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Within the past two hundred years, the Don Valley has sustained a large number of successful industries.Valley industries provided some of the lumber, flour, paper and bricks required by the growing city of Toronto.
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Posthumous portrait of Sarah Lord Helliwell1844
Todmorden, Ontario
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Beer and GinIn 1821, Thomas Helliwell Sr. and his family settled in the Don Valley. Originally from England, they were responsible for naming the area Todmorden as it resembled the rolling hills of their home town.
Helliwell Sr. soon established a brewery, malthouse and a distillery in the Valley. After his death in 1825, the brewery was managed by his wife Sarah Lord Helliwell, and later, by their son William.
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Todmorden Mills Wooden structure on the right is located on the site of the former brewery1915
Todmorden, Ontario
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The original brewery, built near the banks of the Don River, was susceptible to flooding and in 1835, the Helliwell brothers decided to relocate it to higher ground.The new brewery was completed within a year, but was destroyed by fire in 1847. There are conflicting historic reports as to whether it was rebuilt as a brewery.
The building currently known as the Brewery at Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum is probably located on top of or near the relocated brewery built by the Helliwells.
Photos of the site dating from the turn of the century depict a large two-storey wooden structure that appears to be a barn and stables.
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The brewery building as viewed from Pottery Road1935
East York, Ontario
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In the 1920s, the road running by the structure connected the Brick Works to the city. It too was susceptible to flooding, interfering with the delivery of bricks. The Brick Works elevated the road using poorly-fired bricks as fill. Much of the eastern end of the Todmorden Mills area was also elevated.The lower level of the two-storey building was filled and the land around re-graded, creating a one-storey building.
In 1965, the site was expropriated to form part of the Todmorden Mills Museum.
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Todmorden Mills1900
Todmorden, Ontario
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Paper Making in the ValleyIn 1825, William Lyon Mackenzie, publisher of the "Colonial Advocate" newspaper, petitioned the government to offer a cash prize to the first person establishing a paper mill in Upper Canada. At that time, paper was imported at great expense from the United States.
John Eastwood, William Helliwell's brother-in-law, and Colin Skinner, Isaiah Skinner's son, converted one of the grist mills on the Don River into a paper mill. The first machine-made paper in Upper Canada came from their mill.
John Eastwood eventually sold his interest in the business to the Skinners, pursuing succesful careers in publishing and local politics.
By 1855, the business was sold to the Taylor family who had immigrated from England in 1821. The Taylors had already built a paper mill several miles north of the Todmorden mill, and by 1858, owned three mills on the Don. The Taylor mills produced manilla, newsprint and felt papers.
In the late 1870s, the Todmorden Mill, known as the Lower Mill, was adapted to steam power and the tall chimney that is now the defining feature of the structure, was added. In 1890, the Upper Mill was closed and the Taylors relinquished all interests in it.
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Middle Mill after the fire22 June 1922
Don Valley, Toronto
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At the beginning of the twentieth century, the two mills were operated by the third generation of Taylors. They declared bankruptcy in 1901 and through complicated negotiations, their brother-in-law Robert Davies acquired most of their holdings in the Valley, including the mills.Davies upgraded the Middle Mill, but it was partially destroyed by fire in 1922, causing approximately $100,000 damage. Paper stocks and equipment were saved from the blaze.
The Davies estate sold the Middle Mill to Norman Wainwright in 1929; his company operated it until 1939. It was run as a subsidiary of Alliance Paper Mills until 1961, when Domtar purchased it.
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Don Valley Brick Works1910
Don Valley, Toronto
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Brick MakingThe Taylors were already successful entrepreneurs when they added another industry to the Valley. In 1882, while constructing a fence, William Taylor discovered unusually fine clay that baked brick red.
William, with his brothers John and George, established the Don Valley Pressed Brick Works in 1889. They produced enamelled and paving bricks as well as fine grade pressed bricks. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Taylors were producing 12 million bricks annually. Many of Toronto's most prestigious buildings, including Casa Loma, Old City Hall, Osgoode Hall and Massey Hall were made of Don Valley bricks.
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Don Valley Brick Works1920
Don Valley, Toronto
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