The Caledonia Old Mill has a long, storied history.
Built some time around 1854 by entrepreneur James Little, the Mill turned wheat in to flour for over a hundred years, with water power alone - shutting down in the mid-1960s.
The Caledonia Milling Co., formed in 1892 by William and Hugh Scott along with over a hundred local shareholders, renovated the structure a number of times over its long life. The massive four-story timber structure stood fast even after all operations ceased in in 1966.
The neighbouring timber-frame mill across the river burned down in 1969 leaving the Caledonia Old Mill as the last timber frame mill along the Grand.
The building changed hands a number of times over the next decade; eventually landing in the hands of the Grand River Conservation Authority, who wanted to demolish the structure and turn it in to conservation area.
In 1979, the Golden Horseshoe Antique Society saved the mill from demolition by having it designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Through hundreds of hours of volunteer efforts, the Antique Society gave the building a fresh coat of paint; ownership eventually landed in the hands of Haldimand County itself in 1981.
In 1998, The Caledonia Old Mill Corporation was formed in and took ownership of the building.
It’s purpose: to both care for and promote the revitalization of the 150 year-old structure. The board composed of volunteers explored all avenues over their 30-year tenure as custodians of the Mill.
As time went on, interest from the community waned - the cost of restoring the structure would be in the millions; the regulatory hurdles involved in renovating the crumbling building with a heritage designation in the river’s flood plain were too much to bear for a handful of volunteers with only their time to offer.
In 2008, the Caledonia Old Mill Light Display started, in part to help generate funds for restoration.
Despite generating thousands of dollars in community donations - and attracting tens of thousands of viewers over it’s six-year run, funds raised were just enough to maintain the show and help keep the building standing - not nearly enough to make any sort of meaningful dent in the cost of restoration.
In 2016, Riverside Properties approached the Caledonia Old Mill Corporation with an offer.
With no prospects for substantial funding and a building ready to fall in to the river, the Old Mill Corporation accepted Riverside’s offer to rebuild Old Mill in to something useful that future generations can enjoy - while maintaining the site’s heritage.
A deal was struck. In 2018, the Mill changed hands for the last time.
With the blessing of Haldimand County, the Grand River Conservation Authority and dozens of other community partners, deconstruction began in 2018. The goal was simple in intent - salvage as much of the building as possible - but years of rot, damage and theft left little behind. What could be salvaged and reused was carefully removed from the premises and restored off-site; by the fall of 2018, the Caledonia Old Mill was down to the foundation, it’s 160-year-old timbers whisked away.
Over the next two years, the Caledonia Old Mill was rebuilt with modern building standards and a goal of being an office complex. As much of the history as could be preserved was - the unique cupola was restored to it’s original position; pulleys and bucket elevators kept intact and integrated in to the new structure. The elevator is surrounded by wood re-sawn from old grain bins; walls made of siding that had been on the building for hundreds of years.
In 2020, we were done.
And we think it looks pretty darn good.
