HomeMy WebLinkAbout2090THE ALTONA INN
1035 Concession 2
Uxbridge-Pickering Townline
Southwest Corner, Concession 2, Lot 1
Town of Uxbridge
April 2002
by
John W. Sabean
The Altona Inn
1035 Concession 2, at Uxbridge-Pickering Townline
Concession 2, Lot 1, SW corner
Town of Uxbridge
PIN # 170 Ex McNeil
LOCATION
In Pickering the concessions were laid out from Lake Ontario, so concession roads run east-
west, the north-south roads being referred to as sidelines. Uxbridge, on the other hand, was
laid out from Yonge Street and so its concession roads run north and south. Where Sideline
30 in Pickering meets the Second Concession Road in Uxbridge at the Uxbridge-Pickering
Townline lies the hamlet of Altona, equally divided between Pickering and Uxbridge. The
former Altona Inn is situated on the northeast corner of this intersection, on the Uxbridge
side of the road.
The village of Claremont in Pickering lies to the east and a little south—about seven
kilometres, while Stouffville is about the same distance to the west and a little north. One
19th century writer referred to Altona as “the eastern suburb of Stouffville.” 1 Indeed, the
citizens of Altona have always related more to Stouffville than to either Uxbridge or Pickering.
PROPERTY HISTORY
John Willson received the patent for Lot 1, Concession 2, Uxbridge Township, on the
thirteenth of March 1805.2 Four and a half years later he and his wife sold the entire 200
acres to David Willson.3 David Willson kept possession for 20 years before beginning to
sell off the land in parcels. The southeast quarter was the first to be sold—to Joseph Brown
in 1829. Peter Sebodo purchased the southwest quarter in 1834 and then sold out to Joseph
Brown three years later. Brown now owned the entire south 100 acres. John Middaugh
bought the northwest quarter in 1834 (registered 1841) and his brother Robert the northeast
quarter in 1837 (registered 1846).
John Nigh bought Joseph Brown out—he purchased the southeast 50 acres in February
1841, and then before the end of the year he purchased the rest of the south 100 acres.
From Nigh, Abraham Stouffer obtained 91 acres in 1849, and apparently gave them to his
son Christian, for it was Christian Stouffer who sold several pieces of these 91 acres,
including two sections in the southwest corner to William Cooper in 1850.4
Andrew Lindsay purchased the southwest corner from William Cooper in 1855.5 Lindsay
kept the property to the end of his life and his wife Hannah sold it after his death to Andrew
Brown in 1867. Brown had to take out a mortgage of $400 to make the purchase, but was
able to discharge the mortgage within three years.6
Andrew Brown was the longest owner of this small acreage. He maintained the property for
39 years before selling to Ida May Graves in 1906. Graves sold the same year to Mary Jane
Miller, who may have been her daughter, for a few years later Graves served as the executor
of Miller’s estate when the property was resold to Michael Peters in 1912.
Oliver M. Madill was the next owner. He purchased the property in 1921 and kept it for 32
years before selling to Robert Hilker Brown in 1953. Hilker and Anna Mae Brown granted
the property to their son John George Brown in 1955. The next year the younger Brown and
his wife Mary Jane sold to Joseph and Agnes Housser.
The Houssers sold to Wallace L.E. McKinnon in 1965, and McKinnon resold a year and a
half later to Doreen Mitchell and Julia E. MacDonald-Ross. Robert J. and Sandra H. McNeil
then purchased the property in 1971. The McNeils were in possession when the land was
expropriated by Her Majesty the Queen in 1972-73.
CONTEXT: THE HAMLET OF ALTONA
Few hamlets or villages can date their beginnings as precisely as can Altona. Until 1850 the
only public or industrial building that existed at the juncture of Pickering Township’s Sideline
30 and Uxbridge Township’s Second Concession Road was a log schoolhouse. In the year
1850 three entrepreneurs—Abraham Reesor, Joseph Monkhouse and William Cooper—
created the nucleus of the hamlet of Altona with the building of a mill, a store, and a hotel.
Reesor’s Mill
Abraham Reesor (1815-1855) was the son of immigrants Peter Reesor (1775-1854) and
Esther Eby. In 1804 the Reesor family, headed by Christian Reesor, Peter’s father, made
the trek in a Conestoga wagon from Pennsylvania to Markham.7 They were among the early
settlers of Markham Township. The Reesors were part of an extensive Mennonite migration
to Markham, part of which spilled over into western Pickering Township.
In 1850 Abraham Reesor, who farmed Lot 34, Concession 3 in Pickering Township (down
by Cherrywood), built two mills, a flour mill and a saw mill, at the north end of Lot 30,
Concession 9 in Pickering Township.8 However, just five years after he started the mills he
died of typhoid fever. His widow, Christina Shunk, had a life lease on the mills, so when she
remarried—to Joseph Monkhouse—her new husband took over the running of them for the
next ten years.
When Christina died in 1865 the mill reverted to her family. Abraham’s and Christina’s son,
Abraham, Jr., then took over the operations. When Ross Johnston, travelling salesman for
the Whitby Chronicle, dropped by in 1884, he made this observation about the Reesors and
their mills:
Just come over with me and have a look through the ‘Altona Mills’ close by on the south side.
Here we are, and here too is Mr. Abram Reesor the occupant, busy making repairs in the
mill-race. Building frame, three and a half stories, water power, old process, machinery
complete, mill been running about 20 years, capacity about 40 bbls. a day. Three run of
stones, business chiefly gristing and chopping at present, but intention is to do more
extensive business by and by. You have our best wishes Mr. Reesor for the success both of
yourself and your mill.
Then close by is Mr. Flavius Reesor [Abraham’s brother], also a miller, and thresher as well.
