Location: Delta
Date of Completion: 1811
Architect: N/A
Nominated by: Hon. Steve Clark, MPP (Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes)
“Unquestionably the best building of the kind in Upper Canada”
-Statistical Account of Upper Canada,1817
An exceptional example of Georgian industrial architecture, Old Stone Mill has played an important role in Delta’s history—first as a catalyst for its development and now as a guardian of its history.
First Came the Mill, Then Came Delta
Early mills played an important role in fostering the agricultural settlement of what would become Canada, automating a process that, until then, had been both manual and tedious. Up to the middle of the 16th century, Indigenous people hand-ground corn and other substances into flour used in porridge, flat cakes, and other products. Seventeenth-century European settlers brought with them mechanical milling processes that produced flour from wheat and other grains using water and wind to power new machinery.
As important industrial hubs, mills attracted farmers seeking to process and sell their grain, as well as businesses and services such as shops, taverns, inns, and blacksmiths to service the influx of people. This, along with their location along rivers, made them logical centres for the development of communities such as Delta, Ontario. The first European settlers arrived here in 1794; two years later, they had built the first mill. In 1810, this structure was replaced with the stone mill we see today, spurring economic activity and the growth of the village.
Delta and its Old Stone Mill would remain an important hub for the area’s harvesting needs for 150 years, with the mill continuing to evolve and change in parallel to the town. Flour was milled until the early 1940s and animal feed until 1949. An adjacent sawmill, also built in the early 1800s, would also cease production in 1949. It would not be until 1960 that all commercial activity in the mill would end, opening up a new chapter in the history of the site and the town that grew up around it.
The mill in time. Pictured is historic Delta (left) and the Old Stone Mill in 1970 before its restoration between 1999-2004 (right). Photos courtesy of the Delta Mill Society.
An Exceptional Mill
The Old Stone Mill is not only noteworthy for its age—it is Ontario’s only remaining stone grist mill predating 1812 and one of only three surviving mills from that period—it was also considered, from the very beginning, an exceptional piece of industrial architecture and technological innovation.
Technology-wise, the mill is one of the earliest surviving mills designed for the ‘automatic process,’ a mechanization system designed by U.S. inventor Oliver Evans in 1795 that relied on elevators (wooden or tin buckets attached to a moving leather belt), conveyors (horizontal auger screws), and gravity to replace much of the manual labour required to operate previous grist mills.
Responding to local site conditions and the sheer weight of its structure, the mill also features a unique configuration. While many wooden mills of the time would have been located beside the now-buried rapids, Old Stone Mill was built on bedrock north of the original creek with a new channel bringing water to power its wheel. Making it even more unique, instead of using a separate dam at the head of the rapids to redirect the water, the mill was built as its own dam. Surrounding design features like the water bypass channel, buffer wall, and bridge upstream of the mill have allowed the building to survive the barrage of rushing water for more than 200 years.
Left: An Oliver Evans Automatic Mill from Evans' book the Young Mill-Wright and Miller's Guide (1795 edition), Upper Right: The Old Stone Mill's waterwheel is uniquely oriented 90 degrees to the one in Evans' diagrams. Bottom right: Interior view of the mill. Images courtesy of Ken W. Watson of the Delta Mill Society.
The mill is also exceptional in its architectural design and quality of craftsmanship. Despite its very pragmatic industrial use, the mill was carefully designed following the Georgian style—a British architectural style named after the four King Georges. Characterized by its simple rectangular shapes, symmetrical face, and rectangular window openings, this style is unique to countries within the British Empire and can be found in a wide diversity of buildings including houses, churches, and government offices. The quality of the stonework, the symmetrical arrangement of doors and windows, fine proportions, exceptional roof truss system, and detailing in the design and construction are evidence of a high degree of craftsmanship, making this an excellent example of industrial Georgian architecture.
North façade of the Old Stone Mill as it is seen today. Photo by Ken W. Watson of the Delta Mill Society.
A National Historic Site and Local Archive
While it no longer produces flour, the Old Stone Mill continues to be an important driver in Delta’s economy. Farmers have now been replaced by tourists visiting this National Historic Site, a designation obtained in 1970.
Preserving the history of the site was top of mind when the mill ceased commercial activity in 1960. The last owner, Hastings Steele, made the decision at that time to sell the property for only $1 to four trustees who formed the Delta Mill Society on the condition it become a museum. Between 1999 and 2003, the Society restored the mill to its current state and later re-installed some of the old technology for demonstrative purposes—a water wheel in 2008 and operating millstones in 2010. Some of this work included the reconstruction of long lost elements, all carefully done to maintain the character of the existing structure.
Today, with its fine architectural detailing and historical character, the Old Stone Mill is an important tourist attraction and a repository for the area’s artifacts, photos, and documents—a record of the origin and growth of this Eastern Ontario town.
This post forms part of our World Architecture Day Queen’s Park Picks 2021 series in which the OAA asked Ontario’s Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to nominate a prominent building, past or present, in their riding for a chance to learn more about it. Check out the rest of the series to learn more about great buildings across the province!
Additional Resources
Interested in learning more about the Old Stone Mill? Check out these additional resources: