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535-03 Page 30 (2)' 'Lime Kiln, 118-Year-Old Mill ill Pond and Old Barn Recall swallowed Centre�f,�,v,,,,,iI•llle Era When B d C Sh ttl rth u b —'4(44 We, 7 dot &A �+ a y u ewe aw a p y quarrying ope The little village of Centreville, ations. The mill building was ap. now just a row of houses on both parently still standing, unused, as sides of No. 2 Highway, east of late as 1809, when it was used Ingersoll, was, in its heyday, a as a boundary point in Ian$ prosperous centre with numerous measurement in that year. ./ small industries, long before Lon- The to cry or tan -yard stoo� don or Woodstock came into on the south aide a way, existence. r7!5 west of the creek, and used the j' 00 Squatter's Rights spring on the hillside behind for The village occupies part of th water. No doubt the water was 6,600 acres of land that was brought down to the tannery granted to Thomas Ingersoll, an ats in a -wooden flume for soak. American, in the early 179 's b ing the hides.. was occupied by squatters even In those days, hides were before: that. The squatters just soaked in a mixture of water built themselves cabins and and wood ashes, the acid thus cleared a bit of land without too formed gradually removing -- i much regard to the owners of hair from the hide. Tht Os the property. above the tannery was p69 In later years, some of the mentioned in deeds for' gg squatters were able to prove years, the right to use the SO their grants and receive deeds to being mentioned each time I''t qg their land. Others found that the tannerypropertyor the>, 'h Lo their homesteads were part of side was sold. g some huge block of land given Smithy's Shop -'i's to a courtier or a wealthy man Across the creek from the ti; 'h who had. never even been into nary was Dakes store, blacksmi', the area, and they were .evicted shop and a huge willow tre; with only small compensation for both used n survey marks fo.'� all the land clearing they a village Iota. In later years when done. t,.ar6 Ell rn«iS8s�8tTs the blacksmith shop was gone The Thames Riv w navl- and the old willow rotted away, gable for canoes and flat bot- this method of surveying was to tomed boats so considerable trade cause surveyors a lot of head - moved through the village going aches and lawyers earned some either to Fort Detroit for ship. fees in trying to untangle boun- ment by lake boats or eastward dary lines. To this day, there is to Brant's Ford and Niagara. a lot by the highway with no Early Mill Iyse115 known owner. One of the earliest mills in The Dake Hotel stood on the Southern Ontario stood near the 6est corner where Mill street Thames, where the joins the highway{ and its bar Creek flows into the river, or did was noted as the rowdiest saloon Until the river course was in Oxford. One night the whole hanged a few years ago. The liquor stock was stolen, and al- ikes, until recently, could still though no one was ever arrested e found, but will shortly be for the crime, it was noted the One of the last hand -fired wood -burning lime kilns in Western Ontario is located on the north side on No. 2 Highway, two miles east of Ingersoll, a relic of Centre - most of the village residents, never very temperate, were rather drunk for several weeks. Hotel Burned e Dake Hotel stood until 94, when it burned, mysterious-! ly, under insurance coverage, two days before it was to come up for public auction. plIlhpck 'he Holl loc was the villagf. general store and stood acroin Mill street from the hotel. A big] red building, it was kept by th Hollylock family fo$ many year_ until torn down. lSeveral nev houses now stand on its old loca- tion.a4,,,,aHd.. '.. A sm�`alll :fanning -mill factory built in 1824 by a man named . Ashelby was once in business on 01,. north side of thrh'tbway� �e- near wnere a weming sno stands, and another blMJ shop was east that. A girl 1960s. The red post office cod beside it. {.qaQ/-,6y.)IIl)fd(• Williamson's Mill, at the north id of Mill street, was used for variety of purposes until racked for its timbers several stirs ago. A high three -storey me building, the mill got its star for power from the Centre - "a pond, in the swamp, at the hith aide of the village. A Tried cast iron flume carried is water from the pond several lndred feet under the highway Iwn to the side -shot water - heel In the bottom of the mill. Boats Plied ame: One old tree, a Blenheim Pip. !n, still remains of this orchard. :ing neatly check -mated, the hool board bpilt their new 11001 on the site of the old ill, on Mill street. This school III stands, although it is unused, a modern school was built last a on almost the exact site here ' was desired to build 100 The West Oxford Church was arted me the s West Oxford hapel in the 1820's, but long be - ire that It was common place ,r Methodist "saddle -bag preach - Is" to come through this area r horseback. They preached a sgma of "hellfire" and "damns - an" to all who listened,_ per- formed long overdue marriages,. Christenings, and at times acted as doctor in emergencies. They lived at the settlers' homes and generally got their board and clothes and little else, although they were supposed to receive some eighty dollars a year as salary. —i,oed Watartan - In later years the mill deterior. Iwood used In lime burning was The flume had quite a fall so ated back to a grist mill, then, enormous and it furnished winter the water built up a high velocity when the quarrying and lime- employment for local farmers' as it passed through to the -water burning was begun by the Inner- from miles around, cutting and wheel. To shut off the machinery kip Lime and Stone Company, on hauling the beat hardwood to be In the mill, • a metal gate was the river flats near the mill, stacked In great piles nar'the closed so no more water got to they installed lime dehydrating the wheel, but with the velocity equipment and the building was. kilns. of the water being high, it was wreathed in clouds of