(Map of Blair)

Old Samuel Betzner had been born in Germany and had emigrated to Pennsylvania as an orphan in 1755. He married Maria Detweiler and had five children. Being a Loyalist, he decided in 1800 to move to Canada and so became one of the first pioneer Mennonite settlers to move from Pennsylvania to Beasley's Block 2. When he, his family, and his sons-in-law, Joseph Schrg (later spelled Sherk or Shirk) and Christian Reichert and their families came to Waterloo County in 1800, they came to a wilderness. They had bought lots from Richard Beasley on the Grand River. Betzner and Schrg eventually settled opposite Doon village and Reichert near Freeport. Betzner's oldest remaining son, Samuel D. Betzner, settled on the other side of the river near Blair. The younger Betzner's farm is Cedarbrook Farm down Old Mill Road in Blair. In 1816, he sold his farm to Rev. Joseph Baumann (Bowman), the father of Miller Sam Bowman, and moved to West Flamborough.

Another pioneer who settled in Blair was old Abraham Bechtel. He arrived later in 1800 with his family, which included his son Deacon Jacob Bechtel. Jacob's farm was south of Blair and his farmhouse is still there. Jacob's son Henry was a miller. His house and sawmill are still in Blair, near the junction of Old Mill Road and Blair Road, although Henry would scarcely recognise the sawmill.

Rev. Joseph Baumann was a relative latecomer when he arrived in the area in 1816. He bought Samuel Betzner's farm on Old Mill Road and built a sawmill there. This was the first industry in the area and no doubt was sorely needed. His son, Samuel Bowman, known as Miller Sam, built a four-storey flour mill, the Carlisle Mill, on Bowman Creek on his farm. The mill is still in business as the Blair Mill. Miller Sam's relative, Adam Bowman, when he owned the mill, was responsible for a remarkable piece of technology, the Sheave Tower, just across the road from the old mill.

The village has had several names. One was Shingle Bridge for the wooden bridge that crossed the river in the village. The bridge had a roof that was covered with wooden shingles, hence the name. The bridge itself carried the Huron Road, which linked Guelph with the Canada Company's Huron Tract. Another name was Durham or Durhamville for another flour mill, this one built by Henry Bechtel in 1830. Yet another name was Lamb's Bridge because John Lamb's Inn was located at the east end of the bridge. The penultimate name of the village was Carlisle, after Sam Bowman's mill. Unfortunately, when the post office opened in 1858, it was found that there was another post office with that name already. The name chosen to replace that name was Blair, after Adam Fergusson-Blair, a son of Adam Fergusson, founder of the town of Fergus. Fergusson-Blair was a local judge, colonel of the militia, and member of the Legislative Assembly.

Places to see in Blair:

• Lamb's Inn or Nicholson's Tavern, 1679 Blair Road

  Lamb's Inn

  This old inn and tavern was built in 1837, just after the shingle bridge was constructed over the Grand River. At one time it was owned by John Lamb and the village had the name Lamb's Bridge.

• Tilt House, 1646 Blair Road

  Tilt House

  This fine brick 2-storey house was built in 1840 for a schoolteacher, William Tilt. The schoolhouse where Tilt taught occupied the site before the house was built.

• Henry Bechtel House, 4 Old Mill Road

  Henry Bechtel House

  Henry was the grandson of Abraham Bechtel, one of the founders of Blair, who arrived here in the second wave of immigrants in late 1800. Henry was a miller, whose sawmill is just around the corner on Blair Road. The 1½-storey house was built in 1851.

• Cedarbrook Farm, 66 Old Mill Road

  Cedarbrook Farm

  This clapboarded two-storey house was built by Samuel B. (Miller Sam) Bowman in 1832. The farm itself was carved out of the wilderness by Samuel D. Betzner, who arrived in the first wave of Mennonite immigrants in early 1800. Betzner sold the farm to Miller Sam's father, Rev. Joseph Baumann, after he arrived in 1816. Miller Sam also built and ran the Carlisle Mill.

• Carlisle Mill, 91 Old Mill Road

  Carlisle Mill

  Miller Sam Bowman built the Carlisle Mill in 1846. The gristmill was four storey high and operated on the banks of the Bowman Creek. Since then, the mill burned down, and all that is left is the ground floor, shown in the picture. The mill is still in operation and is now called Blair Mills.

• Sheave Tower, across the road from Blair Mill

  Sheave Tower

  Allan Bowman, the mill owner and married to Nancy, the daughter of Miller Sam, thought he could use Bowman Creek more efficiently. So in 1876 he built this tower, which uses a sheave wheel in the roof. The stream drives a turbine blade at the bottom of the tower. Through gears and drive shafts, the turbine in turn drives the sheave wheel, which has a groove around the rim like a pulley. A rope loops around the sheave wheel and a drive shaft in the mill so that, as the sheave wheel turns, it turns the drive shaft in the mill: a smart way to get twice as much work from the power of the creek..

• Jacob Bechtel House, 1490 Blair Road

  Jacob Bechtel House

  Jacob Bechtel, besides being a farmer, was an ordained minister and one of the early Mennonite leaders in the Preston area. The early name for the Preston Mennonite congregation, the oldest in Waterloo County, was the Bechtel congregation. The old part of the house is the left (north) side, which was built of stone by Jacob in 1817 and is the oldest house in the City of Cambridge.