Backhouse Grist Mill

This rare technological and architectural survivor of early grain milling in Upper Canada was built by John Backhouse in the 1790s. Typically found in frontier agricultural communities of the early 19th century, this heavy timber-framed structure used water power to mill grain. More contemporary machinery, added in the later 19th and early 20th centuries, was common in small-scale, commercial establishments in the countryside. These mills marked the beginning of what became one of Canada's major industries.