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Town of Lincoln Early Indigenous Peoples European Settlement Clinton Township Louth Township Timelines Historical Plaques

The Town of Lincoln (1970)

On January 1st 1970, Beamsville, Clinton Township and parts of Louth Township were brought together under the municipal corporation now known as the “Town of Lincoln”. The town required one governing body, not three different ones, with the first Mayor, Delby Bucknall coming from Clinton Township, the first municipal representative, Fred McKenzie coming from Louth Township and aldermen from Beamsville, Clinton and Louth. The name “Lincoln” was chosen by a vote of the citizens.

The Town of Lincoln includes the villages and hamlets of Beamsville, Campden, Jordan, Jordan Station, Rockway, Tintern, Vineland, and Vineland Station.

Our History includes the development of the region from early inhabitants of Indigenous Peoples through to pioneer settlements and the established communities of the Town of Lincoln.

Town of Lincon – First Town Hall

Early Indigenous Peoples

Niagara Region has been inhabited by many First Nations for thousands of years, and is steeped in the rich history of the First Nations such as the Hatiwendaronk, the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe, including the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The Attawandaran (Neutral) peoples once settled this region alongside the Algonquin and Haudenosaunee peoples and used this land as their traditional hunting grounds. In the mid-1600’s, through European diseases, war, and famine, the Neutral population was decimated with remaining peoples joining other Nations.

Historic Treaties

Beginning in 1701, Britain entered into treaties with Indigenous peoples in the British colonies of North America, to support peaceful economic and military relations. Over the next 200 years, the Crown signed treaties that defined the respective rights of Indigenous peoples and European newcomers to use the North American lands that Indigenous peoples traditionally occupied. These treaties signed after 1763 provided large area of land occupied by First Nations to the Crown, in exchange for reserve lands and other benefits.

In 1784 (and later boundaries corrected in 1792), the Between the Lakes Treaty No. 3 between the Crown and Mississaugas of the Credit was signed, which gave the Mississaugas 1180 pounds of trade goods for approx. 3,000,000 acres of land between Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Erie, of which 550,000 acres were granted in the Haldimand Proclamation months later to the Six Nations for their loyalty to the Crown. The remaining lands were to be used for settlement of other Loyalists. This Treaty covers the lands of Clinton and Louth Townships.

See Between the Lakes Treaty, No. 3 (1792) from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for further details on this treaty, and Treaties and agreements from the Government of Canada for details and complexity of treaty rights and the treaty relationship.

The Beginning of European Settlement of Clinton and Louth Townships

During the American Revolution (1775-1783), refugees began fleeing to what is now known as Ontario as early as 1778. These people, who remained loyal to the British, were known as United Empire Loyalists [“UEL”]. They fled north into British controlled land, including Nova Scotia and Quebec (later divided in 1791 into Upper Canada in the west and Lower Canada in the east, and eventually becoming the provinces of Ontario and Quebec we know today).

The remaining Treaty Lands received by Britain from Between the Lakes Treaty, No. 3 (1792) (after the distribution to the Six Nations) was to be distributed to the UEL for land to settle: soldiers, farmers, merchants, etc. who fled their homes in the former colonies, now known as the United States. When the land was surveyed it was divided into counties and then townships. Clinton Township and Louth Township were two of the townships in Lincoln County. At this time the land was covered in forests. There were no villages, dwellings or cleared fields to grow crops. People who had left established comfortable homes in the United States now had to again begin clearing the land for farms, because their families needed to be fed. Britain had been shipping food and other necessities to Canada to care for these immigrants.

In 1789 a Land Board, consisting of gentlemen of the district, was appointed by the Crown. They secured a surveyor, Augustus Jones, to draw a map of the various townships. The Land Board then proceeded to examine the loyalty and character of people claiming a settlement. After taking an oath of allegiance, the applicants received a “Location Ticket” specifying the quantity of land they and their families were entitled to receive. Under the direction of Gov. John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, the counties and townships were named after some English or Scottish county, thus the names Lincoln County and Clinton and Louth Townships.

