Heritage York Research Guide
Mills on the Humber
Gamble, William, mill, Humber River, west side, north of Bloor St. Exact date unknown. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public domain.
Mills, whether saw, grist, or wool, were water powered, and thus could often be found on a riverbank near a drop-off where the power of the water increases. The Lambton Mills area was given its name as the town developed around a series of mills, which brought settlement, industry, trades, as well as a demand for lodging, taverns, stores, and services. The same settlement process occurred in the town of Weston, further up river.
Listed below are a series of sources about the mills along the Lower Humber River.
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To view the 2019 Heritage York exhibition "Lost Mills on the Humber" by Devin Benczik, Defne Inceoglu, and Kate Campbell, please click here.
Lambton Flour Mills, Old Dundas St, by William James Thomson, 1893. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain.
Letter from J. G. Simcoe to John McGill, 16 July 1796. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain
Secondary texts
For preliminary research and education, Heritage York recommends the following two well-researched sources:
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1) Carl Benn, The King's Mill on the Humber, 1793-1803: Toronto's first industrial building, Toronto : Etobicoke Historical Society, 1979
The first of the mills along the river was the King's Mill. This text can be found at the Toronto Public Library, or viewed online here with a free Internet Archive account.
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2) Sidney T. Fisher, The merchant-millers of the Humber Valley : a study of the early economy of Canada, NC Press Ltd., Toronto: 1985
Written by the grandson of mill-owner and notable Torontonian Thomas Fisher, this text gives a thorough history of the many mills and millers who operated along the Humber. This text can be found at the Toronto Public Library, or viewed online here with a free Internet Archive account.
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Primary Sources
''Old Mill'' On the Humber River. Toronto, 1913. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain
(Pictured above) this is a non-transcribed, handwritten letter from Simcoe to John McGill, instructing the latter to build the first mill on the Humber River, later to be known as the King's Mill
The King's Mill is now owned by William Gamble (previously owned by Thomas Fisher) and will come to be named Milton Mills, as will the village.
Memorial for the leasing of the land of Thomas Cooper to W. P. Howland in 1840, documented 1847.
Transcription linked above, provided by Gord Good, retired from the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors. Originally a handwritten document of the 1840 leasing agreement between the two parties regarding the land and structures on both sides of the Humber river belonging to Thomas Cooper. Cooper's Mills then becomes Lambton Mills after Howland changes the name.
Notice of William Gamble's Milton Mills on the west side of the Humber having burned down. The mill was quickly rebuilt.
A newspaper article describing the events of a flood that caused much destruction along the Humber River. Can be viewed by logging into a Toronto Public Library account on ProQuest.
Map includes mills along the Humber River, 1851
Price of a barrel of flour from the Lambton mill listed as $6.50
Ad for the sale of Thomas Fisher's grist mill, Millwood Mills, on the west side of the Humber. The mill was not sold, and remained in the Fisher family until it burned down in 1878.
Ad for the sale of the Chew woolen mill and property (middle-right of the page). Can be viewed by logging into a Toronto Public Library account on ProQuest.
Ad for the sale of Gamble's Milton Mills at auction. The bank foreclosed on William's mortgage and his properties were seized.
Order for 98 spools of yarn, hand written, from Weston Woollen Mills
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Fire at Lambton Mills
During the early hours of June 7, 1915 a fire rapidly swept through and completely destroyed the newly converted Lambton Mills Inn. Robert Home Smith, notable real estate developer, had just purchased and remodelled the former grist and flour mill the year previously, not long after establishing the Old Mill Tea Garden, as part of an effort to revitalize business in the Humber River Valley. Miraculously, Lambton House was one of the few buildings to be unharmed along Old Dundas Street.
"Fire Fiend Licks Up Lambton Mills Inn", The Toronto Daily Star, (Toronto: ON), June 7, 1915, p. 2.
"Fire Fiend Licks Up Lambton Mills Inn", The Toronto Daily Star, (Toronto: ON), June 7, 1915, p. 2.
"Lambton Mills Loses $100,000 in Night Fire", The Globe, (Toronto: ON), June 7, 1915, p. 1.
""Monetary Loss is $75,000 in Humber Mills Fire", The Globe, (Toronto: ON), June 8, 1915, p. 7.