Top 3 Abandoned Places In Halton Hills

There are so many abandoned places in Halton Hills! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Halton Hills. Browse through all abandoned places in Halton Hills

1. Barber Paper Mill- Georgetown

Legacy of Barber Paper Mill 

In 1823 a descendant of the United Empire Loyalists by the name of George Kennedy purchased 200 acres of land. Mr. Kennedy constructed a woolen mill along the banks of the Credit River. A small settlement formed around the mill that took on the name of Hungry Hollow. The name was about the difficult times that the settlers faced. The land was scarcely cleared, roads were poor and the area was full of hungry wolves. For the first few years, only two other people lived in Hungry Hollow: Marquis Goodenow and Sylvester Garrison

In the nearby settlement of Crook's Hollow lived a man named Joseph Barber and his family. The Barber family immigrated to Canada in 1822 where Joseph found work as a stonemason working for James Crooks.

The Barber sons gained experience working in nearby paper mills. The youngest and the eldest of the brothers worked in the woolen factory. The second worked in the paper-making business. The third worked in the mill-wright business.

In 1837, six years after the death of their father Joseph, the four Barber sons (Joseph, Robert, William, and James) left Crook's Hollow and moved to Hungry Hollow.

Relying upon their mill experience, the four brothers purchased a portion of George Kennedy's land and built a mill and metal foundry located south of Kennedy's mill.

By 1840 Hungry Hollow had grown to include John Sumpter's general store and Elijah Travis' planning mill. By 1842 there were two Inns, a tailor, shoemaker, carpenter, and blacksmith. In 1844 a second general store opened, operated by James Young. Philo Dayfoot opened a tannery and boot factory during that same year.

In 1843 the Barber mill had become successful enough that the brothers opened a second mill in the settlement of Streetsville.

Around 1853 the Barber brothers consolidated their two woolen mills in Georgetown due to failing water power. The new larger facility became known as Toronto Woolen Mills. At its prime, the paper mill produced over 5000 pounds of paper for books and newspapers per day.

Cause of fire in Barber Paper Mill

A fire in 1861 destroyed the Streetsville woolen mill and during that same year, a boiler exploded in the paper mill at a loss of $8000.

By 1864 the population of Hungry Hollow had grown to approximately 1250 people.

The downfall of the legacy

In 1869 the Barber Brothers operation was dissolved. Joseph retired, Robert and William took over the Streetsville woolen mill and James took over the sole operation of the Georgetown paper mill.

Upon James' death in 1880, his son John Roaf Barber took over the mill and changed the production to wood pulp. The wood pulp was used for a specialty newspaper known as Number 3, which sold for 5 cents per pound.

By the 1880s the Georgetown mill was requiring increased power to operate. To harness the power of the river a water dam was constructed with a twenty-four-foot fall that was able to provide 175 horsepower. John Roaf Barber hired the Brush Electric Company to create a 100-horsepower electric generator and a 60-horsepower DC motor. The generators were placed in the powerhouse located 2.4 km downstream from the mill. Hydroelectric power was transferred back to the mill by copper wire. This was the first mill of its kind in Canada to generate electrical power for industrial production.

John Roaf continued operating the Barber Paper Mill under 1911 when he retired and sold the mill to the Provincial Paper Company who had mills in Thorold, Milleroches, and Port Arthur.

Provincial Paper was progressively shut down beginning on November 15, 1948, due to weakened financial markets. Production would eventually resume.

The Provincial Paper Company continued to operate until March 31st, 1991 when it was closed permanently.

Today the property is owned by Victor Boutin of Everlast Restoration. Mr. Boutin plans to convert the property into a country inn, fine-dining restaurant, and art studio. A 14 story condominium is also to be built on the site. As of 2010, the developers had submitted their plans to the Town of Halton Hills.

Barber Paper Mill Ghost

Some Southern Ontario paranormal investigators believe the site to be haunted by the ghost of Robert Barber. It is stated that you can hear John barbers ghost having conversations with his family members including joseph barbers ghost as well Robert barbers ghost in different parts of the infrastructure, some even claim to have John barbers ghost picture standing around windows, They have been recorded and can be heard on YouTube.

Dynamo of Barber Paper Mill

Barber mill dynamo was the first long-distance transmission dynamo in North America in 1888. And still stands to this day. Says a lot about the endurance and strength of the architecture of the era.

2. Barber Dynamo

 The Barber Dynamo was the first electrical generating plant to supply an industrial plant in North America.  Built in 1888, the Dynamo generated electricity from a dam across the Credit River. It also served as a home to the Alexander family. Two wires carried the power up to the Barber  Mill on River Road, 3 Km away. It served the industrial needs of John R. Barber until 1913, after which the Mill was served by Ontario Hydro. James Charles Alexander (1874-1954) was the employee at the Barber Mills given the task of running the Dynamo. He moved into the dynamo with his wife Maud (Claridge), his daughter Edith, his son-in-law Gerry King and two grandsons. His responsibilities included turning the power on and off, maintaining the machinery and being on hand at all times. Requests were telephoned from the Mill down to the Dynamo. The night operator of the Dynamo was William Snyder, who lived at the top of hill to the east of the Paper Mill. He walked to work along the railway tracks to the trestle about 3/4th of a mile upstream, climbed down into the ravine and followed a path along the river - doubtless the same path hikers use today. A spring flood of ice took out the Paper Mill dam in 1911, which crippled the Dynamo as well. After it became redundant in 1913, Alexander continued to live there as caretaker. Young Edith Alexander took to her bed here on Christmas Day, 1918 with the Spanish Influenza. She stayed in bed until Easter Sunday. His wife Maud died there of pneumonia on 31 March, 1923, in spite of the doctor traveling across the fields from the 10th Line to help her. Another tragedy occurred 6 weeks later when 2 year old Terry King, following his father to work, became lost and was discovered dead under the old iron bridge on 15 May, 1923.

The Dynamo was boarded up and abandoned after that. Charlie Alexander moved to a cottage on Hall Road in Georgetown. He later advertised for a wife and married Jessie Gertrude Bryant of London, England.
This building is on the other side of the river and can only be reached by trekking through the woods for about a half an hour.

3. Abandoned Cadillac

I found this abandoned Cadillac down a hill, on the same property there's an abandoned bee keepers hut. I'm not sure if someone drove it down the hill or if the hill washed away and took the car for a ride.