(Map of Galt)

Galt is now part of the City of Cambridge but once it was a thriving city in its own right. It was founded by William Dickson and Absalom Shade. The land in Block 1 of the Six Nations Reserve (eventually the Townships of North and South Dumfries) had been sold in 1798 by Joseph Brant to Philip Stedman, who had been at one time the owner of the rights of the Niagara Portage when it was located on the east bank of the Niagara River. A few years later, Stedman died and his heir, his sister, sold the land to Thomas Clarke. In 1815, Clarke found himself unable to keep up the payments so he sold the land to William Dickson.

Dickson, originally from Scotland and a cousin of Thomas Clarke and Robert Hamilton, decided to call the whole block of land Dumfries after his hometown in Scotland. His goal was to build a community in his new property so he asked Absalom Shade to help him. Shade was a 22-year-old builder and Dickson wanted him to build a sawmill and gristmill that would be the foundation for the new community. In 1816, they left for a tour of the property and, at the junction of Mill Creek and the Grand River, they found the perfect spot. Near Mill Creek they found an old abandoned gristmill that had been built for Alexander Miller around 1800. The mill had been abandoned for two reasons: John Erb's mill at the junction of the Speed and Grand Rivers in Preston was better, and Miller had sided with the Americans in the War of 1812 and had forfeited his property. Later the same day that they discovered the mill, they noticed a small hut in the fields on the other side of the Grand River. So they crossed the river to see if they could spend the night there. The owner turned out to be Nathaniel Dodge, a carpenter and millwright, who happened to be the man who built the mill for Miller.

On Dickson's behalf, Shade rebuilt the abandoned mill and so started Galt. Later, he built a new mill, the Dumfries Mill, at the intersection of Mill and Ainslie Streets; this mill was demolished when the Armouries were built in 1914. He also built a store, known as the Red Store, on the southwest corner of Water and Main Streets. In the early days when money was scarce, the chief way of doing business was barter. Later, when money was more available, Shade built another store, the White Store, across Water Street on the southeast corner of the intersection. Its prices were lower than the Red Store's but it was strictly cash only.

By 1819, the new gristmill, the Dumfries Mill, was working. Dickson called on John Telfer to go to Scotland and recruit settlers for his land and by 1832 every plot of land was taken. At first, the community was called Shade’s Mills by the settlers but eventually became known by its official name, Galt, after the Commissioner for the Canada Company, John Galt.

Places to see in Galt:

• Galt City Hall, Dickson Street

  Galt City Hall

  This grand stone building was built in 1857 but not without controversy. Before it was built, some people thought that the design was not grand enough and did not reflect Galt's stature. The building was designed by HB Sinclair and his partner R Burrows. William Graham was to oversee the construction. Graham and Sinclair did not get along and eventually Sinclair walked away from the project, bringing it to a halt. Finally, Burrows agreed to finish the project, which however was delayed until 1858. The clock was added in 1897 in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Cambridge City Hall is now housed in a modern building on Water Street.
  

• The Market, Dickson Street

  The Market

  When the City Hall was built in 1858, the market was to be held in the basement. Very soon, the powers that be realised that this space was not big enough to satisfy the demand. In 1887, the first attempt to solve the problem was to build a single-storey building across the square to augment the space in the City Hall basement. This building is now the single-storey section of the Market building. This solution was still found wanting so, ten years later, a two-storey section was added to the building and so the Market building as it stands today was completed. At first, the second floor was the home for the library (or, as it was then called, the reading room of the Mechanic's Institute). The library was moved in 1903 to the majestic building on Water Street.
  

• CIBC Building, 11 Water Street South

  CIBC Building

  The first building on this site was Absalom Shade's Red Store, where farmers could barter their produce for goods from the store. The building doubled as Shade's home. Behind the store in the river, Shade had his Arks, flat-bottomed boats that he used for transporting his goods down the Grand River through the canal constructed by the Grand River Navigation Company. In 1850, Shade replaced the Red Store with this building known as the Commercial Block. Galt's first bank, the Gore Bank, located in this building in 1857. By 1869, the Gore Bank was in trouble, but before the Galt branch was closed, its assets were taken over by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, which is still here. Originally the front door was on the north side and the building had two floors. It was on the second floor in 1852 that a ball was held to celebrate turning of the sod for Galt's first railway. Shade made three rooms available for the purpose and Sir Allan MacNab was in attendance. Shade also built the first bridge across the river. This bridge and its successors were frequently washed away. The present bridge dates from 1931.

  Main Street Bridge
   

• Kirkmichael, 16 Byng Avenue

  Kirkmichael

  This stone cottage was the home of William Dickson Jr. the son of the Hon. William Dickson, founder of Galt. It was built in 1832 and was intended to be the gatehouse for an even grander house that was never built. It too had a gatehouse. The building with the very steep roof at 10 Byng Avenue was the gatehouse for Kirkmichael.

  10 Byng Avenue
   

• Dickson Mill, 4 Park Hill Road

  Dickson Mill

  Near the former Queen Street Bridge is the impressive Dickson Mill, which had, in fact, little to do with the Dicksons. This old gristmill was built in 1842 by James Ewart and is now a restaurant. The Dickson connection is through another son of William Dickson, Robert, who developed the idea of a mill race similar to that of St Catharines, where it provided water power for industry.


 

• Ovens House, 31-33 Fraser Street

  Ovens House

  This was originally one home and was built by William Ovens about 1829. The front door was wide enough to be split into two entrances when the house was divided. But which side got the window in the central gable?


 

• Trinity Church, 12 Blair Road

  Trinity Church

  The church was founded in the 1844 by William Dickson and Absalom Shade. They paid for most of the structure, whose construction was supervised by the first minister, Rev. Michael Bloomer. There is a monument to Shade and he is buried in the graveyard.


 

• The Cedars, 45 Blair Road

  The Cedars from the front

  John Miller, a prominent lawyer, built this house in 1851. The magnificent front of the house faces down the hill toward the river. It has a large portico with ten columns. Steps lead down to the lawn. The side is almost as grand with rounded windows and a door with a fanlight and sidelights. It too has steps, but these lead to the driveway.

  The Cedars from the side
   

• Rosehill

  Rosehill

  Although now surrounded by a modern subdivision, Rosehill was once in the centre of farmland. It was built before 1850, probably by William McKenzie. The front entrance has a fanlight and sidelights with a column on each side of the door.


 

• Judge Miller House, 54 Wellington Street

  Judge Miller House

  Judge William Miller, first judge of Waterloo County, built this house about 1850 in the hope that it would become the first courthouse. Perhaps he was thinking of the short walk home for lunch. Anyway, it did not become the courthouse and the judge was almost bankrupted by the cost.