A Provincial Act of 1798 enacted that the townships of Clinton, Grimsby, Saltfleet, Barton, Ancaster, Glanford, Binbrook, Gainsborough and Caistor form and constitute the first riding of the County of Lincoln, and the townships of Newark, Grantham and Louth constitute the second riding of the County of Lincoln. These townships were rearranged in 1856, and now Lincoln County included Niagara, Grantham, Louth, Clinton, Gainsborough, Caistor and Grimsby townships. Each township had to pay taxes to the county for paying county services which included road building, administration of justice, charity and welfare, aid to agriculture and public health, supporting grammar (high) and common (elementary) schools. Therefore, each township had to have its own government consisting of a Reeve and Councillors. Clinton Township and Louth Township had a governing board, although in 1879 the village of Beamsville became an incorporated village with its own government.

In the late 1790s, a message was sent to the British representative in Pennsylvania inviting “Quakers and like societies to come to Upper Canada where land could be purchased for farming.” These societies including Quakers, Lutherans, Mennonites and other Pennsylvanian German people who were seeking land where they could live in peace, did not have to bear arms, could practice their own religion and customs, and provide more land to their offspring. They arrived with money to purchase land and their Conestoga wagons were filled with furniture and other essentials to begin life in this new land. Life was easier for these immigrants than for the first refugees but it was still a hard life for everyone.

Canada was invaded twice by the Americans who wanted to make Canada one of the American states. First the War of 1812 when the British and settlers drove the Americans back, and again in 1866 when the Fenians, Irish descendants who wanted to see the British defeated, were repelled. A year later, in 1867, confederation united the four provinces and Canada was formed. Ontario was the most western province.

Clinton Township

Clinton Township is along Lake Ontario on the west side of Louth Township. The divide between Louth and Clinton Townships is the “Townline” now named Victoria Avenue, which divides the village of Vineland, half in Louth Township and half in Clinton Township. Clinton is mainly a rural farming area with small, closely-knit communities centred around farming, power sources and needed services. The escarpment, known as “the Bench” in Clinton where grapes grow abundantly is known for its numerous wineries. Beamsville is the largest community in Clinton.

The land between the escarpment and Lake Ontario was purchased for farming which eventually became fruit farms; the land on the escarpment was preferred for growing grapes. Governing bodies were established in 1793 as in Louth with elected officers. Organization with elections of a Reeve and Councillors didn’t take place until 1850.

Jacob Beam, a Loyalist from New Jersey, was granted 200 acres on Lots 15 in the 3rd and 4th Concessions, as was his son Jacob Jr. on adjoining Lots 16 in the same concessions. Jacob Sr. was also granted 350 acres in North Grimsby on Lots L, M, and N. After building grist and saw mills by partnering with William Kitchen and prospering in the Upper Thirty, Jacob Beam moved to Beamsville.

Beamsville prospered, with Jacob Beam contributing with land for the Baptist Church and the building of a first school. The beginning of a village began along King or Main Street in Beamsville. The first streets were Main or King, Academy, Hixon, Mountain, North, and Ontario Streets. Beamsville began as a small market centre with a mill, tannery, pottery, carriage maker, agricultural machinery shop, blacksmiths, hotels, butcher shops, grocery stores, dry goods, etc. Rock for building bridges, tunnels, buildings and crushed for roads was discovered south of Beamsville on the Escarpment. Beamsville became the largest village in Clinton Township, and the quarry became an important employer of men in this area. When the train tracks were laid north of Beamsville, the village flourished; at one time having industries, hotels, and stores to fill every need. All around the village were fruit farms, and the number of people coming to the area increased. In the early 1840s, students came from neighbouring areas to receive an education at the Beamsville Grammar School. These students boarded at Beamsville homes. In 1879 Beamsville became an Incorporated Village with its own Reeve and Councillors.

Campden, originally called Moyers’ Corners, was a small village which catered to the farmers above the escarpment. Many Mennonite families, including many named Moyer settled after 1800. It was a bustling village in 1812 beginning with a tailor shop, until the railway passed through Clinton Township below the Escarpment. In 1862 it became known as Campden with its own Post Office.

Tintern village was created in 1857 to support Dean’s Mill and farmers who lived in the most southerly area of Clinton Township. The village received its own Post office in 1872. There is still a garage that repairs vehicles, and a large church has been built in the vicinity. There had been a school, a church and stores.

