1850s

Reuben Powers Colton moved to Canada in 1830, as a 22 year old and settled in Gananoque. Colton moved to Brockville in 1842, after a fire destroyed his factory including his books and records the previous year.

The Brockville Foundry was founded in 1842, by Colton and Houghton. Houghton’s share was taken over by Chaffey later that same year. The Brockville Foundry became R.P. Colton & Co. when Colton took sole possession of the company in 1843.

The company’s main focus was stove manufacturing- designing and patenting a variety of unique models of cooking stoves and airtight parlour stoves. The company expanded premises in 1849, and had around 50 people fulltime and contained 4 floors. In November 1851, a fire caused extensive damage. In 1858, Colton moved to New Brunswick. Colton moved back to Brockville and by 1863, he was forced to sell his Brockville properties.

The Grand Trunk Railway was incorporated in 1852, and was built to connect Montreal and Toronto. The line was built in several sections -the section between Brockville-Montreal was built in 1855.

The Grand Trunk was a major influence for British North America moving towards Confederation. The line greatly improved the ease of trade along the St. Lawrence River, Montreal to Toronto and Sarnia to Chicago. August 25, 1860, saw the first successful bridging of the St. Lawrence River. At the turn of the century, the Grand Trunk Railway had employed up to 900 people in connection with the railway terminal at Brockville.

The company was succeeded by Canadian National Railway.

This brick yard was first operated by Amos O'Dell and his brother Horace O'Dell.
The area north of Butler's Creek and west of Park St. must have contained the deposit of clay used in the manufacturing of brick. These bricks must have been created by hand in wodden forms, air dried for a while and then fired in conical shaped ovens on the site.
Most of the brick buildings in Brockville during the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s were manufactured at this site.
When buildings are repaired or demolished the bricks from this period can be identified by the "AO" lettering placed in the top indented frog.

In later years (1890s), the brick yard was sold to William H. Wood who carried on the manufacture of bricks in a similar but probably more progressive method. The bricks sold by this company can be identified by the imprinted lettering "WHW" also found in the frog.

It is known that when the contractor building the new Brockville Asylum of the Insane for the Province of Ontario in the late 1890s required bricks for the numerous buildings required, this brick yard supplied most of the bricks.

Elnathan Hubbell, Brockville's first resident doctor, built a water-powered stone gristmill in the ravine below and to the west of modern-day Perth Street in the 1830s. By damming Buell's creek, he created a large millpond in the ravine. To the north of the mill, he also subdivided his property to provide housing for mill workers in what may have been Brockville's first suburb. The mill and its founder are commemorated by street names such as Hubbell St and Pond St. Situated along the Perth Road, the main north-south thoroughfare, the mill was very conveniently located for farmers on their way to or from the Brockville market.

In the late 1840s, James L. Schofield bought the property and mill. At some point prior to 1860 he appears to have replaced the mill's waterwheel with a steam engine, as a map of that year labels one of the out buildings as an 'engine room'.

The Grand Trunk Railway eventually bought the mill property, and although the mill ruins persisted into the 20th century, they have been destroyed by later development of the site.

The north side of Church St, west of Buell St, was for many years home to a series of bakeries and confectioneries. In 1833, grocer Alexander Starr purchased a lot there from the Buell Brothers. Starr and his two sons sold a variety of food items on the site, and in the 1860s under the name of Starr Bros built a three-story brick building on the site. The brothers were joined in 1872 by Montrealer Robert Gill, and, in 1874 by his brother John M Gill, forming Starr, Gill & Co. The partnership thrived until the building was destroyed by fire on 22 June 1882.

When the Gill brothers withdrew form the partnership in the wake of the fire, several employees formed a new company, Abbott, Grant & Buell. They built a new factory in 1882 which continued to produce bread, biscuits, and confectionary until 1924 when Walker Bakeries Ltd took over the factory. Walker's continued to operate the factory until 1974 when it was suddenly announced that the operation would close as it was no longer profitable. The property was later sold, and the buildings demolished.