Heritage York Research Guide
Businesses & Services
Below is a collection of primary source information found on a series of businesses and services that were prominent in the Lambton Mills and Weston areas in the 19th century.
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To view a full list of the primary sources found during the research for this guide,
please click here
Lambton Mills
Howland & Elliott General store with Lambton House to the right. (City of Toronto Archives Fonds 501, File 1.
Howland & Elliott General Store & Post Office
Established in the mid 1840s after W. P. Howland acquired the lease for the land and properties of Thomas Cooper on the east side of the Humber, the store soon came to be run by W. P.'s brother Frederick A. Howland, and his business partner Thomas Elliot, who would reside at Lambton House next door (pictured above) after its establishment in 1847. Frederick would operate as the Postmaster for the area until at least 1876. The general store would operate until at least 1900. Today, there is an apartment building on the site of the former store.
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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.
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William Gamble's Store, Etobicoke (Toronto), by William James Thomson, 1893. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public Domain.
William Gamble's General Store
Situated on the west side of the Humber River on Dundas St, William Gamble, owner of the Milton Mills, likely built the store in the 1840s. At this time, the town on the west side of the river was called Milton Mills. It was likely some years later that Milton Mills became known as part of Lambton Mills, a name which had previously referred only to the village on the east side.
In the 1900s, the Gamble's store would be known as Charles Ware's General Store.
Former second Lambton Methodist Church, Dundas Street West, north side, between Humber River & Royal York Road, 1954. James V. Salmon, Photographer. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, TPL. Public domain.
Lambton Methodist Church
First Location
The first Lambton Methodist Church was built in the 1840s when mill owner Duncan Murchison donated land on the east side of what is today Prince Edward Drive, between Government Rd and Dundas St W for the purpose. Over the next nearly 40 years, the congregation would outgrow this small building, and a new location would be necessary.
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Second and Third Location
The second Lambton Mills Methodist Church would serve the community from the late 1870s onward. This second church, built by local carpenter Meade Creech was located between modern-day 4158 and 4166 Dundas St W. It was used as a commercial building (pictured above) from the 1930s until it burned down in 2021.
In the 1880s, the congregation would move to a third location: the Kingsway Lambton United Church, which still operates today at 85 The Kingsway, Etobicoke.
Mary Ann Lyle, b. 1797, Cornwall, England, d. 1862, Etobicoke
When Mary Ann and William Lyle came to Canada in 1833, the couple would both work as itinerant/guest preachers in Methodist circuits in Upper Canada. Mary Ann would preach in the Brampton, Etobicoke and Guelph circuits. ​
It is not clear when the family moved to Etobicoke, but they lived for some time in Claireville, where Mary Ann preached on the Etobicoke circuit until her death in May of 1862.
Lambton Mills Methodist Church was part of the Etobicoke circuit, and thus it is probable the congregation had the honour of hearing Mary Ann Lyle preach regularly.
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William Fletcher Clarke and R. L. Tucker, A mother in Israel, or, Some memorials of the late Mrs. M.A. Lyle, , 1862 (Toronto : W.C. Chewett).
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Elizabeth Gillan Muir, Petticoats in the Pulpit: The Story of Early-Nineteenth Century Methodist Women Preacher in Upper Canada. The United Church Publishing House, 1991 -- (secondary source)
News clippings
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Harvest event, 1898
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Picnic event, 1899
Weston
Village of Weston Library
In operation by 1847 and "producing happy results." The article linked below from the British American Cultivator, which includes an announcement of the new Weston library, implies village libraries were a fast-growing institution at this time in York-area villages.
The British American cultivator [New ser. v. 3, no. 1 (Jan. 1847)] Library and Archives Canada, p 8.
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For more information on the history of Weston, please contact the Weston Historical Society
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