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I 5 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, November 28,1984 11 Mills Play Important Role in Town's History The mill was the life-line of any growing community back in the days of early settlement. settlement. Port Darlington, blessed blessed with two creeks had seven mills at one time. One of these was housed in the present Visual Arts Centre at Simpson and Baseline Roads in Bowmanville. Bowmanville. This building and its site have maintained a steady contribution of one sort or another to the town. By Rhonda Malomet The walls inside the red brick building off Simpson Avenue on Soper Creek are lined with brightly coloured children's paintings. To the right, on the first floor is a table full of clay models. And in the background, you can hear the sounds of an art class. Only the sturdy exposed wooden pillars which indicate the. weight of the machinery they supported provide evidence evidence of the former use of this building. Ontario Mills, MacKay's Calendonia Mills, Cream of Barley - these are just a few names that ring from the past of the Visual Arts Centre and its site. It's one of colourful owners, and of firsts and innovations innovations all of which contributed contributed to the growing community of Bowmanville. It all started back in 1814 when Timothy Soper bought 94 'A acres of land from Augustus Barber. Since the land came complete with its own source of water power in the form of Soper Creek, it was only natural to build a mill. That year, Soper opened up one of the first saw mills in the Darlington area. His only other competitor at the time was John Burk who operated grist and saw mills to the west of him on Barber's (Bowmanville) (Bowmanville) Creek where the Van- stone Mills now stands. A grist mill was opened 11 years later in 1825 which Soper called Ontario Mills. After 1877, the mill changed hands a few times until 1886. It was then that John MacKay, alias the "Barley King of Canada" and a miller by trade purchased the mill and site and launched it into a new prominence. He called the business the Caledonia Mills which specialized in the manufacture of "pot" and "pearl" barley. MacKay, known to be a quiet man in private was quite renown in the barley world. He won awards at expositions in many parts of the world including a bronze medal for a pearl barley machine in Buffalo in 1873, a silver medal for pearl barley in Jamaica in 1891, not to mention a diploma for barley at Wolverhampton Industrial Exhibition in 1902. He even patented his own equipment which ground a very fine grade of flour and had it installed into the mill. In 1894, a Globe article described the wooden mill as "one of the busiest of the busy spots of Bowmanville that is known the world over almost." Indeed, the Barley King's products were sold not only across Canada but in the U.S. and in the Commonwealth Commonwealth countries. By 1894, the mill had been operating to capacity 24 hours a day with exception of Sundays and arrangements were made to enlarge the facilities. This mill though, burned down in Stuffed Animals Pet Efltfids Food and supplies for all kinds of pets. * Free Delivery (min. $20.00 purchase) * Name Brand Products Open: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturdays 122 Waverley Rd. Bowmanville 623-1415 Check Out Our Specials . 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BEAT THE FREEZE NOW! Dog and cat sweaters and coats just arrived | grab one while they're hot! Expires Dec. 29 Nov. 30 Nov. 30 Dec. 8 Nov. 30 Nov. 30 Nov. 30 Nov. 30 Nov. 30 Nov. 30 Dec. 29 Dec. 8 Nov. 30 Dec. 23 Dec. 1 Dec. 15 Dec. 15 Dec. 15 1904 two years after John MacKay's death. But it was quickly replaced with the present red brick structure that ran on a combination of water and a 120 h.p. engine. Before long business was booming again. During and after the First WorldiWar, a wheat shortage ensued stimulating business in barley products. Now, the red brick mill was evolving into the Cream of Barley Mills, named after its famous breakfast breakfast porridge which was not unlike Cream of Wheat. Older residents of Bowmanville recall it as a mainstay at the breakfast table each morning. By 1929, a new phase of the Mill had begun. It was then that James Lake Morden made one of the smartest business moves of his career - he married John MacKay's daughter Gertrude and in doing so, acquired ownership of the Mill for the grand sum of $1.00. Morden, says Stu Candler, a former miller at Vans tone's, was the type of man "who could swear backwards backwards faster that most people could swear forwards." He was also known as "the colonel" according to Merle Slute, a former teacher at the Visual Arts Centre. He described Morden as a man who sported a white goatee and who looked not unlike Colonel Saunders. Morden, also described by Candler as "sharp as a tack" was known for his business acumen. Capitalizing on the golf craze, he opened up the first golf course in the area. And he took advantage of the burgeoning tourist trade by opening up Cream of Barley Camp which was located where the present day Bowmanville Bowmanville Zoo is. "It was beautiful," says Nora Allin, daughter of the famous runner' Alfie Shrubb, himself a past owner of the mill and operator of the camp. "It had a tennis court, a swimming pool, an archery range, a quarter mile cinder track and cabins for the tourists," says Mrs. Allin. Never one to be content with the status quo, Morden tried several promotional gimmicks gimmicks to boost the sale of his products.- He sent Garnet Mutton and Arthur Heart of Bowmanville across the country to plug the product by giving out free samples. After the illustrious Mr. Morden died, ownership of the mill passed into the hands of Alfie Shrubb in 1946. The former runner moved into Reay Cottage at 111 Simpson Drive which had been the homestead of past owners all the way back to John MacKay. As for the mill, it had already seen its heyday and started to decline under Shrubb's ownership. ownership. The new trend towards prepared breakfast cereals didn't help any. In the late fifties, he sold the mill to Leo Bierman of Czechoslovakia. For a year, Bierman tried to resurrect the business. He had the barley shipped in from Winnipeg but eventually took the entire operation there and brought an end to the age of barley at the red brick mill. The old building stood empty until the local Rotary Club purchased the Mill property property in 1965 and used it as a drop in centre. Finally, in 1974, the Town of Newcastle acquired the Mill for the same price as Mr. Morden paid in 1929 - $1,00. It was that year that Council agreed lo allow the building to be used as a visual arts centre. According to the Charter the purposes of the Visual Arts Centre arc: 1. To establish a permanent location for participation in the visual arts in the Town of Newcastle, 2. To encourage active participation and 3. To promote the visual arts for enjoyment and enrichment. In this new capacity, the Visual Arts Centre celebrated the past recently in a unique way. Two hundred and ten elementary students from Maple Grove and Mitchell's Corner Public Schools worked on a clay mural commemorating commemorating Ontario's Bicentennial. The students from grades one through six researched various areas and translated these into design. Each one worked on their own clay tile (nine inches square) lo depict various aspects of cultural and historical life in the Newcastle Newcastle area. The tiles will he mounted shortly in the Bowmanville Bowmanville Library. 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