to Toronto he established his first studio in 1862. Like his older contemporary, Paul Kane, Verner travelled through the west, recording the life of the plains Indians and painting the great buffalo herds. An early member of the Ontario Society of Artists, he was later elected to the Royal Canadian Academy. He lived in England after 1880, but returned to Canada on painting trips. Verner is represented in the National Gallery of Canada by several works, including a portrait of Sir John A. Macdonald.

St. Luke's Church was built in 1834 on land originally patented by Chief Joseph Brant. Consecrated in 1838 by the Right Reverend C.J. Mountain, Anglican Bishop of Quebec, the church was a simple two-storey, frame building, with tower, plain Gothic windows and box pews. St. Luke's first permanent Rector, Reverend Thomas Greene, was appointed the year of the church's consecration. Greene (1809-1878) had been brought to Canada from Ireland in 1836 by Bishop Stewart's Upper Canadian Travelling Mission Fund. Records of his journeys throughout the London District provide invaluable information on life among the early settlers in that area. As the result of extensive alterations, begun in 1893, his original church has been substantially changed.