Vineland, a crossroad community at Highway #8 and Victoria Ave. has grown rather than disappearing, with a large grocery store, hardware, pharmacy, restaurant, bank, garage, and other amenities. In 1894 the area received a Post Office and its official name, Vineland.

Vineland Station came into being when the Experimental Farm was established in 1907 on land that was purchased in 1906 by Moses F. Rittenhouse and given to the Ontario government. Then a Post Office was needed, and a grocery store and church were added for the area. Now only the Experimental Farm (Vineland Research and Innovation Centre) and a church remain.

Jacob Beam Portrait – Namesake for Beamsville

First Baptist Church built 1858 – Beamsville

Beamsville Express, 1926-1958, 77 King St E.

Beamsville – King Street Near Hillside Dr

Tintern – Looking North and South across road 1950

Vineland – First Mennonite Church and Walled Burying Ground

Vineland Station – Looking South East from Experimental Farm – Rittenhouse Schoolhouse & Gardens and Victoria Hall at right

Vineland Research & Innovation Centre (Experimental Farm)

Vineland Station – Prudhommes Garden Centre Hotel Lobby

Vineland Station – Prudhommes Garden Centre Hotel

Huntsman Mill in Tintern – 1899 Oil by Charrie Tallman age 25. Daughter of Electa Huntsman and William Ellis

Louth Township

Louth Township on Lake Ontario is one of the earliest townships to be settled. It contains some of the most varied landscapes in Ontario – spectacular waterfalls, the rocky and beautiful Niagara Escarpment (also extends into Clinton Township), tiny, tucked-away beaches on Lake Ontario and acres of orchards and vineyards on some of Ontario’s richest farmland. People travelled by water ways, trails, roads and eventually the railroad. Roads and early settlements were named after the measured distance from the Niagara River, thus the Twenty Mile Creek. Present day Charles Daley Park is between the 15-mile and 16-mile creeks with beautiful beaches.

One of the earliest Indigenous trails, the “Iroquois Trail” became the Queenston-Grimsby Stone Road, then Highway #8 and now Regional Road 81, making it one of the oldest provincial roads, and a scenic beauty even today.

Louth Township was first settled in 1783 when land was worth only one shilling and three pence per acre. Government was established in Louth Township c1793 with elected officers, a Town Clerk, two Collectors, one Pound Keeper, overseers of roads, two assessors and two Town Wardens.
This township, settled by many Pennsylvania Mennonite farmers, is mainly an agriculture settlement now with profitable fruit farms and some villages: Bridgeport (Jordan Station), Jordan and Rockway. The Twenty Mile Creek harbour, frequently called ‘Jordan Harbour’, was used to ship flour from Ball’s Mills (Glen Elgin) along with apples, dried apples, etc., to as far away as Great Britain. Sailing vessels travelled as far as the village of Jordan to take on these supplies.

Bridgeport (Jordan Station) became an important station when the railway went through Louth in 1853. When the railway bridge was built across the Twenty Mile Creek at Jordan Station, the ships with high masts could not sail under the train bridge. It then became the major fruit shipping centre, replacing the Harbour with the Railway, shipping fruit and other supplies to the rest of Ontario and elsewhere. There are still prosperous fruit farms in Louth Township, some owned by descendants of the immigrants who arrived in 1800 and later.

Jordan is the home of the Lincoln Museum and Cultural Centre: Home of the Jordan Historical Museum, formerly the Jordan Museum of the Twenty. The site includes the stone Schoolhouse (c1858), the Fry house (c1815), and the Haines/Jordan Mennonite Cemetery, where Harvest Pioneer Day is celebrated in the fall.

Vineland Station which straddles the Town Line between Louth and Clinton Townships and is now named Victoria Ave., was created mainly for the Horticultural Research Institute and shipping fruit. It was established to aid fruit farmers. Moses F. Rittenhouse, a local boy who became wealthy in the lumber industry in the United States was an important civic benefactor to the area.

Rockway was noted for its salt springs in 1803 and the falls is still a tourist attraction. There is only a Presbyterian church and cemetery left.

The village of Glen Elgin, though planned never came into being. The railway ran below the escarpment, not above it and eventually the Glen Elgin / Ball’s Falls area declined.

Jordan Station Bridge & Original Stone Piers – Looking East

Jordan Station – St. Mary’s (St. Patrick’s) Catholic Church built c1860s South-side Chestnut

Jordan Station – Main St (Bridgeport Dr) looking North and East side

Elizabeth Simcoe – Twenty Mile Creek – May 10 1794

Jordan Train Station – Loading Dock 1917

Unloading fruit at the Train Station (from wagons) Vineland Growers Jordan Station

Jordan – Second Train Bridge over Twenty

Jordan – Crossing Bridge at Twenty Mile Creek

Jordan – Fry House moved in 1959 to the Museum

Jordan Station – Last Run of Bullet Nose Betty No.6060 July 19 1980

Timelines

The timelines below provide a snapshot of key events, people, and the overall history of each of the villages and hamlets that make up the Town of Lincoln today.

Beamsville

Year	Event
c1790	Jacob Beam, a Loyalist from New Jersey, came to Clinton Twp. and settled at the Upper Thirty and applied for land grants; Helped establish the Upper Thirty, owning a grist mill, saw mill, and tavern where he sold his own whisky.
1793	First meetings of Township Council for Clinton Twp., consisted of elected Town Clerk; two Collectors; Overseers of roads; one Pound Keeper; two Town Wardens; two Assessors.
1798	Crown Land Grant to Jacob Beam, a Loyalist, Lots 15, Concession 3 and 4 in Clinton Twp., 200 acres. Property was between present Bartlett Road and Ontario St. in Beamsville, from John St. to south of King St.
1801	Jacob Beam Jr. was also granted land in Lots 16, Concession 3 and 4, 200 acres.
1802	While Jacob Beam settled at the Upper Thirty c1790, in May 1802 he was eventually granted 350 acres of crown land in North Grimsby on Lots L, M, and N. When the creek diminished and eventually almost dried up, Beam moved to Beamsville. Jacob Beam’s account book, which began in the States, continued with businesses at the Upper Thirty). The original Jacob Beam home is still standing on King Street East, south of King St. in Beamsville.
1808	Jacob Beam donated land for the First Baptist Church and cemetery on Church St. between Mountain and Queen Streets in Beamsville. Church building was used as a Common School as well.
1812	Jacob Beam died, son Jacob Beam Jr. continued selling land in Beamsville. The village grew.
c1815	A Log Grammar school was built on Jacob Beam property on Academy St.
1827	Stagecoaches ran along the Queenston / Grimsby Stone Road though Beamsville.
1830	Beamsville received a Post Office.
1840	Presbyterian Church established on North St., facing south, near present BDSS property.
1849	Brick Common School built on northeast corner of Queen and Church Streets.
1851	Clinton Township Town Hall built on Mountain St., Beamsville.
1853	Grand Trunk Railway run between Beamsville and Lake Ontario, below the escarpment. Villages along the railway prospered.
1857	First Clinton Township Fall Fair held in Beamsville. Continued at the Beamsville Fairgrounds, the last one being held in 2012 for the 155th edition.
1857-1872	Alanson Harris opened Agricultural Machinery shop on Ontario St. (Royal Bank property), moved to Brantford to form partnership with Massey.
1858	Beamsville became a Police Village.
1858	Present Baptist church built.
1859	School board purchased ‘Henry’s Folly’ on William St. – Grammar school on upper floor; Common (Elementary) school on first floor.
1874	Methodist Church built on west side of Queen St. Senior apartments now on this site.
1879	Beamsville became an Incorporated Village with a reeve and councillors. Land transfers are now separate from Clinton Twp. (Beamsville deeds from 1879-1955 available for research.)
1885	Bell Telephone arrived.
1885	Church of Christ church built on Queen St. across from the Methodist Church.
1889	St. Alban’s Anglican church built on Ontario St.
1894	Beamsville waterworks built from the quarry to village by gravity (reservoir still there).
1900	Bank of Hamilton opened on southwest corner of King & Mountain St. (now a shoe store).
1909	Basket Factory built on Hixon St. by Reid & Piott.
1910	Church of Christ split – S.M. Jones’ Bible School moved out – George Tinlin and Rosetta Prudhomme Smith built a new cement block church further south on Queen Street.
1919	Beamsville District High School opened on North St. (Central Ave.). Only high school in Louth and Clinton townships.
c1920	Churches of Christ were reconciled back to the red brick building on Queen St.
1923	Royal Bank opened on King St. North.
1925	United Churches formed by union of Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians. In Beamsville this did not happen until 1938.
1930	St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church – Presbyterians who did not want to join the United Church of Canada purchased the I.O.O.F. temple on Queen St. which was built in 1910 by Church of Christ dissidents.
1938	Methodists and some Presbyterians joined the Untied Church. Knox Presbyterian church became Trinity United Church in Beamsville.
1942	St. Helen’s Catholic Church was built on Maple Grove Road.
1953	Sewers were built in Beamsville.
1956	Jewish Synagogue called Baron Hirsch Congregation opened in the former Grobb School on the southwest corner of Mountain St. and Fly Road.
1957	Lutheran Church was moved to George St. from the Jordan area.
1957	St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church opened on Ontario St.
1970	Beamsville became part of the Town of Lincoln.
1985	Providence Church, Beamsville, King St. East on the property of the E.D. Smith Canning Factory.
2018	New St. Helen’s Catholic Church opened on Mountain St.
2023	Three Public Elementary Schools in Town of Lincoln – Jacob Beam & Senator Gibson in Beamsville, Twenty Valley in Vineland. One High School – West Niagara High School which encompasses students from Beamsville, Grimsby and Smithville, located on Highway 81 between Beamsville and Grimsby.