His mill is a cider mill, and there is no lack of grists this season. He also runs a steam
thresher, termed ‘Sawyer’s Grain Saver.’ These Reesors work into each other’s hands you
see. The one threshes the grain and the other grinds it.9
After the Reesors the mill went through a series of hands until it burned to the ground in 1944.
Monkhouse’s Store
Joseph Monkhouse (c1826-1903) originally came to Canada West in 1849 to operate a
store in Stouffville, but he soon came to the north end of Pickering Township to join his
brother Thomas. Here he established a business which was to be widely hailed during his
lifetime, and which would last for almost a century. The business was a store, which Joseph
created in 1850. It was here in 1853 that the Post Office was opened with Joseph as the first
Post Master.10 It would have been at that time that a name was chosen for the post office,
and therefore of the little hamlet that was taking shape around it.
According to Joseph Nighswander, whose family goes back six generations in Markham
and Pickering, the hamlet was named after the city of Altona, near Hamburg, in Germany.
Much of the literature that the early Mennonites in the area read was published in the
German Altona, where the Mennonites had long enjoyed great freedom of worship when it
was under Danish rule.11
When Joseph Monkhouse left to run the Reesor Flour Mill, sometime after 1857, his brother
Thomas stepped in to take over the daily operation of the store. He was the chief clerk and
also the Post Master until he died in 1886. After a few years the business was so successful
that the old two-storey building was torn down and a new three-storey building was erected
in its place in 1865. The grand reopening was a major event with the Hon. George Brown,
himself, present to make a political speech.12 Ross Johnston commented in 1884:
Mr. Thos. Monkhouse (brother of the much-respected Reeve of Pickering) is the Post-
Master and mercantile man of the place, and keeps a fine variety of goods embracing all
lines needed in a country store. He is evidently doing an excellent business here. The
business was established in 1850 by his brother Joseph, who carried it on for 15 years,
since which time it has been conducted by Thomas. Can any mercantile house in the
township show a longer record?13
Once Joseph Monkhouse’s duties as miller ceased he turned to farming. He purchased Lot
32, Concession 9, and there carried on a successful farming operation. He also took up
politics and served on the township council for 10 years. A measure of his stature may be
taken from his election to several terms as Reeve of the township (1884-1887) as well as a
stint as county Warden (1887).14
When Thomas died in 1886, Joseph left off farming and returned to the store.15 By this time
the store had created quite a reputation. The Stouffville Free Press ran this item in 1890:
The place is noted because of Mr. Monkhouse’s store. The store is noted not only because
of its large stock of dry goods and groceries, but especially because it carries the largest
stock of delf [sic] ware in this district. The whole of the upper flat of the large building
(erected about twenty-five years ago) is transformed into a veritable China Hall. The visitor’s
attention is first arrested by counter after counter covered with handsome Dinner and Tea
sets. This large assortment is found in a variety of colors in print and enamel, with plain gold
or spangle. Under these counters are arranged scores of Toilet Sets from the comparatively
plain to those of the most handsome design and superior quality. Next in order are arranged
large counters of glassware, plain and in colors. On both side of the building run wide
counters the full length, covered with a bewildering variety of fancy china. Much of this stock
comes by direct importation from Europe. This fact is indicative of prices at “China Hall.” No
one in this vicinity need go to Toronto to buy fine table ware.16
Thereafter the store was generally referred to as the “China Hall.” Monkhouse died in 1903
and the business was taken over by his son Willis who continued the business until 1937.
This building, too, eventually succumbed to the flames.
Cooper’s Inn
In the same year that Abraham Reesor was building the mills and Joseph Monkhouse was
creating his store, both near the southeast corner of Altona, William Cooper was erecting the
Altona Inn on the northeast corner of the intersection. The hotel was a mainstay in Altona for
60 years before it fell victim to the Temperance Movement.
Altona Mennonite Meetinghouse
The emerging hamlet grew from these three public buildings, and more were to follow in
short order. The next to be built was the Altona Mennonite Meetinghouse. In fact, it may have
been the first to be planned, for in February 1850 a meeting was held in Stouffville to
appoint trustees to oversee the erection of a new facility.17 The Mennonites in the area had
not lacked for a place to worship. They first assembled in homes until that became
inconvenient. When the first schoolhouse—made of logs—was built in 1825, they used this
as their meeting place. But by 1850 the congregation had outgrown this building. The new
trustees of the congregation, appointed in 1850—Abraham Stouffer, Samuel Hoover, and
Martin Nighswander—set about completing their mission. Christian Stouffer donated an
acre of land for the building and plans proceeded. The building was completed by the end of
1852, and services began in the church early in the new year.18 Continuous services were
conducted in the meetinghouse until 1974. When all the land around Altona was expropriated
in 1972-73, at the request of the Trustees the meetinghouse and cemetery were excluded.
The building still stands, and in 1985 was designated a heritage site under the Ontario
Heritage Act.
Schoolhouse (School Section 17)
Two years after the church was completed a new schoolhouse was built. The 1825 log
school sat right on the southeast corner of the intersection, just north of where the church
was erected.19 The new school was built across on the west side of Sideline 30 and a short
distance south of the intersection. The present school building—no longer functioning as
such—occupies the same spot. It was built in 1911 and continued in use as a schoolhouse
until 1965. Since then it has been used for such things as a community centre, a church, and
storage for an acting company.20
Temperance Hall
To complete the four corners a temperance hall was erected on the northwest corner. Just
when this building was erected is not now known, but it was probably in the1850s or early
1860s. It was conceived by Abijah Jones, whose family had immigrated to Upper Canada
about 1805, as an alternative meeting place to the Altona Inn, which was licenced to serve
alcohol. One of its chief functions was to serve as a meeting place for the Universalist
Church, of which Jones was a member. 21 It was torn down between 1923 and 1926.
