History of Peterborough
In terms of European knowledge of Peterborough, the site of the city was “discovered” by Samuel de Champlain around 1615 and although he did not stay in the area he did stay for a brief time just north of Peterborough in present day Bridgenorth. In 1818 Peterborough was ‘rediscovered’ by Adam Scott, who settled on the west shore of the Otonabee River. Scott quickly named the land ‘Scotts Plains’ and began construction on a saw mill and gristmill. The city experienced its first settler boom in 1825 when British Parliament approved an experimental emigration plan to transport poor Irish families to Upper Canada. 2,000 Irish immigrants from Cork began their journey over to Peterborough. This emigration was managed by Peter Robinson, a politician from Toronto, and Scott’s Plains was renamed Peterborough in his honour. Peterborough was recognized as a town in 1850 when the current population was 2,191.
History of Samuel Dickson
Samuel Dickson was born in 1809 in County Cavan, Ireland. He came to Peterborough in 1830 and was employed by James Hall, a distiller. He later went on to work at a local saw mill on the Otonabee River and in 1840 took ownership of this mill. This mill thus came to be known as the Dickson Mill. Dickson owned all the land from Parkhill (Smith Rd.) to the bridge on Hunter Street on both sides of the Otonabee River. He married a woman named Ann Holmes and they had ten children, one son and nine daughters. Of these ten children only six daughters survived. He was well known in the city for his mill, his land, and his years of service on the Peterborough Council. A major fire occurred at the Sawmill in 1855 and 200,000 feet of lumber was burned. Dickson later died in 1870 when he drowned in the Otonabee River while supervising the repair of a railway pier. His daughters married and their husbands ran the mill, in particular Dickson’s oldest daughter Mary Ann and her husband Thomas A. Hazlitt. Hazlitt worked at the mill even while Dickson was alive and was well aware of how to run this company. Elizabeth Dickson married William Davidson and it was her line of the family that maintained the lumber business. The mill burned down in 1896, only to be rebuilt again in 1903 as a larger structure. In 1906 the Dickson family began to sell portions of their property to create the Peterborough Lumber Company, this was able to give jobs to the younger men from the Dickson Company. Dickson Davidson, Elizabeth’s son, was the president of this new company. The company stayed in the family for several generations, Samuel Dickson’s great granddaughter Helen Munroe McCrae was president of this company in 1957.
Dickson Mills Heritage District and 81 London Street
The boundaries are basically Water Street to the west, Dublin Street to the north, the Otonobee River to the east and McDonnel Street to the south. 81 London Street is located in the centre of the Dickson Mills Heritage District and was originally owned by Alex Morrow, who built the house in 1858. His profession was document as "Gentlemen", rather than being listed as a tradesperson working at the Mill. Alex Morrow's beautiful home was built before Canada became a country!
