Doon is a suburban community and former village which is now a part of the city of
Kitchener, Ontario
Kitchener is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, about west of Toronto. It is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is the regional Administrative centre, seat. Kitchener was known as Berlin until a ...
, Canada. Doon was settled around 1800 by German
Mennonite
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
s from Pennsylvania, and after 1830 by Scottish immigrants. The area is located at the confluence of Schneider Creek and the
Grand River. The post office was opened in 1845. A large flour mill, oatmeal mill, distillery and sawmill were built on the Doon River over the following years. The
Perine brothers established extensive linen works and flax mills near the settlement. By 1870, there was a single church, Presbyterian, a variety of tradesmen and a population of 200.
Although never large, at one time it was a bustling community with sawmills, a rope factory and other businesses.
It is known as the lifetime home of landscape artist
Homer Watson
Homer Ransford Watson (January 14, 1855 – May 30, 1936) was a Canadian landscape painter. He has been characterized as the painter who first painted Canada as Canada, rather than as a pastiche of European painting. He was a member and pre ...
.
It is now a suburb of
Kitchener, Ontario
Kitchener is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, about west of Toronto. It is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is the regional Administrative centre, seat. Kitchener was known as Berlin until a ...
, home to the
Doon Heritage Village and the main campus of
Conestoga College
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
History
In 1967, the college was founded as Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology by the government of Ontar ...
.
History
Origins
Doon was established in a forested area around Schneider Creek where it enters the
Grand River from the south.
Richard Beasley sold of this land to John Biehn Sr. of
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County, colloquially referred to as Montco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,553, making it the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania after Philadel ...
, in 1800.
Biehn's relatives bought portions of this land, and started to clear it for farming,
His son John Biehn Jr. built a sawmill in what became Doon, and Frederic Beck also ran a sawmill in the area.
Most of the early settlers were German
Mennonite
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
farmers from Pennsylvania.
Growth
In the 1830s the Ferrie family moved to the area, where they established several businesses in what is now Lower Doon including a distillery, tavern, general store, saw mill, cooperage, blacksmith shop and kiln. They also built workers' houses. Adam Ferrie Jr. gave Doon its name after
Loch Doon
Loch Doon (, ) is a freshwater loch in Carrick, Scotland. It is considered relatively oligotrophic. The River Doon issues from its northern end, while the loch itself receives waters from Gala Lane and Loch Enoch (in the Galloway Hills) via Eg ...
and the
River Doon
The River Doon (, ) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. Its course is generally north-westerly, passing near to the town of Dalmellington, and through the villages of Patna, Dalrymple, and Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns. The source of the D ...
in
Ayrshire
Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...
, Scotland.
From this time most of the settlers were artisans, millers and brick makers of Scottish and English background.
Doon Mills, driven by water, was fully operational in 1839, grinding oatmeal, flour, and barley for the local population.
The population of Doon in 1855 was 200. A population of 200 was also listed in 1869.
The hamlets to the west, about a mile further up Schneider Creek, were originally called Oregon and Tow Town.
They later merged and were called Upper Doon. James Watson, grandfather of the painter
Homer Watson
Homer Ransford Watson (January 14, 1855 – May 30, 1936) was a Canadian landscape painter. He has been characterized as the painter who first painted Canada as Canada, rather than as a pastiche of European painting. He was a member and pre ...
, set up a sawmill, carding and fulling mill and a pail factory in Oregon.
John Tilt had a small sawmill and an enterprise for clay brick and tile manufacture, also in Oregon.
In Tow Town,
Moses and Joseph Perine established a sawmill and a flax mill that made rope and twine, the first in Canada of this nature.
The Doon Twine and Cordage factory opened in 1856 making products from locally-grown
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...
and
hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...
.
Products included tying twines, plow lines, halter ropes, clothes lines and broom twine.
Farmers were later banned from growing hemp because of its
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
content.
There was also a decline in local production of flax, so the factory had to import both of these raw materials.
New businesses served the growing population. By the early 1890s there was a post office, grocer and baker, two tailors, a cooper, blacksmith, shoemaker, wagon maker, bridge builder and scissors manufacturer.
By the end of the 19th century visitors could stay in the Red Lion Inn, Doon Hotel or the Bush Inn, all respectable establishments.
A non-denominational Sunday School was founded in 1848.
In 1854 the Doon Presbyterian Church was opened on land donated by Robert Ferrie and built with his financial assistance.
A Methodist church was built in 1868 on a site donated by William Allen.
The Bonnie Doon School was the first public school, opened in 1878 with one room, and extended to two rooms within ten years as the student population grew. The school burned down and was replaced in 1956.