Nighswander Mill
A kilometre or so south of the four corners, on the south half of Lot 31, another mill was
erected in the mid-1850s, on land originally patented by Martin Nighswander.22 According
to family tradition a mill was erected on the site between 1854 and 1857, probably by
Samuel Nighswander who had purchased the property from his brother. At any rate, after
1857 the mill—a carding mill for the manufacture of woolens—was run by Edwin Cliff.23 The
mill went through a succession of hands as a carding mill, then was purchased by Enos
Nighswander in 1903 and converted to grist.24 In 1926 it was converted again to a cider
mill by Enos’ son Peter, who operated it with his son Harvey. Harvey sold the cider mill in
1964 to Ken Cummings who continued to make cider to 1974. Public Works Canada later
tore down the empty mill.
Missionary Church
Just east of the hamlet another church was built in 1875. This church served two distinct
congregations—the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church (an offshoot of the old Mennonite
order) and the Christian Church (organized in 1872). Abraham Reesor, Jr. provided the land,
Daniel Barkey promoted the project and served as the superintendent of the union Sunday
school, and Noah Detwiler served as the first pastor of the church. Services continued in this
church until 1980. It now houses a Christian Day School.
PERSONAL HISTORIES
John Willson (c1782- )
On the 11th of March 1805, John Willson took the Oath of Allegiance before William
Willcocks in York:
JOHN WILLSON of Gwilingbury Yeoman Twenty three Years Old a Protestant, Dark brown
/Hair and Hazel Eyes five feet six Inches high, having taken the Oaths prescribed by Law do
Subscribe the same at York the 11th Day of March 1805.25
Two days later he received the patent for Lot 1, Concession 2 in Uxbridge. It is not known if
Willson ever completed the settlement duties on the property before he and his wife sold out
to David Willson, who was probably his brother. Nothing more is known of John Willson.
Willson was not the only one to receive land in the southwest corner of Uxbridge Township
and abandon it. The survey map of 1805 shows the patentees on these lots. Most of them
were Quakers, viz., Jacob and Joshua Winn, Nathan Bostwick, Thomas Hazard, John Evans,
and Timothy Millard. These all made an Affirmation of Allegiance between 11 December
1804 and 24 June 1805. Most, however, preferred land along Yonge Street in what is now
Newmarket; only Timothy Millard settled in Uxbridge. When settlement began in earnest in
Uxbridge it would indeed be Quakers who made up the bulk of the early migration, but these
would all settle near what became Uxbridge Village.26
By his oath, John Willson was not, at least at that time, numbered among the Quakers. He
had already established his home in Gwillimbury Township, which is probably why he sold
this land in Uxbridge.
David Willson (1778-1866)
Why David Willson purchased the land is not clear. He, too, was established in Gwillimbury.
This is the David Willson who abandoned his Presbyterian faith to join the Quakers and then
broke with the Quakers in 1812 to form the Children of Peace.
At first David Willson embraced the Friends Society whole-heartedly. When the Yonge Street
Monthly Meeting allowed the Sharon Quakers a meeting for worship, Willson himself
provided the land for the erection of a meetinghouse. However, he soon became restless
and sought a more dynamic form of worship for the congregation at Sharon.
Willson was a man of great worldly experience before he settled in Upper Canada. He was
a joiner by trade and had spent some time aboard ship as a sailor, travelling all the way to
China. He was not a man to be content with silent, contemplative worship. In particular he
introduced music into the Quaker services at Sharon. In time those who preferred the normal
practices of Quaker worship returned to Yonge Street, while the Children of Peace in Sharon,
about 1825, embarked on an ambitious building program.
For their regular services they built a meetinghouse modelled on the Quaker form, but for
special occasions they built a temple that, in the words of Marion Macrae and Anthony
Adamson, was “a monument to the joiner’s skill which was unique in Upper Canada.” 27 On
festive occasions a choir, each member of which held a lighted candle, would descend the
perilous stairs from an upper story, singing as they went and accompanied by a silver band.
Every window pane contained a lighted candle. In a largely wilderness area these festivals
were wondrous to behold.
Perhaps the sale of land in Uxbridge helped to finance the building program and ongoing
festival expenses in Sharon.
Peter Sebodo, Joseph Brown and John Nigh
Nothing is known of these three. Neither Sebodo nor Brown is recorded by George Walton
as occupying Lot 1 in 1837.28
Abraham Stauffer (1780-1851)
Abraham Stauffer, the next owner, was married to Elizabeth Reesor, daughter of Christian
Reesor, and had made the trek from Pennsylvania to Markham with the Reesor family in
1804. His affirmation of allegiance was made late in that year before Justice of the Peace
William Willcocks:
ABRAHAM STOUFFER late of Pennsylvania Farmer, Hazel Eyes brown Hair Six feet One
Inch high, born in Pennsylvania 28 Years Old a Menonist / having taken the Affirmation &
made the Declaration prescribed by Law / Do subscribe the Same at York the 28th Day of
Decem’r 1804.29
Stauffer and his wife settled in the northeastern part of Markham on Lot 35, Concession 9.
The community that formed on their land took their name: Stouffville.30 Abraham also
purchased Lot 30, Concession 9, Pickering Township, in 1809, and, as we have seen he
was one of the first trustees of the Altona Mennonite Meetinghouse and burial ground. Both
he and his wife are buried in that burial ground; Elizabeth’s stone is the oldest in the
cemetery, dating from 1835.
Christian Stauffer (1799-1868)
Abraham Stauffer did not die until 1851, but when Lot 1, Concession 2 in Uxbridge was
transferred to William Cooper in 1850 the name in the Registry Office was Christian,
Abraham’s son. Christian as a lad of five had made the journey with his family from
Pennsylvania to Markham. As an adult he would take over possession of Lot 30,
Concession 9 in Pickering from his father.31 In 1849 he moved his family to Washington,
south of Waterloo, Ontario.
