Long Description:Text from the plaque:
THE FOUNDER OF PRESTON
Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, John Erb (1764-1832) was
a Mennonite of Swiss ancestry. He came to Upper Canada in 1805,
acquired 3035 ha of land from the German Land Company, and settled
on the site of Preston. The following year he built a sawmill and
in 1807 a grist-mill around which the community grew. The numerous
descendants of John Erb and his relatives have played an important
role in the development of Waterloo County. This town, known as
"Cambridge Mills", was renamed after Preston, England.
PRESTON
In the early 1800's a group of German speaking Mennonites
arrived from Pennsylvania. As with the other major communities
which make up Cambridge, the land upon which they settled was
acquired from the Six Nations Indians through a land speculator
named Richard Beasley.
Among the first settlers to arrive in what was later to become
Preston was John Erb who acquired 7,500 acres including land at the
confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers. Mr. Erb and his wife
settled on his Speed River lands in 1805 and built a sawmill on the
banks of the river in 1806. A grist mill followed in 1807. The
sawmill has long since disappeared but the grist mill was the
beginning of a flour milling business which has operated
continuously on that spot to the present day. The site is
recognized as the oldest continuously operating industrial site in
the region.
It was around Mr. Erb's mills, known locally as Cambridge Mills,
that the settlement that grew into Preston began. It was not Mr.
Erb's intent to create a town. He consistently refused to sell land
for commercial development and it was not until after his death in
1832 that his lands to the south of the Speed River were surveyed
and divided into lots.
The task of surveying the land fell to William Scollick, a
surveyor, conveyancer and Justice of the Peace from Preston,
Lancashire, England, who completed the survey of Mr. Erb's lands in
1834. The linear shape of the survey with virtually all the
buildings in the settlement stretched out along the Great Road from
Dundas is said to have reminded Mr. Scollick of his native town in
England and he gave the name of Preston to the settlement.
The sale of the newly surveyed lands immediately attracted a
significant number of tradesmen, artisans and craftsmen - primarily
young German immigrants who had recently arrived in North America.
These men saw a place where German was spoken, much of the land was
cleared and there was an acute shortage of skilled artisans and
craftsmen. The population grew rapidly from about 250 inhabitants
in 1836 to about 1,600 in 1855. Of these, approximately 70% were
German in origin. Preston's location on the Great Road into the
interior of the province made it a natural stop for travellers and
with its eight hotels and taverns attracted more Europeans than any
other village in the area.
By the mid-1800's these European travellers were being joined in
increasing numbers by people who were attracted to the town's
mineral springs which were thought to possess remarkable curative
powers in the treatment of a variety of ailments. These springs
were discovered accidentally in 1837 by a member of the Erb family
while drilling for salt. Instead, they found instead "stinky
water". The water, with its high sulphur content, was well named
and was initially thought to be worthless. It was not long,
however, before some enterprising businessmen and medical
practitioners let it be known that the mineral springs, while not
heated like those of some European health spas, could offer relief
if not an outright cure for a number of ailments including
arthritis and rheumatism. Soon three major hotels, first the North
American, later the Del Monte and finally the Sulphur Springs,
sprang up to serve the well-heeled clientele which began to arrive
in Preston from all over North America to "take the waters."
While the town became an important destination for those seeking
to renew their sometimes fragile health, the well-being of the town
itself was in question. Between 1861 and 1871 Preston's population
declined from 1,539 to 1,409 and showed only a marginal increase to
1,419 by 1881. It was not until 1891 that the population once again
begin to increase and it was not until 1900 that the population
broke the 2,000 barrier. Part of the reason for this turnaround can
be traced to the coming of the electric railway systems that began
to serve the community in 1894.
The idea of an electric railway connecting Preston with Galt,
its larger neighbour to the south-east, was first proposed in 1890.
At first, Preston's town council was not eager to get the town
involved in a potentially hazardous railway scheme and it was not
until 1893 that Preston council decided to enter negotiations. In
many ways, the building of the electric railway marked Preston's
emergence from its well earned identity as a "sleepy German
town".
A steady growth followed and the decades of the 1950's and the
1960's saw continuing growth of Preston's industrial base and the
gradual expansion of the town toward the borders of its nearest
neighbours, Galt and Hespeler. By the late 1960's a move was under
way to institute a new level of local government which would see
the creation of a new Regional Municipality of Waterloo. Including
a plan for the formation of a new city through the amalgamation of
Preston Galt and Hespeler.
The plan, proposed by the Provincial government in the name of
administrative and economic efficiency, was not met with universal
approval. In the end, it was common interests and the long standing
relationships between the communities that finally prevailed. It
was noted at the time that despite the municipalities' long
standing rivalries, there was very little difference between them
in areas such as type of labour force, newspaper circulation,
ethnic origin and religious affiliation. In addition, problems
resulting from the continued growth of all three municipalities
were better solved with the pooling of resources. Thus, on January
1, 1973, City of Cambridge, Ontario came into being. This union is
symbolized in the City of Cambridge Crest.
Info taken from:
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