The
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () are a Restorationism, restorationist and Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Biblical unitarianism, (Biblical Unitarian) Christian denomination. The name means 'brothers and sisters in Christ',"The Christadelphians, or breth ...
built a church on Old Mill Road, formerly Richmond Street, in 1880. In 1889 it was clad in red brick. The church was used until 1916. The building was closed until 1936, then used as a residence until 1971. It was torn down in 1981.
Railway history
Railways began being constructed in Waterloo County during the early 1850s. The
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...
's east–west
mainline was constructed to the north of Doon through Berlin, which by then had become the county seat. The
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
, a major competitor of the Grand Trunk, built a set of
branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
s managed by a complex set of subsidiary companies northward from a point on its own mainline at
Harrisburg
Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...
, in what has been described as both Canada's first
railway junction
A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...
and its first branch line. The Great Western opened to
Galt in 1854, with extensions already planned to
Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...
via
Preston and
Hespeler (the
Galt and Guelph Railway) and Berlin via Preston.
The
Preston and Berlin Railway
The first Preston and Berlin Railway was a steam-operated railway, opened for operation in 1857. Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener, Ontario), and Preston, Ontario (now part of Cambridge, Ontario), were only apart, but the route required a bridg ...
(a de facto subsidiary of the Great Western), which opened in 1857, provided Doon's first railway service, but it was short-lived due to the collapse of its bridge over the Grand River. Cut off from the rest of the Great Western system, the section on the west bank of the river (which passed through Doon and German Mills on the way to its junction with the Grand Trunk mainline at Berlin) was more useful to the Grand Trunk than the Great Western, and came under Grand Trunk ownership in 1865, becoming the Grand Trunk's Doon Branch. After campaigning from Galt town boosters, the Doon Branch was extended to Galt once again in 1873, along a new route through
Blair
Blair is a Scots-English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin.
The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or " field", frequently ...
, which bypassed Preston.
The line through Doon saw a mix of freight and passenger traffic, and a particular train was known locally as the "Dutch Mail" for its
mail car
A passenger railroad car or passenger car (American English), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (British English and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (Indian English) is a railroad car
A railroad ...
. In 1914, scheduled daily trains were two southbound trains to Galt and two northbound trains through Berlin to Elmira, which carried passengers, baggage, mail, and
express parcels. Information on freight movement is less available, but the station at Doon had a
stockyard and freight shed. Before its destruction by fire in 1915, the Doon twine and cordage mill was a major freight customer. Decades later, it was claimed that up to eight trains passed through the village per day. The Doon line and station became a part of the
Canadian National Railways
The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...
system in 1923 along with the rest of the former Grand Trunk system. In the 1930s, amidst the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, passenger service ended on the line and the Doon and Blair stations were closed. Freight service continued and was
dieselized in the 1950s along with the rest of the Canadian National system.
One of the last uses for the line through Doon was the movement of construction materials for . For a short time during this period, there was a
level crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...
with the highway, which at the time had four lanes. Canadian National applied for abandonment of the line around 1956,
and the rails were removed in stages: between Galt and the
Doon Pioneer Village museum in 1961, then between the museum and Parkway (the former German Mills station) in 1964, the same year the museum received its former
Canadian Pacific
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
heritage steam locomotive. On the former Grand Trunk mainline, the Petersburg station was closed in 1967, and in 1968 it was transported to the Pioneer Village.
Transportation
Rail
Rail service arrived in Doon in 1857 in the form of the
Preston and Berlin Railway
The first Preston and Berlin Railway was a steam-operated railway, opened for operation in 1857. Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener, Ontario), and Preston, Ontario (now part of Cambridge, Ontario), were only apart, but the route required a bridg ...
, a
branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
. It later became a part of the
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...
and, finally, the
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
(CN). With the decline of large, rail-served industries in the area, CN applied to abandon the railway around 1956.
Road
Doon is immediately adjacent to , which is to its east. passes through Doon, where it is known as Homer Watson Boulevard until becoming Fountain Street South within Cambridge.
Public transit
Conestoga College's Doon Campus is a minor hub for
Grand River Transit
Grand River Transit (GRT) is the public transport operator for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It operates daily bus services in the region, primarily in the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, alongside the I ...
bus service. Buses use the internal campus roadway to reach stops on the campus, including a row of
bus bay
A bus turnout, bus pullout, bus bay, bus lay-by (UK), or off-line bus stop is a designated spot on the side of a road where buses or trams may pull out of the flow of traffic to pick up and drop off passengers. It is often indented into the sid ...
s. With internal traffic congestion on the campus increasing, a dedicated on-campus bus station has been proposed, which would be directly accessible from Doon Valley Drive, a public roadway. In 2020, it was announced that the
Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure,
Infrastructure Canada
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) () (formerly Infrastructure Canada or INFC)''Infrastructure Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Office of Infrastructure of Canada (). is a de ...
, and the Region of Waterloo would be committing funds to the project, alongside nine other public transit and active transportation infrastructure projects in the region. The planned bus station would include heated shelters, bicycle parking, and space for additional bus stops.