As we have observed it was he who provided the land upon which was built the Altona
Mennonite Meetinghouse. It may be that, with the sale of the Uxbridge property and the
donation of the Pickering property, he was divesting himself of his Pickering-Uxbridge lands
to finance and consolidate his new farm in Washington.
William Cooper (c1791- )
There is no evidence that any structure had been built on the northeast corner of what
became the hamlet of Altona before 1850. When William Cooper purchased the property in
1850 it was with a view to constructing an inn. This was to be one of eight that existed in
Uxbridge at mid-century. As McBurney and Byers stated in Tavern in the Town:
Uxbridge was founded by Pennsylvania Germans and Quakers, and from earliest times,
when John Plank built the first tavern there, business and drinking flourished. By mid-century
there were eight taverns in Uxbridge Township and, in the free-and-easy spirit of the times,
people as young as fifteen years were allowed to drink in them.32
Cooper’s inn was in a strategic location—about mid-way along the east-west route between
Claremont and Stouffville. It would serve as a stopping place for weary travellers and as a
meeting place for local residents.
Inns were an important institution in pioneer society and were often among the first
structures to be erected. For travellers on their way to their new homesteads, or on their way
to market, or, of course, on many another journey, inns were places for lodging, dining, and
drinking, and for the refreshing and/or stabling of horses. And because travel was slow and
tedious inns were frequent along the roads and spaced at convenient intervals. For
community purposes inns were often the only public buildings available for meetings or
social gatherings. It was here that dances were held, politics was discussed, and all the
local and distant news was exchanged.33
In the early years of settlement inns were not always places of great reputation. Travellers
often complained about uncertain accommodations. John Howison made this observation in
1821 based on his extensive travels in Upper Canada:
Most of the taverns in Upper Canada are indeed a burlesque upon what they profess to be.
A tolerable meal can scarcely be procured at any one of them; nay, I have visited several
which were not even provided with bread. It is immaterial what meal the traveller calls for, as
the same articles will be set before him morning, noon, and night, not even excepting tea,
which is considered so essential to comfort, that if the mistress of the hotel has none of the
Chinese plant, she will send one of her children into the woods to gather parts of the
evergreen, hemlock, hickory, or other nauseous vegetables; and having made an infusion of
the herb brought in, will perhaps inquire of her astonished and shuddering guest, if the tea is
sufficiently strong! None of the minor public-houses are provided with servants to attend
travellers who put up at them, and, therefore, when the landlord is absent, or in an
independent humour, one is obliged to unsaddle, feed, and take charge of his own horse,
otherwise the animal will be totally neglected.34
However, by mid-century conditions had improved considerably. W.H. Smith wrote his
Canada: Past, Present and Future in 1851 specifically to inform would-be immigrants what
to expect in the New World. So far as inns were concerned he was able to report:
The emigrant will find travelling in Canada very different to what it was represented to be,
thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago…. In travelling through the Province in the present day, in
search of a settlement, the emigrant will have little difficulty in finding comfortable
accommodation. As the country becomes settled up, and the traffic increases, the means of
the inhabitants also improving, they begin to look for a different quality of accommodation to
that with which they were satisfied twenty years before. The settler, who fifteen or twenty
years ago, when he was detained on the road, on his way to or from market, was glad to put
up with the share of a bed with a neighbour, thankful that he could get any shelter at all, now,
after growing independent, and paying a few visits to the city, begins to raise his head a little
in he world; he drives himself and his wife in the new ‘buggy,’ sends his man on with the team,
and if he stays on the road, requires not merely a bed, but also a room to himself ….35
With few exceptions innkeepers were among the most respected and influential citizens of
their communities. They were often one of the first successful entrepreneurs and usually
jacks-of-all-trades. This was certainly true of the William Cooper who kept a tavern in York in
the early part of the century. This William Cooper was a wharfinger, an auctioneer, one of
York’s first schoolmasters, and a coroner.36 It is possible that Uxbridge’s William Cooper
was a descendant.
William Cooper was 60 years old when he established the Altona Inn. He maintained it,
possibly with the help of his son James, for five years before retiring and selling the business
to Andrew Lindsay. In the 1851 Census for Uxbridge, miller John Hicks is listed as owning a
distillery. This may have been at least one source of Cooper’s supply of liquor.37
Andrew Lindsay
The next owner of the Altona Inn was Andrew Lindsay. Lindsay was included in Lovell’s
Directory of 1857 as the innkeeper, but he may have died that year or the next because for
the years 1858-59 the Assessment Rolls list George Levitt (b. 1829) as innkeeper. James
Cooper (b c1827) was the innkeeper in 1860-61, Andrew Brown in 1865, and George
Fishburn from 1866 to 1870. And in 1867 it was Andrew’s wife Hannah who sold out to
Andrew Brown.38
Andrew Brown (1823-1907)
The man who owned the inn for the longest period—for 39 years—and the man whose
name is usually associated with the inn, is Andrew Brown. This was not Brown’s first
association with the running of an inn. He had been proprietor of the Halfway House
(he called it The Forest Inn) on the Fourth Concession Road at the corner of Stouffville
Road.39 And in 1865, as we have seen, he ran the Altona Inn for Hannah Lindsay.
Brown operated a very successful business in Altona, successful enough by 1875 to carry
out a project of renovation. He replaced the west half of the old frame building, which housed
the barroom, with a new two-storey brick addition. A new barroom—decorated in gilt—was
installed on the first floor and above it was a dining room and ballroom. The east wing, which
was left intact, was renovated to house an additional dining room, guestrooms and the
residence for the proprietor and his family. At the entrance a gilded sign stood as an
invitation to patrons. As Joseph Nighswander has said, “It was an impressive and popular
entertainment place in the latter part of the nineteenth century.”40
The selling of alcoholic beverages in taverns and inns was regulated right from the early
years of the province’s history. 41 For example, in March 1801 it was given as the opinion of
the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Home District “that Six persons
are a sufficient Number for Keeping Tavern in the Town of York for the Year Ensuing.”42 Six
persons were approved and allowed to apply for tavern licences, but at least two others were
not approved. Among the chosen few was the William Cooper to whom we have previously
referred. All of the tavern owners were then appointed as Constables so that they “might
Keep good rule and order in their respective houses.”43 At the next session of the court in
April John Horton was convicted of selling “spirituous Liquors … in small quantities” without
being licenced.44 He was duly fined.
In 1805 eighteen people in the Home District applied for licences to keep a tavern. Not all
were recommended, but among the successful applicants was Hawkins Woodruff who was
the first to operate a hotel/tavern in Pickering Township.45 It was not until about 1825 that
the first hotel was established in Uxbridge—by J.P. Plank, in what became Uxbridge Village.
46 It is not known, however, if Plank’s hotel was immediately licenced.
By all accounts excessive consumption of alcohol was a severe problem in the pioneer
society of Upper Canada. Almost all travellers’ and settlers’ accounts make mention of the
overdrinking and its effects on family life and the local community. The causes for this were
many and complicated and cannot be easily summarized in this report, but certainly
contributing factors included the loneliness and harshness of pioneer life and the lack of
intellectual and cultural stimulants and social engagement.47 And for the traveller, whiskey,
which was extremely cheap, was a welcome relief at the end of an exhausting journey.
The Temperance Movement—an attempt to deal with the ills created by the problem of over-
consumption—began in the United States where the problem was just as acute. From there
it spread to Upper Canada where the first temperance society was formed in Bastard
Township (Leeds County) in 1828. By 1832 there were about 100 societies in Upper
Canada—including Pickering Township, but not yet Uxbridge.48 However, at least until the
mid-century the arguments of the prohibitionists did not carry much weight. For one thing
whiskey sales had an important economic function. As Leo Johnson put it:
In early periods when grain was cheap and difficult to transport, whiskey produced from
wheat paid for many early farms. Moreover, in an era when travel was slow and difficult,
frequent inns were necessary for the comfort and well-being of travellers, and the sale of
alcohol was a mainstay of the innkeepers’ incomes. Without the sale of whiskey there is little
doubt that many, if not most, inns would have been forced to close. Indeed, not only was the
latter argument used to defend the sale of whiskey, but in periods of strong temperance
agitation the dependency of the public on the inns was exploited to prevent the effective
introduction of anti-liquor legislation.49
In Ontario County the Temperance Movement began to take a foothold in the 1850s when
several new societies were formed, including one in Uxbridge. In 1858 a demonstration by
temperance advocates was held in Uxbridge in order to bring attention to the issues and to
recruit new members. If the popularity of prohibition was increasing, however, it was not
translating into votes. And when by-laws were passed they proved to be ineffectual, or
worse still, counter-productive. Voters were well aware of what happened in Bowmanville in
1859 where a by-law was passed to prohibit the sale of whiskey by inns and taverns. The
Whitby Chronicle recounted the results:
The effects of a prohibitory liquor law in Bowmanville are daily becoming more inconvenient,
and a subject of public complaint. The Tavern-keepers—prevented from selling that on
which alone they derived a profit—keep their premises altogether closed up, their gates
locked, and will not open them to travellers or anyone else. This they do by way of retaliation
for the unjust manner in which they consider they have been treated. The result is that neither
food nor a place to rest—for man or horse—can be procured in the Town for love or money.
50
Customers, of course, simply went to nearby towns to secure their wants and needs.
Johnson adds:
When farmers and travellers, complaining of the lack of accommodation for themselves and
their horses, began to avoid Bowmanville, the bylaw was hurriedly repealed. After a few such
experiences, the movement faded from view until the 1870s.51
As interest in prohibition began to wax again in the 1870s there was another grand
demonstration in Uxbridge in May 1873 led by the Sons of Temperance Society. Perhaps in
response the Uxbridge Township Council in 1875 passed a by-law to limit the number of
tavern licences to five. Among those fortunate five was Andrew Brown of Altona. The other
innkeepers had to be content with licences for Temperance Houses.52
Meanwhile the provincial and federal governments began to get into the act. In 1864 the
province passed the Dunkin Act which introduced the principle of Local Option. Any county
or municipality—if they could secure a majority vote—could prohibit the retail sale of liquor. It
wasn’t until 1877, however, that a poll was taken in Ontario County. Uxbridge Township was
one of four municipalities that voted against prohibition, but since an over-all majority in the
county approved it it was put into effect in the following year. The new law, however, proved
to be unenforceable in the county and just a year later—in 1879—a by-law to repeal the
Dunkin Act in Ontario County was passed.
In 1878 the federal government, under John A. Macdonald, passed the Scott Act which had
much the same provisions as the Dunkin Act. It took another eight years for this to come into
effect in Ontario County, only to be repealed again three years later—again because it was
unenforceable. The repeal of the Scott Act in Ontario County brought into force again the
Crooks Act, a law which was passed by the provincial government in 1876, putting the
authority for licencing the sale of alcohol into provincial hands. 53 So in 1890, when
applications came in again for liquor licences, the provincial inspector again approved five
licences in Uxbridge Township, and once again Andrew Brown was among their number.
54 The struggle between the Wets and Drys continued for the next 20 years, but while Brown
always faced the threat of losing his right to sell liquor, his licence was renewed annually.
The federal government tried again—this time under Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier. In 1898
they held a national plebiscite, and while a majority voted in favour of prohibition it was not a
large enough majority for Laurier to feel confident in passing it into law.
