Eden Mills, Ontario

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Eden Mills
Unincorporated community
Eden Mills, Ontario.jpg
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Eden Mills
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Eden Mills
Coordinates: 43°34′43″N80°08′36″W / 43.57861°N 80.14333°W / 43.57861; -80.14333
Country Canada
Province Ontario
County Wellington
Township Guelph/Eramosa
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
GNBC CodeFBBQT [1]

Eden Mills is an unincorporated community in the Township of Guelph/Eramosa, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. [1] [2]

Contents

Located on the Eramosa River, the Eden Mills Writers' Festival is an annual event.

History

The settlement was founded in 1842 by the Kribbs family, who built a mill on the Eramosa River. [3] [4] First called "Kribbs Mill", it was renamed "Eden Mills" in 1846, when the new mill owner described the location as "beautiful as the Garden of Eden". [4] [5] The early settlement had a post office, blacksmith, hotel, general store, taxidermist, oatmeal mill, several saw mills, and a community hall, erected around 1893. [3] [5]

The population in 1902 was 300. [6]

The Toronto Suburban Railway was built to Guelph in 1917, with a stop in Eden Mills. [4] [7] The railway enabled local farmers to ship produce to Toronto, and Eden Mills became a recreational destination for train travellers. [7] Around 1924, Edgewood Park was built near the railway station to attract visitors, and featured a baseball diamond, picnic area, cottages, a dance hall, and in 1928, a swimming pool. [7] The park was purchased in 1944 by the Lutheran Church of the Canada as a summer youth camp, and in 2017, the camp ceased operation and was sold to the Eden Mills River Conservation Authority. [7]

In 1930, the railway ceased operations, and Eden Mills became a police village (a form of municipal government previously used in Ontario). [4]

Eden Mills Writers' Festival is an annual event founded in 1989. [8]

Demographics

In the 1991 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Eden Mills had an estimated population of 319. [9]

Population history of Eden Mills
YearPop.±%
1941164—    
1951200+22.0%
1956247+23.5%
1961288+16.6%
1966314+9.0%
YearPop.±%
1971359+14.3%
1976332−7.5%
1986439+32.2%
1991E319−27.3%
Source: Statistics Canada [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [9]

Notable people

References

  1. 1 2 "Eden Mills". Natural Resources Canada. February 16, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Guelph/Eramosa". Statistics Canada. November 2, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Home". edenmills.com. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Niblock, Francis (June 8, 1994). "Some Historical Notes on the Communities That Make Eramosa So Special". The Rockwood Miller. p. 13.
  5. 1 2 "Eden Mills set to celebrate its history". Guelph Today. January 27, 2019.
  6. ↑ Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World. J.B. Lippincott. 1902. p. 695.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Flash From the Past: Edgewood Park was the place to be in Eden Mills". Waterloo Region Record. March 10, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Our Story". Eden Mills Writers Festival. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
  9. 1 2 91 Census (PDF). Population and Dwelling Counts. Vol. Unincorporated Places. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1993. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  10. ↑ Ninth Census of Canada, 1951 (PDF). Vol. SP-7 (Population: Unincorporated villages and hamlets). Dominion Bureau of Statistics. March 31, 1954. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  11. ↑ Census of Canada, 1956 (PDF). Vol. Population of unincorporated villages and settlements. Dominion Bureau of Statistics. October 25, 1957. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  12. ↑ 1961 Census of Canada: Population (PDF). Series SP: Unincorporated Villages. Vol. Bulletin SP—4. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. April 18, 1963. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  13. ↑ Census of Canada 1966: Population (PDF). Special Bulletin: Unincorporated Places. Vol. Bulletin S–3. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1968. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  14. ↑ 1971 Census of Canada: Population (PDF). Special Bulletin: Unincorporated Settlements. Vol. Bulletin SP—1. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1973. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Geographical Identification and Population for Unincorporated Places of 25 persons and over, 1971 and 1976". 1976 Census of Canada (PDF). Supplementary Bulletins: Geographic and Demographic (Population of Unincorporated Places—Canada). Vol. Bulletin 8SG.1. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1978. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  16. ↑ 1986 Census of Canada (PDF). Population. Vol. Unincorporated Places. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1988. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  17. ↑ Thorning, Stephen (June 10, 2020). "Elora had to fight to appoint David Boyle principal". Wellington Advertiser.
  18. ↑ Jackson, Adam (December 7, 2016). "The story of Michael Faulds' improbable journey to be named best coach in university football". Waterloo Chronicle.
  19. ↑ Seto, Chris (April 25, 2014). "Local photographer helps sick children draw hope". Guelph Mercury Tribune.

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