User:Rolf A. Piro

German Mills

Location

German Mills is a residential district that borders from John Street in the north to Steeles Avenue in the south located to the immediate west side of highway 404 in the heart of Thornhill, Ontario. Central to this area is a ninety-one acre historic park named German Mills Settlers Park.(1)

Brief History

The German Mills history is closely associated with the founding of Toronto, then called "Muddy York". William Berzy shares the honour with Lieutenant Governor Simcoe of being the Co-Founder of a mighty Metropolis,(2)whereas Simcoe actually erected a primitve fort near the proposed town site,(3) Berczy created the first roads and buildings within the town itself. Berczy founded Markham Township, designed the first architecturally notable houses and the Don River Bridge.(4)

First Industrial Complex in Markham

German Mills was part of the first Lieutenant Governor Simcoe's overall design to establish a city and bulwark against a possible American invasion. In doing so, there was a critical need to find people to settle the Province Ontario, especially in the pursuit of building the capital of York and its surrounding area. Simcoe generally favored settlement with township grants, where the military could be located and act as consumers for local markets and town centres. German Mills was seen to be as an agricultural settlement for the food supply(5)to the military and its citizens in the hinterland of what was then known as "Infant Toronto".(6) In 1793 Toronto was little more than an outpost in the wilderness. Markham was previously called Mannheim, "the home of man".(7)German Mills and Markham found its beginning in the year 1794 and then in later periods became known to be the first significant industrial complex in Markham Township.

A Classic Model of Organized Immigration

Thanks to William Moll Berczy, a multi-talented entrepreneur with leaderhsip skills in the area of architecture, engineering and great skills as a painter, led a group of 64 families with 182 people in total in the summer of 1794 to York. This group consisted of bakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, weavers, a preacher, school teacher, brewer, cartwright, locksmith, miller, potter, tanner, stone masons as well as farmers. It represented the first classic immigration model in Canada to fill the critical need of time. In the fall of 1794 William MOll Berczy had hired men to erect a large house and a sawmill building,(8)at what is now known as German Mills. And to bring prosperity to the region a warhouse for the Northwest Fur Trade on the Rouge River at what became Unionville.(9) Toronto and Markham was then a thick, mature forest ideal for the supply of lumber consisting of pine, oak, maple, butternut and other trees. Sunlight was able to penetrate only when the leaves had fallen.

According to an agreement, dated January 1, 1793(10) and signed with the German Land Company, a supply of Toronto's first cattle had already been on its way from Connecticut (11)to coincide with the arrival of the settler groups in 1794 in Muddy York and German Mills.

The German Mills industrial complex initially in those years consisted of a grist mill and a saw mill and blacksmith shop. The grist mill produced super fine flour and the saw mill shingles and lumber for the buildings in the German Mills area. It also supplied lumber for the first houses in Toronto, among them the well known Russell Abbey, (11) home of the Hon. Peter Russell and the Col. James Givins house.(12). Both of those houses had been designed by William Moll Berczy, today known as the Founder of Markham and Co-Founder of Toronto. Six years later it became apparent that waterpower produced by the Don River was not sufficient fo German Mills to operate and the German Mills industrial complex went into decline. German Mills today represents a significant part of Canadian heritage.

Sources

1. Location of German Mills see Map and Information Guide MapArt, Brampton & Whitby, Ontario

2. Inside of books cover of William Berczy, Co-Founder of Toronto - A sketch by John Andre, A Canada Centennial Project of The Borough of York, 1967 Ortoprint, Toronto

3. ibid p.152 plus a total of 429 prime sources listed

4. Don Bridge, sketch by Berczy, 1802 Canadian Archive Ottawa

5. THE CANADIANS, William Berczy, Florence M. Burns, fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited p.29 Simcoe wanted the Berczy's Germans to complete Yonge Street which had already surveyed by the Queens Rangers. He also wanted them to start and agricultural settlement near the community of York.

6. See 'Important deals made at Navy Hall", Infant Toronto as Simcoe's Folly by John Andre, Centennial Press, printed in Canada 1971 by Ortoprint, Tornto, p.28

7. The late John Lunau a descendent of the Berczy Settlers Group and former curator of the Markham museum also being in charge of historical records of the museum was known to have made this comment at various historical meetings.

8. Ross Robertson Collection, Baldwin Room, Toronto Metro Reference Library.

9. Berczy Manuscripts National Archive Ottawa

10. Original Documents known as Andrew Pierce papers are in private possession by Rolf A. Piro, Toronto.

11. The Russell Abbey, Drawing by Henry Scadding, Toronto Public Library

12. Two drawings of the Givins House, fron view and rear view, Toronto Public Library