Other Old Buildings

Other Old Buildings

County Registry Office - corner of Clyde and Brougham Street, Almonte, Ont., was built in 1879 and the building still exists but the building and property was transferred from County of Lanark to the Province of Ontario in 1969. A new land registry office has been built on the outskirts of Almonte.

Almonte Town Hall 1959
The town hall has been renovated and restored and a new enclosed stairs and entrance has been built.

Former O'Brien Theatre, now the home of the HUB, Almonte, Ont.
The building was also used by Royal Bank before they moved to new Shopping Centre on edge of town. The old theatre has been renovated with offices on second floor and the HUB at the front on first floor.

Rosamond Woolen Mill 1959

The mill and offices have been renovated into condominium apartments and the mill office now houses the Textile Museum.
The parking lot across from the office no longer exists but has been replaced by townhouses.

Almonte and District Community Centre and Skating Arena 1959

These pictures were provided by Fran Cooper [email protected] - 7 January, 2002.

Posted: 7 January, 2002. Up-dated: 7 February, 2002.

The remains of the old Mississippi Woolen Mills, originally operated by John Adam Teskey and William Bredin, of Appleton, Ontario.

Photos by Keith Thompson - 5 March, 2002 Posted 6 March, 2002.

Lanark Village Townhall

Picture supplied by: Melanie Mason - [email protected] Posted: 24 October, 2002.

"Perth Manufacturing differed greatly in the 'handi-craft era' when compared
with what Perth boasts today. This old 1887 photograph was uncovered by
Bert Ferrier and shows the structure his grandfather built in 1847 and in
which Bert was born. The Ferrier block was located at the corner of Gore
and Herriott and the photo is a sort of commemoration of Queen Victoria's
Jubilee. In this long-gone era, wool spinners, harness makers, book makers,
furniture, wagon and carriage makers, foundries, cooperage and distillers
were the main employers of labor. The Ferrier building is now occupied by
the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The builder, John Ferrier, came
from Scotland in 1816 as a child and settled on the Scotch Line with his
parents. Harness manufacturing was carried on in the building until 1919
when T.A. Code purchased the structure."

Picture supplied by Sharon Burke - [email protected] Posted: 22 September, 2003.

This is a picture of the Queens Royal Hotel, built by Peter Prosser Salter in 1899 and was part of the Lake Park Resort just outside of Carleton Place. If anyone has any other stories or pictures of Lake Park could you please let John Salter know at [email protected]

The Russell Hotel - Smiths Falls, Ontario which has been replaced with a new drug store.

Supplied by John Salter - [email protected] Posted: 24 September, 2003.

Village of Innsville (facing south) - (right is the Post Office)

Above pictures supplied by: Kathleen Ogg-Moss - [email protected]

The Old Store - Poland, Ont, believed to be owned by the Paul families.

The Poland Cheese Factory - Poland, Ont.

The above two pictures received from Michael Umpherson - [email protected]

The residence is what we believe the old "Warsaw Hotel" built by Charles Conners around 1879.

Posted: 02 June, 2005

Pic of the Past

This photograph of the Campbell Woolen Mill was taken in the 1920s. The mill was located at the south-east end of Water Street where Bryan Drynan's auto repair garage is located today. The mill burned in 1928. See the story on the Campbell Woolen Mill in "Our Heritage" below. Thanks to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum for the use of the photograph.

Campbell Mill is captured on canvas

Recently, Marjorie Campbell, a resident of Almonte, donated a painting of the Campbell Woolen Mill to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. The picture was painted at the request of Marjorie Campbell by Mr. D. R. Faire in 1979 from a photograph taken in the 1920's. It was a gift for her husband Donald M. Campbell whose father had owned the mill. The picture had, hung in Mrs. Campbell's living room for many hears, but she felt the picture and the story of the Campbell Mill should be hanging in the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum as a reminder of when Almonte was the center of Woolen manufacturing in Canada. The Campbell Mill was located at 'the south-east end of Water Street, next to the C.P.R. tracks, where Brian Drynan now has his automotive repair shop. It was the only local mill that was located away from the Mississippi River, the source of power for all early mills. It was one of the earliest mills driven by steam power.

Our Heritage

By Gerry Wheatley

The building originally was built in 1872 as the Almonte Furniture Company by Messrs. Kirby and Bennett and was known locally as the KirBen Building. The factory operated for many years, then had financial problems. In 1887, James H. Wylie, who owned other mills in Almonte, installed a one set flannel mill in the building, added two more sets over the next two years, and called it the Elmdale Flannel Mills. In March, 1919, Mr. P. J. Campbell of the Blakeney Woolen Company purchased the Kir-Ben building and started moving the looms and other machinery from Blakeney to the KirBen building to produce flannels. In March, 1928, a Saturday fire heavily damaged the building. 7he Almonte Gazette. reported that "spontaneous combustion in the dryer room' was suspected as the cause. "An alarm was I given and the fire brigade did effective work and succeeded in confining the blaze to one department." The damage amounted to $12,000. Later in 1928, the picture of the Kir-Ben building was printed in The Almonte Gazette with the following report below it. "Campbell Woolen Company's Mill at Almonte which was destroyed by fire in a Monday midnight conflagration. The loss is estimated by P. J. Campbell at $50,000, partially covered by insurance." The Campbell Woolen Mill ceased operations, the remainder of the building was demolished i and the Company was closed a few years later. I wondered whether there was any evidence left of the old Campbell Mill so I drove down Water Street to Brian Drynan's Garage. Brian had found considerable evidence of the Campbell Mill while building his garage, house and other structures. The railroad siding to the Mill is still in place. He found stone foundation walls; a six inch cast iron pipe from the river to the Mill, thought to bring water from the river; and two large concrete slabs, one now serving as a base for propane tanks. And bricks' lots of bricks. Brian remembers the bricks had markings on them and was told they were made in Almonte. He will try to find some of the old bricks for the museum. I am not aware of a brick factory in Almonte. If any of our readers can help, please call me at 256‑1653 This brick factory would have operated in the 1870's.

Posted: 16 June, 2005.

Gillies Company Bridge Carleton Place - 1896

Gillies McLaren Mill 1896.

MacLaren Mill formerly Gillies.

Received from Del Dunlop - [email protected]

Drummond Center Cheese Factory

Carleton Place Dam view from Gillies Mill

Orange Lodge #7, Drummond Center.

Received from: Del Dunlop - [email protected] Posted: 25 September, 2005.

Gilles Mill at Carleton Place, 1896.

Received from Del Dunlop - [email protected] Posted: 03 October, 2005.

Tatlock Marble Mine

Robert James Stead's photographic studio on the Main Street, Lanark Village.

Above pictures received from Del Dunlop [email protected]

Posted: 26 October, 2006.

Middleville Store, Middleville, Ontario.

Received from Adele Martens - [email protected],

Posted, 03 Feb, 2009

This is the "Toll Gate House" located just south of the Village of Lanark on Hwy # 511.

If you used the road, you had to stop and pay the TOLL. This money was used to maintain the road.

There were many Toll Gates in Eastern Ontario. Farmers used to have to maintain the roads that were adjacent to their property, by crushing stones and grading the roadway. If you didn't do this, there could be fines imposed.

Above picture from Adele Martens - [email protected] Posted: 10 February, 2009.