lime dust Beech, oak and hard maple hard to hold' so much pressure until torn down a few years ago. were certainly cleared from this and there was always danger Limo Deposits area at a faster rate than from that the gate and wheel would be torn away. To prevent this, Alocal Lime burning has long been a other areas, just because of this stand -pipe was put. in the flume Industry for the village, os randy market. The remains o[ half -way between the pond and the river flats contain one of the best deposits of limestone on one of these old kilns stands west the water wheel, so the rushing' g the continent. The old lime kilns of Munroe's Crossing on the water, when shut off in the mill were large grey stone structures north side of No. 2 Highway. could pile up in the stand -pipe and lose some of its shock. As'Centreville'a lined with fire brick and burned first school w a boy I can well remember see- huge quantities of three-foot cord wood in fuel burn the lime- on what is now Fled Petman's ing a sudden shaft of water shoot stone into lime. The kilns we e. farm, several miles east on th� out of the top of the 20-foot hollow hollow and open at the top,. Id Stage Road, built around t816 stand -pipe, when the mill w de fireplaces on each side. A wooden og a teacher farmed his his shut off. ,jw 04 f lw%f ramp ran over the top so that and In the summer and taught Cider Making�nl?t• ��' teams and wagons could carry chool II ine winter. West Oxford Williamson, at one time, limestone up on top and dump os said too ave en atmosphere ground grain for grist, made it Into the hollow centre. of intelligence since this school flour and oatmeal, and had a When the kiln was filled with was open more frequently than cider press. They made a lot of tone the fireplaces were lit, and the only othe}}'' s�e�� ool fn Oxford hard cider themselves., and kept a heat and smoke went up County. 111„$tMFW "�' Sfat4.hei, barrels of it In the root cellar through the atone, gradually The nextS4uusAAclji„was' ]built of the big barn on their farm, burning it into lime. closer to the Lillage, on Mill which was on Indian ,F ill over- over. Thus, "theyre smoke does pall street, and lasted until about looking0. looking the village. A lot of the sun at noonday, and at night 1850 when it was decided to find crown_ on. the_S .,0. ' 1 Yt yre fires are as a devil's in- a different site as the old sohool- and the thirstier vil ages o an picked up potatoes at harvea erno." yard was on a side hill. The When the atone wassufficlently school board wanted to build the time, with hard eider os a good urned, the fires were allowed to new school on the corner of the percentage of their pay. o out and the but lime was Furtney Sideroad and the old It was once Centreville's boost emoved at the bottom, for use Stage Road, on land belonging that it had street lights before n mortar and white -wash. I to the Williamson farm. As this the town of Ingersoll. A gen- The lime kilns were a warm was good farm land, the owner hangout for the village men on was opposed to the school being erator was installed at one time cold nights, and many a village tilt there and refused to sell In the bottom of the mill, run by chicken was stolen from its coop and d id the school board, The the water wheel, and wires to be roasted in the kiln for a beard decided to expropriate morning the strung into Ingersoll for the firemen's lunch. The firemen on needed land, but on the morning the kilns were famous for the of the proposed .expropriation the street lights. Several light bulbs local people were amand to see vas were put up on the wires as they t amounts of hard cider they that the field, where they wanted could consume and considering to build the school, was set out went through the village and the heat in which they worked, when the power was turned on, they likely sweated the cider out had apple orchard. The owner f am; an found an old township law the light bulbs, it was claimed through their hides as fast of which forbid the building of a they drank it. The amount of by the villagers, were lit in Can- school within one hundred yards treville before they were lit in of an apple orchard. QhMt, .Ingersoll. f SoWVL i14l+ a; Indian Hill The hill to the south of the village . has always been called Indian Hill because of the Indian graves found there. At .the north end of the hill a mass grave was Found, once, possibly of small- pox victims or else of some long - forgotten massacre. Bill Injun's grave was on the south end of the hill, marked by a large field stone, carved with the clasped hands of friendship. Bill Injun was a local Indian chieftain, known to have been a scout with George Nichols for the British in the War of 1812-14. He was killed in a brawl in the tavern the used to stand by the Stage R Indian Hill was one of the first upright silos In the country. It was a huge square building, built of flat limestone slabs and so wide that it was not too success- ful as a silo for it caused tons. of silage to spoil, so finally Was used as a straw storage. It was torn down some five years ag and, old as it was, it took dyne mite and a�bu bulldozer rst1" th structure. 7MW- George Nichols built IRS mill- pond and grist mill in 1837 on the farm south of t e vi ag which, until 1945,- had been 1 the Nichols family for 145 years. The dikes still remain of his mill- pond and the old earthen flume Is easily found, leading to where the water -wheel used to be. The timbers of the mill were used to build a barn that still stands on the farm. The rafters and timbers are all pinned together. with wooden pins and even the' planks on the floor are pinned to the beams instead of being: nailed as nowadays. Trick of Location It is hard to realize today why a village like Centreville, which started out so well, never got .any bigger, although it was thriving long before Woodstock or Ingersoll. Some trick of loca. tion or history caused it to be passed by so that it remains noW only a residential area.