History
Ancaster was established formally in 1792 but the area now referred to as Ancaster Village had been referred to informally by local villagers by the more colourful name of Wilson's Mills. This was in reference to millwright James Wilson who along with his affluent fur trader, entrepreneur and business partner Richard Beasley were the primary founders of Ancaster village. With Beasley’s financial help, Wilson opened a gristmill in 1791 and a sawmill in 1792. In order to attract workers to his mills, Wilson needed to provide the social amenities and commercial framework for an area of land which in that period was nothing more than an isolated patch of forest with a running stream. Wilson managed to create the impetus for a community by constructing worker dwellings, a general store, a blacksmith shop, a distillery and a tavern, all within walking distance of his mills. As a result Wilson's Mills as a community began to thrive.
To this day the main road that winds through the historical Ancaster Village still bears Wilson's name. By 1793 an area of land that contained Wilson's Mills was finally surveyed and officially came to be known as Ancaster Township as chosen by the then Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe. Simcoe was apparently inspired in the name choice by Peregrine Bertie, the 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven.
In 1794 Wilson sold his business empire to another trader named Jean Rousseaux who already had a home and general store on Wilson Street. James Wilson at this point moved away and the local villagers gradually began referring to the community of Wilson's Mills as Ancaster Village. Curiously, the detailed whereabouts or activities of James Wilson after his departure are a mystery. Rousseaux eventually resold the mills to the Union Mill Company. With the profits from this business transaction Rousseaux built the Union Hotel on Wilson Street which is now remembered as the location of the Bloody Assize trials in 1814 during the War of 1812. In 1820 Job Lodor acquired the Union Mill Company and rejuvenated Ancaster’s industrial base. A foundry was established in 1826 by William Wiard but two of his employees, Harris and Alonzo Egleston who arrived in 1832, eventually bought him out.
The Eglestons then proceeded to expand their own business empire which included rebuilding a gristmill in 1863 at the present day location of the Old Ancaster Mill on the old Dundas Road. This Egleston mill was the 4th Ancaster mill and the third to be rebuilt at this current location. Wilson’s original mills burnt down in 1812 and were relocated and rebuilt in stone at this present Old Ancaster Mill location. Again at this same location a second mill burnt down in 1818 as well as third mill that was damaged by fire in 1854.
Wilson’s original mill foundations still exist. The much restored and modified remnants of the Eglestons now operates as the Ancaster Old Mill, a restaurant and banquet hall. The Barracks of 1812 still stand as a reminder of the war of 1812. Examples of Victorian architecture are located on Wilson Street, amongst them the Richardson residence, which was built in 1872 as a wedding present for Dr Henry Richardson and his new bride Sarah Eggleson.
In an age before electricity, the village of Ancaster had an early economic advantage in the region. This was due to the abundant energy that could be tapped by mills from streams and creeks that naturally existed because this settlement existed amidst a break in the Niagara Escarpment. The location was also advantageous as it existed at the end of Mohawk Road which in the late 18th century was one of the most important transportation routes in Upper Canada. The original route of this Mohawk Trail had apparently existed for hundreds of years previously as a heavily travelled First Nations trail that eventually linked up with similar trails in New York State.
The Six Nations First Nations had historically used the region of Ancaster and surrounding area as a meeting place even up to the period of The War of 1812. Ancaster also had fertile soil which encouraged pioneer settlers to arrive in this region to clear the land and plant crops for subsistence agriculture. An interesting example of Ancaster's influence in the late 18th century was that it was once considered a strong candidate to be the capital of Upper Canada. The original capital Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) was judged too highly vulnerable to an American attack due to its close proximity to the United States border. In the end, in 1796, John Graves Simcoe selected York (now Toronto), not Ancaster as the capital of Upper Canada.
Ancaster’s dominant position in the region as an influential industrial, commercial and farming community throughout the late 18th and early 19th century would be short-lived. Soon nearby Dundas and a small farm settlement close to the lakefront that by 1833 would be established as the town of Hamilton would soon become more influential mainly because of the successful completion of the following transportation projects. Firstly, the completion of the Burlington Canal in 1832 that connected Burlington Bay (Hamilton Harbour) to Lake Ontario. Next, the completion of the Desjardins Canal in 1837 that enabled lake vessels to enter nearby Dundas through Hamilton Harbour. Lastly, the completion in 1855 of The Great Western Railway connection to Hamilton (and eventually Dundas) enabled Hamilton, which already had flourishing and expanding ports, to become the prominent urban and commercial settlement in the region.
In the latter half of the 19th century Ancaster became an unimposing gristmill hamlet and police village. Ancaster would not have access to a modern transportation system until the Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway intersected Ancaster Village in 1907. The advent of the B&H radial line radically began the process of change to the character of Ancaster that is clearly recognizable today from a somewhat isolated yet self sufficient village to its current status as a bedroom community of Hamilton. Interestingly, the evidence for this radial train is still easily visible in Ancaster village by a dirt path behind St. John's Anglican Church on Wilson Street. If you are a walking or cycling enthusiast you can still follow this old radial line path down the escarpment to the Hamilton Chedoke Golf Course. The radial line was dismantled in 1931 as a condition of sale from the Cataract Company likely due to the growing popularity of the automobile. However since this B&H line was constructed with high quality rails, it might have remained profitable and practical with proper business acumen and would have been a valued transportation option to the congested car traffic in the present day.
100 years ago the townsfolk of Ancaster were certainly conscious that their town had once been a glowing star in Upper Canada that had quickly lost its luster during the Victorian age despite its second successful wave of industrialization in the 1820s. In 1897 Alma Dick Lauder writing about Ancaster in the Hamilton Spectator using the colourful language of that time lamented that, "so who can say that new life may not once more flow to the aged village, now high and dry on old time's sand banks, bringing back her bright meridian bloom and vigor of 70 years ago? Fanned by the breath of electricity to spring like a Phoenix from her bed of ashes-ashes, understand, being principally the matter choking up the old place with a fire record unequalled since the days of Sodom, making her an object of terror to her friend, derision to her foes and a hoo-doo to the gulleless insurance agent. It is rather melancholy, on a summer's day, to stand on the high bridge and watch the waters slouching by like a gang of crystal dwarfs out of a job, idling and playing and painting the 'beautiful, waving hair of the dead' grass green among the fallen ruins, which a few years ago were instinct with the hum of industry, pouring forth at stated hours, with jangle of bells, a cheerful, clattering stream of bread winners, giving life and animation to the scene, in contrast to the occasional man who now meets the casual glance up street in the sunny noon hours".
During this period Ancaster Township was attached variously to Nassau District, Home District, York County (West Riding) and Halton County. When Halton County and Wentworth County joined temporarily from 1850 to 1854, Ancaster remained permanently attached to Wentworth County where it remains today.
The Ancaster Fair has been an annual agricultural and social event since 1850 except for 1937 when it was cancelled due to a case of infantile paralysis. Originally the fair was held at Wilson and Academy Streets in the Village core. In 1894 it moved to Wilson and Cameron Drive driving park where it remained until its centennial year in 1950 when it moved to Garner Road. After nearly 60 years at the Garner Road site, the Ancaster Fair in 2009 has moved to 630 Trinity Road.
In 1976, an Ancaster Town Council vote reversed a long-standing policy that would finally allow Ancaster restaurants to apply for liquor licenses. Other than the LCBO and Brewers Retail outlets that were established in Ancaster in the 1950s, the village had up to that point been 'dry', presumably since Prohibition. Ancaster's earlier pioneers however experienced an entirely different social environment. Again according to Lauder writing in 1897, "Ancaster saw plenty of life during the rebellion of 1837, when it was quite a frequent thing for all the inns, five in number, and many of the private houses to be full over night of redcoats passing towards the west".
The Hermitage is a popular site in Ancaster. This historic house was once the property of Reverend George Sheed in 1830. Since then the house has changed ownership many times before burning to the ground in 1934. The shell of the old house and surrounding buildings can still be visited today. One of the main draws of this old property is the legend of the property being haunted. There are ghost tours run throughout the summer with the tour guides telling haunted stories of the land and the surrounding county.
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