New Dundee, Ontario

History

The land grants to New Dundee's early settlers were largely in Concessions 2 and 3, Block A, Wilmot Township. The township was opened to settlement in 1824 and was not part of the German Company Tract purchased out of Haldimand Tract land,

New Dundee itself was founded by the Millar pioneer family. The Millars emigrated from Scotland around 1825, and originally settled in the Niagara area. Arriving in Waterloo Township, several of them at first moved to the Sand Hills area which would later become Berlin and finally, Kitchener, where they established the first general store in that community. John Millar was the first member of the family to settle in the New Dundee area; in 1826 he dammed Alder Creek and built the first sawmill and general store there. John named the community New Dundee after his home town of Dundee, Scotland. The settlement was located off the Huron Road, at the far southeast corner of Block A, requiring settlers to construct a connecting road in order to access the outside world conveniently.

Frederick Gourlay Millar later bought John's sawmill, house, and store, and also constructed a gristmill. The Millars were soon joined by other pioneer families: the Reichard family in 1829, who opened their own sawmill on the creek on land granted to them in lieu of payment for their work on the Huron Road, and the Bettschen family, who cleared the dense forest on the southern half of Lot 5, Concession 3 and built a farm and blacksmith shop. Another early settler was a squatter, Dan Schafer, who lived alone in a trapper's cabin on the northern half of Lot 5, Concession 3. Frederick Millar, who was civic-minded and had played a role in the early growth of Berlin, had a village plan drawn up in the 1850s. The planned-for village never truly materialized as shortly after, New Dundee, already located a distance from the Huron Road, was bypassed by the Grand Trunk Railway, which passed through the German Block communities of Petersburg, Baden, and New Hamburg instead.

The Post Office was opened in 1852. By 1870, there were two churches, two hotels, a school, the sawmill and the flour mill, and factories that produced shingles, rakes and flax, as well as two stores and two hotels. The population was 250.

In 1904, Ezra H. Thamer opened New Dundee's first Bell Telephone exchange, the New Dundee Rural Telephone Company, and started a small home-based creamery. By 1908, other investors joined the group, and the creamery became a larger operation, initially as the New Dundee Farmer’s Cooperative Creamery Company Ltd.; it was later renamed to the New Dundee Co-Operative Creamery Ltd. The operation became the community's largest industry, processing 140 million pounds of milk in 1964, for example. The business closed in 1998 and the factory was dismantled in 2005.

The current New Dundee Public School was built in 1928, with additions in 2008 and 2013.

The Dundee Country Club golf course opened in 1970. Many small businesses are located within the community on Alder Lake and some historic buildings are still standing.

William J. Wintemberg, called by some the "Father of Canadian Archaeology", and an expert on Iroquioan prehistory, was born in the village.

Geography

New Dundee is situated along the Grand River watershed. The local stream is called Alder Creek. Alder Creek flows into the Nith River a few kilometres downstream. The original settlers built the town because of its creek.

Notable people

• Randolph Mank (1954 – ), founder of MankGlobal Inc. consultancy in 2015
• Dilman Kinsey Erb (1857 – 1936), member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1896 – 1904

References

Citations

Bibliography

References

2. "Census Profile, 2016 Census: New Dundee [Population centre], Ontario". [[Statistics Canada]].
3. "Wilmot Township". Ken Seiling Waterloo Regional Museum.
4. Mills, Rych. (12 May 2017). "A brother team founds New Dundee".
5. (1864). "County of Waterloo Gazetteer and General Business Directory, For 1864". Mitchell & Co..
6. Mills, Rych. (7 September 2018). "Flash from the Past: RFC flyer in training visits hometown 'by mistake'".
7. (2010). "New Dundee Walking Tour".
8. "About". New Dundee Public School.
9. "William J. Wintemberg 1876-1941". Alan L. Brown.