Then the province tried again. Under Premier James Whitney the rules were tightened: the
cost of licences was increased and inspections were made both more frequently and more
stringently. Whitney would still allow municipalities to introduce prohibition, but only if they
achieved a three-fifths majority of voters. In 1905, 94 Ontario municipalities put the question
to a vote. The townships around Uxbridge—Markham, Pickering, Whitchurch, and Scott—
were among the 94, but Uxbridge was not. Uxbridge did, however, put the matter before the
electorate in the following year, but although the Drys won the vote they failed to reach the
necessary three-fifths majority. Prohibitionists had to wait another three years before they
could make another attempt, and this time—in 1910—they were successful. Local Option
came into effect in Uxbridge Township in May 1910.55
Before the axe fell, Andrew Brown had retired in April 1906. By that time he was 83 years of
age. He died a year later and was buried alongside his wife Martha (who had died in 1901)
in the Altona Cemetery. His epitaph reads: “In life beloved, in death lamented.” And this
sentiment seems to be genuine, for by all accounts he was a highly respected member of
the Altona community, and ran an efficient, popular and no-nonsense establishment in his
more than 40 years in the hospitality trade.
Several authors refer to an epithet that became associated with the Altona Inn during the
Brown regime—“Look-See Brown” Hotel—and conclude from that that “many hair-raising
events took place there.”56 But no compilation of stories has survived to substantiate this
interpretation. What Ross Johnson said about Brown and his inn when he visited in 1884
seems closer to the truth:
Making a fresh start I pushed on westward and finally reached the Altona Hotel kept by Mr.
Andrew Brown. Tired enough was I, as the roads were getting heavy. Andrew keeps a quiet
comfortable house and does his best to make his guests feel at home. He professed to be a
law-abiding citizen, and is therefore unlikely to give the License Inspector much trouble. He
has been 20 years in business here and elsewhere, and is very fond of gardening.57
A more likely explanation of the epithet is that told to me by Joseph Nighswander. Andrew
Brown was justly proud of his inn and its décor. He liked to take guests on a tour of the
premises and stopping in front of a particular feature he wished to point out would say, “Look,
see …”58 This explanation is much more in keeping with the reputation that Brown had
earned in Altona over the years. His burial in the Mennonite cemetery is not at all an anomaly.
Ted Graves
In 1906 Ted Graves moved out from Toronto to Uxbridge with his wife Ida Mae to take over
the running of the Altona Hotel. He apparently had dreams of turning the hotel into a summer
resort, but that was not to be.59 After a couple of years he turned over the operation of the
business to James Wellman who ran it for the next three years with the help of his son Harry
until Local Option made it unprofitable in 1910.60
Michael Peters
The next owner, Michael Peters of Toronto, who seems to have been an absentee landlord,
turned the building into apartments. There is some evidence that one renter may also have
used part of the premises as a store during the summer months.61
Oliver M. Madill (1887-1968)
The former hotel gained new purpose when “Ollie” Madill returned to his roots in 1921 and
remodelled the building into a general store. The Monkhouse store was still in operation and
would be for another decade and a half, but there was little competition as they traded in
different goods.
While Madill came to Altona from Toronto he was born in Brougham and had roots that went
well back in Pickering history. His great grandmother, Ruth Wixon, was the daughter of
Joshua Wixon, one of the earliest settlers in the north of Pickering; she is believed to have
been the first white child born in Pickering Township.62 Madill’s tenure in the former Altona
Inn was second only to that of Andrew Brown. He ran the Altona General Store for 32 years,
from 1921 to 1953.
When Madill took over the premises he found them badly in need of repair. He completely
renovated the interior to make it suitable for grocery sales. He added shelving, but found that
the old bar would serve just as well for his counter. He put on a new roof, tore down the out-
buildings, and cleared away the underbrush. But more he could not do immediately because
he found himself in the middle of a slumping market. For years he and his wife struggled to
make ends meet, but eventually they came to enjoy a more fruitful profit margin.
Once he was well established he undertook a beautification project for the property to the
east of the building. He spruced up the whole area to create a park-like setting, and even
built a bridge over the creek. The store itself occupied the brick part of the building while the
older frame structure served as the family residence. Madill’s services included an egg-
grading station and the area’s first gas pump. After he retired in 1953 he moved to Stouffville.
63
Robert Hilker Brown (1898- )
Madill probably chose the right time to retire, for by the 1950s small country stores were
beginning to give way to the super stores appearing in the town centres. So when Hilker
Brown came down from Bruce County to take over the store he found a business that was
rapidly declining. He lasted a mere two years before packing it in.
Hilker Brown was the great uncle of Allan McGillivray, the present curator of the Uxbridge-
Scott Museum and Archives. Allan was only about 11 or 12 years old when Brown ran the
store. He remembers going to the store on occasion for ice cream, and he remembers his
great uncle’s booming voice and great mustache.64
What was needed in the area was not a general store, but a facility that catered to the needs
of local farmers. In 1954, Fred Lewis opened his Altona Feed and Supplies store just down
the road from the Altona General Store. This business lasted twenty years until changes in
local farming practices phased out even this business.65
After Brown closed down the Altona General Store the building was once again converted to
apartments and run as such by subsequent owners.
BUILDING HISTORY
The Altona Inn was originally erected as a frame building in the year 1850. It was built
specifically for use as a licenced hotel. It continued to be operated as a hotel for 60 years, to
1910.
In the meanwhile, the western part of the structure was torn down in 1875 and replaced by a
new two-storey brick addition. The newer brick structure housed the barroom on the main
floor, and a dining room and ballroom on the second floor. The older, frame section also had
a dining area, but served especially as the inn’s guest rooms and the proprietor’s residence.