Notable residents
Moses Springer (1824–1898) was born in Doon on 31 August 1824. In 1834 he and his ten siblings were orphaned when their parents died in a cholera epidemic. He was raised in Hespeler by the Mennonite Bishop Joseph Hagey and became a teacher and later a businessman in Waterloo. He was reeve of the village of Waterloo three times between 1857 and 1875, and represented the North Waterloo riding in the Ontario Legislature from 1867 to 1881.
Homer Watson
Homer Ransford Watson (January 14, 1855 – May 30, 1936) was a Canadian landscape painter. He has been characterized as the painter who first painted Canada as Canada, rather than as a pastiche of European painting. He was a member and pre ...
(1855–1936) was a self-taught painter who devoted most of his life to painting landscapes of the country of Doon in a combination of romantic and realistic styles.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
called Watson "the Canadian Constable".
A field stone house, built in 1835, that lies south of the village was Watson's house from 1881 until his death in 1936.
Homer's sister
Phoebe Amelia Watson moved into Homer's house after his wife Roxanna died in 1918.
She became curator of the Homer Watson Art Gallery in Doon, and held this post until her death on 22 October 1947.
Hartman Krug (1853–1933) was born in
New Dundee and followed his father's profession as a fine furniture maker.
He moved to Berlin and founded the H. Krug Furniture Company in the 1887.
In 1912 Krug became the majority shareholder in Doon Twine and Cordage Company, which was renamed Doon Twines Ltd.
The company began manufacturing cordage with jute, manila, hemp and sisal.
To accommodate growth and reduce transportation costs, in 1916 the operation was moved from Doon to a larger factory in Kitchener.
Beniah Bowman (1886–1941) was born in Waterloo county into a
United Empire Loyalist
United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North Ameri ...
family.
He was educated in the Doon and Hespeler public schools. In 1911 he became a farmer on
Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island ( ) is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia (bioregion), Laurentia. With an area of , it is the Lake ...
.
Bowman was a member of the Ontario Legislature from 1918 to 1926, and was Ontario Minister of Lands and Forests from 1919 to 1923.
Hilda Ranscombe
Hilda Doris Ranscombe (September 3, 1913 – August 25, 1998) was a Canadian ice hockey player. She served for ten seasons as the Preston Rivulettes captain, and led the team to ten consecutive Ladies Ontario Hockey Association championships, ...
(1913–1998) was born in Doon, and became a star ice hockey player on the
Preston Rivulettes
The Preston Rivulettes were a Canadian women's ice hockey team. They won four Dominion Championships and ten Ontario titles between 1931 and 1940. The team had a winning percentage of over 95%, a record unmatched in the history of women's hocke ...
.
Recent years

The population of Doon dropped sharply after the Doon Twines company relocated to Berlin, now Kitchener, during World War I.
There are now only a few small businesses in Doon, which has become a suburb for commuters to Kitchener and Cambridge.
After Phoebe Watson died the Watson house was home to the Doon School of Fine Arts from 1948 to 1966.
The house, a substantial building in Scottish
Gothic Vertical style that was built in 1834 by Adam Ferrie, was purchased by the City of Kitchener in 1981 and opened to the public as a historic building and art gallery.
The Homer Watson Memorial Park lies next to the village.
Doon contains the
Doon Heritage Village, which covers and reconstructs a view of life in the region in 1914, on the eve of World War I.
There are period buildings, farm animals and interpreters dressed in period clothes.
The
Waterloo Region Museum
Doon Heritage Village, located at the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum, is a picturesque 25-hectare (60-acre) living history village that shows visitors what life was like in the Waterloo Region in the year 1914. It is located in the former Doon ...
is at the entrance to the village.
The former house of
Peter McArthur was transported to the village from its original location on land owned by the McArthur family near
Appin, Ontario in Ekfrid Township.
Hugh C. Elliott (1899-1995), who had served in 1918–19 with the Canadian Engineers in
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
, Siberia, was a charter director of the Doon Pioneer Village.
Conestoga College
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
History
In 1967, the college was founded as Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology by the government of Ontar ...
Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a polytechnic established in 1967.
The original campus of
Conestoga College
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
History
In 1967, the college was founded as Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology by the government of Ontar ...
, and the largest, is located in Doon by the
Highway 401
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian prov ...
/ Homer Watson Blvd. interchange. The campus holds the college's main administrative offices. There are residences for full-time students next to the campus.
A 3-storey wing for the School of Health and Life Sciences opened in August 2011.
See also
*
List of unincorporated communities in Ontario
The following is a list of unincorporated area, unincorporated and informal communities in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, Canada. These communities are not independent communities, these are usually a part of a towns ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doon
Kitchener, Ontario
Communities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo