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The Spratt Years

Alex Spratt came from a farming family, but he left the family farm and moved to the village. His house was located directely across the street from what is now Manotick Public School. The house no longer exists. His sister in law, Mary Spratt (nee Clapp and 20 years his junior) remembers walking to school in the morning and seeing Alex Spratt clowning around with the children, and teasing them to make them laugh. Mary eventually married the younger Spratt brother, who inherited the family farm on Spratt Road. She still lives in the Spratt farm house, although the property is much smaller.

Alex Spratt owned the Mill from 1929 - 1946. He purchased it Elizabeth Dickinson, daughter of M.K. Dickinson, who was kindly known as Miss Elizabeth. She had continued the business for many years, along with her two brothers, following her father's death in 1897. Alex already had a business of distributing flour and grain to local farmers, as well as bakeries in the City of Ottawa. When the Mill came up for sale, he seized the opportunity and became a mill owner.

The Spratt family bought Dickinson House in 1930 along with the drive sheds, which contained a fire truck and 20 teams of horses (now Carriage House which was L-shaped with another wing the ran along now Clapp Lane). The Carriage Shed, in 2008, now houses the office for the Mill.

Alex loved children and was often seen playing with them on the front lawn of the Dickinson House. He was involved in the community and the Knox Presbyterian Church. During the winter, he maintained a public skating rink in the square, and in the summer, an unofficial baseball diamond for the local children.

Spratt died in 1936 of an untimely brain aneurism, but his son carried on and operated the Mill as the "Market Feed Store" until just before Harry Watson took over.