After 1910 the entire building was converted for use as apartments, and was used as such
until 1921.
Beginning in 1921 major renovations were made to the building, especially to the brick part
which was remodelled for use as a grocery store. The building served as a general store
from 1921 to 1955.
After 1955 the building reverted to use as apartments. Sometime in the mid-1960s owner
Wallace McKinnon undertook some further renovations. It was at that time that the porches
were removed and the brick walls painted white.
In the inventory of the North Pickering Project, conducted in 1974, this house was listed as
#4 and rated a 2. The house was described as:
Clapboard on frame—the older wing of a larger brick structure—fine example of early frame
construction; particularly notable are the second-story dormers. Suitable re-use could be
either residential or commercial in a village setting; only the frame wing need be saved.
Pickering, Pickering-Uxbridge Twp. Line in Altona.66
Class 2 structures are defined as:
Structures of substantial architectural merit and cultural importance that should be preserved.
67
The consultant firm of I.K. Woods and Partners completed a heritage inventory for the
Township of Uxbridge in 1991. Their coverage of the former Altona Inn did not include a
rating in terms of heritage significance, but did score the building both architecturally and
structurally as above average.68
SUMMARY and CONCLUSIONS
The hamlet of Altona was never large and its public buildings were few but served the basic
needs of a farming community. There were, of course, other services and other businesses
locally available—such as a blacksmith and a slaughterhouse—that came and went as the
need dictated.
The Altona Inn was one of the first extra-residential structures to be built in the hamlet of
Altona. With both a commercial and social purpose it was also one of the keystone buildings.
For 60 years it served its original function, and in a later age served another important role
as the community’s general store.
Of the eight primary nineteenth-century commercial or public structures of the hamlet of
Altona—two churches, a school, two mill complexes, a hotel, a temperance hall, and a store
—only half are still standing. Of these none are still in use as originally intended, and only
one is fully occupied.
The Public buildings that remain, along with a few of the older houses such as those built by
Abijah Jones and Joseph Monkhouse, are all that is left to tell us the story of this once
Mennonite-dominated area. Since this hamlet sits on the edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine—
which is to be preserved—it would be well to preserve as well those buildings which have
defined the area over many years. Perhaps if the Moraine becomes a place to visit—to view
the countryside and to walk the trails—once thriving hamlets like Altona will discover a new
purpose and a new life.
NOTES:
1Free Press (Stouffville), 1890.
2All land transactions as per the Abstract Indices. John Willson appears on Wilmot’s Survey
Plan of 1805.
3The deed was dated 14 November 1809, but not registered until June of 1825.
4Two parcels of 3 7/10 acres and 1 acre in February 1850. The name Stouffer here should
more properly be spelled Stauffer. See below, note 30.
5A 2 1/2-acre lot for £100, and 1-acre lot for £25—on the same day in May 1955. George
McPhillips’ Plan of Altona surveyed for David Reesor in 1857 shows the Altona Inn but
provides no names. Later maps—Tremaine (1860), Beers (1877), and the Goad (1895)
insurance map—are not sufficiently detailed to provide names attached to smaller lots.
6Mortgage to Leonard S. Boyls (of the Boils/Boyles family in Markham).
7The story of the Reesor family migration has been told often. See, e.g., Reesor Family in
Canada (2000), and Davies (1973). Christian’s and Peter’s Oaths of Allegiance are given
in York Pioneer (1961), p. 30.
8Mills may have existed before 1850 at the north end of Lot 30, Concession 9. In the1851
Pickering Census under the name of Abraham Reesor two mills are described: “1 Flouring
Mill. Cost £300. Power to drive 2 run of stone. Produce about 200 bbls per annum.” and “1
Saw Mill. Cost £50. Power to drive 1 saw. Produces about 100 m feet per annum.” Attached
to these entries is a note, probably for assessment purposes, that “These are both old mills,
and are not at present worth scarcely of [sic] fraction of their original cost.” If the mills \
predate Reesor just who built the mills and when is not now known. Reesor then would not
have been the creator of the mills, but the restorer only.
9Traveller (1884).
10Rosenthal (1965). In the census of 1851 both Joseph and Thomas are described as
merchants. By that time the brothers had been joined in Pickering by their parents John and
Sarah.
11Nighswander (1985), pp. 21-22. The first appearance of the name that I have been able
to locate so far is of 1857; it appears in an Indenture of Bargain and Sale regarding the sale
of the land for the meetinghouse. Original copy in possession of Joseph Nighswander.
12Nighswander (1985), p. 25.
13Traveller (1884).
14Farewell (1907), pp. 16, 145-150. Wood (1911), 272-273.
15Thomas Monkhouse (1828-1886) is buried in the Altona Cemetery.
16Free Press (Stouffville), 1890; reprinted in The Tribune (Stouffville), 16 November 1930.
See also Greenwald (1973), p. 80.
17Minutes of the Trustees of the Altona Mennonite Meetinghouse. Original in possession of
Joseph Nighswander. See also Nighswander (1998a).
18Land originally purchased by Abraham Stouffer in 1809. Christian had moved away from
Pickering in 1849—to Washington, near Plattsville, Ontario. Reesor Family in Canada
(2000), p. 26. See also Greenhill, et al. (1974), plate 37.
19The exact location of the log schoolhouse may be determined from McPhillips (1857).
20Joseph Nighswander was a trustee in its late years.
21Gauslin (1974), p. 207, and Census of 1881. In the census Abijah Jones’ religion is given
as Universalist. His wife Mary and daughter Sarah (age 27) are described as “Free Thinkers.”
The other children are listed as Canada Baptist.
22Martin patented the land on 1 May 1838, but he had already been on the property for a
few years. Walton (1837) places him on that lot, and the Beers Atlas (1877) suggests he
was in the township by 1835 (p. ix).
