Morningstar Mill is a heritage site located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The site includes the Morningstar Mill, a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

, the home of the Morningstar family, a barn used for blacksmith demonstrations, and the Decew Falls gorge along the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over ...

. The site is operated by the volunteer group Friends of Morningstar Mill and owned by the City of St. Catharines. The

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

was restored to working condition in 1992.

History

After the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, landowner John DeCou built a stone-grist mill with an overhead

waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

at Decew Falls. The property was sold in 1894, after the first

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines t ...

was constructed, as the mill no longer had an adequate water supply. In 1872, a new mill was built on the foundation of the former DeCou Mill. This new mill, called Mountain Mills, was built by Robert Chappel. The new stone-grist mill was turbine-powered instead of water-powered. Mountain Mills was purchased by the St. Catharines Waterworks in 1875 to prevent claims of water loss supply when the Beverdams Creek above Decew Falls was dammed. The mill was sold to Wilson Morningstar after water supply was restored. Morningstar would receive 1/12 of the flour or feed produced by the gristmill as payment. Morningstar also operated a blacksmith and carpentry shop on the property. In 1895, Morningstar rebuilt after a fire destroyed everything except the stone structure. Morningstar died in 1933 and his family operated the mill after his death. In 1983, the property was purchased by the City of St. Catharines.

Tourism

The location was reopened as a tourist attraction in 1962. In 1992, Friends of Morningstar Mill was founded by volunteers with the intention of restoring the gristmill to working order. The

was restored to working condition in 1992. In 2020, the Morningstar Mill was closed to the public due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

References

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External links

Morningstar Mill
Flour mills in Canada Tourist attractions in Ontario Watermills in Canada Buildings and structures in St. Catharines History of the Regional Municipality of Niagara History of agriculture in Ontario Industrial buildings in Ontario

History

Tourism

See also

References

External links