23In Lovell’s Directory of 1857, Edwin Cliff is described as a carder and fuller. In the1860
Assessment Rolls, he is described as a clothier. Both the Beers Atlas (1877) and the Goad
map (1895) show an E. Cliff on the south 50 acres, and an E.C. on the 10-12 acres just to
the north (the Beers Atlas also shows a woolen mill beside the initials E.C.).
24Owners or operators included Edwin Cliff’s son Edgar (Dowswell, n.d.), Oliver Barrett
(Dowswell, n.d.; Nighswander, 1998b, p. 30), and Thomas Waterhouse (Traveller, 1884).
See Nighswander (1998b), and Sabean (2000a).
25York Pioneer (1961), p. 31, #64.
26Wilmot (1805). York Pioneer (1961), pp. 28, 32, #s 39, 40, 41, 67, and (1963), p. 23, #s
87, 88. All immigrants from the United States to Upper Canada were required to take an
Oath of Allegiance. The only exceptions were Mennonites (and other “Pennsylvania Dutch”)
and Quakers, who, because they opposed the making of oaths, were asked only to make
an Affirmation of Allegiance. The Winns and Bestwick were from Vermont, Evans and Millard
were from Pennsylvania. Millard’s affirmation reads:
Timy Millard late of Pennsylvania, & one of the People called Quaker, Miller five feet ten
Inches high, hazel Eyes, dark brown hair, Thirty-nine years Old, having made the Affirmation
of Allegiance, Do subscribe the same at York the 24th Day of June 1805.
27Macrae and Adamson (1976), p. 184.
28Walton (1837).
29York Pioneer (1961), p. 29, #48.
30Reesor Family in Canada (2000), p. 5. Abraham spelled the family name Stauffer, as did
his son Christian, but later those members of the family that stayed in the area of Markham-
Stouffville spelled the name Stouffer.
31Walton (1837), p. 124.
32McBurney and Byers (1987), p. 116. According to the Census of 1851 the innkeepers in
Uxbridge were: William Cooper, Joseph Finch, Joseph Galloway, William Gamble, Leonard
Long, George Metcalf, John P. Plank, and Henry Vanzant. Cooper, Galloway and Vanzant
all possessed an inn (and Vanzant’s residence is described as a roadhouse), the others all
possessed a tavern. Gamble, Long and Vanzant were listed as farmers and Finch as a
smith, rather than innkeepers.
33The two standard accounts of Upper Canada’s inns are Edwin Guillet’s 5-volume Pioneer
Inns and Taverns, and Margaret McBurney and Mary Byers’ Tavern in the Town.
34Howison (1821), p. 118.
35Smith (1851), p. 539.
36Guillet (1954-1962), IV, 103; Fraser (1932), pp., 3, 105.
37Census of 1851, p. 55, #1.
38Assessment Rolls for Uxbridge, 1858-1866; Census of 1861; Conner and Coltson (1869).
39Todd (1980), p. 35, n. 14. According to the Assessment Rolls, Brown worked at the
Altona Inn in 1865 for Mrs. Lindsay. In 1866 he is shown as the hotel keeper at Concession
3, east Lot 18. He is listed as the owner of the Altona Inn in 1867 and again in 1869, but is
also shown as the owner of Concession 3, east Lot 18 (with David Armitage as the innkeeper).
40Nighswander (1985), p. 24.
41McBurney and Byers (1987), pp. 4-5.
42Fraser (1932), p. 16.
43Fraser (1932), p. 17. All that is except Hannah McBride, who, presumably as a woman,
was not considered suitable as a Constable.
44Fraser (1932), p. 20.
45Fraser (1932), pp. 78-79.
46Higgins (1887), p. 70.
47Garland and Talman (1931), esp. p. 175; Guillet (1954-1962), esp. I, 54; McBurney and
Byers (1987).
48Firth (1966), pp. 342-343 makes note of the founding of the York Temperance Society in
1830.
49Johnson (1973), p. 217.
50May 13, 1859, as quoted in Johnson (1973), pp. 218-219.
51Johnson (1973), p. 219.
52Todd (1980), p. 100. The other licencees were Barnard Rowland and Jim Todd at
Goodwood, John Saunders at the Halfway House, and George Conway at Rothes.
53Authority to issue licences resided first with the governor of the colony (to 1818), then with
the provincial magistrate (1818-1849), then with the municipal governments (1849-1876),
and finally with the provincial government (from 1876). McBurney and Byers (1987), p. 5
54Todd (1980), p. 184. The others were John Higgins and Jim Todd at Goodwood, Lance
Hutchinson at Rothes, and Ambrose Lewis at Glen Major.
55A good summary of the temperance movement in Uxbridge Township may be found in
Todd (1980), and in Ontario County in Johnson (1973).
56Gauslin (1974), p. 207. See also
57Traveller (1884)
58Joe Nighswander, pers. comm. One historian got even the name garbled referring to
“Luxey Brown” (Reesor, n.d.)
59News clipping, probably from the Stouffville Tribune, c1953, as found in the Tweedsmuir
Histories.
60Assessment Rolls.
61News clipping, probably from the Stouffville Tribune, 1951, as found in the Tweedsmuir
Histories. See also the Assessment Rolls for 1916 and 1917.
62Ruth Wixon was one of the original members of Claremont Baptist Church. She married
Sylvanus Sharrard who was a prominent temperance worker and held the position of Grand
Treasurer of the Sons of Temperance from 1856 to 1869. Wood (1911), p. 293.
63Much of the information about Madill comes from the Tweedsmuir Histories.
64Allan McGillivray, pers. comm.
65Sabean (2000a).
66Yost Associates (1974), p. 17.
67Yost Associates (1974), p. 2.
68Woods (1991).