Bridgeport (Jordan Station)

During the French and English Seven Years War, before land was acquired in this area in land surrender treaties with First Nations by the British Government to pay the Loyalists for their loyalty to the crown, it was said that Daniel Boone (1734-1820) the great American frontiersman, reputedly led a war party up the Twenty from Lake Ontario; he landed on the south shore of “Big Bay”, which begins on the eastern side of the harbour entering from the lake. That area, one-third of a mile from the entrance, is still called “Boon’s Landing”. He supposedly led a war party up through the gorge to the top of the bank and engaged a party of Indigenous warriors in battle. This would have been the time of the English and French Seven Years War, 1756-1763. Many arrowheads found in this area years ago may lend credence to this story.

Year	Event
1793	When Governor Simcoe and his wife, Elizabeth, visited the Twenty, Mrs. Simcoe stated in her diary that there were already two families of Butler’s Rangers at the harbour and that walking along the bank up the Twenty, she had bread and milk and butter at a home of a family from Pennsylvania. Later that year Elizabeth Simcoe painted pictures of the five-ton ships in the harbour.
1794	July 27, Elizabeth Simcoe Diary Entry – “We dined on the beach at the Twenty-Mile Creek and went across the great pond to one of Col. Butler’s houses, where we slept, after taking great pains to smoke the house and fix the mosquito net well; for this place abounds so much with mosquitoes that the farmer does not sleep in his house from June til September, but sleeps in his barn to avoid them. The pond is full of wild rice, a marshy weed” This was when she visited the home of Capt. Peter Hare.
1797	Captain Peter Hare, Butler’s Rangers, was granted up to 3,000 acres altogether. His second wife was Margaret Fairchild Secord, widow of Lieut. Solomon Secord. Her son, Solomon Secord inherited the land where Bridgeport was created, which had originally belonged to his grandfather, Peter Fairchild.
1803	Peter Fairchild, Butler’s Ranger, Loyalist received a patent from the Crown for the property described in 1794 by Elizabeth Simcoe.
1818	Robert Gourlay’s statistical accounts said the Twenty Mile Creek which flowed into the pond was navigable for craft of five to twenty tons. Ships could continue to sail southward almost three miles, very nearly to what is now the village of Jordan.
1841	Solomon Secord inherited this property in 1841 from his mother, Widow Hare, who married Captain Peter Hare, Butler’s Ranger, Loyalist.
1848	Bodies were first buried in what is now known as Oaklawn Cemetery, possibly railroad construction workers and their families.
1840s-1860s	Richard Gilbert built schooners on “Hogs Back”, land at the end of Culp Road which jutted out into the west side of the Twenty Mile Creek. We know of three schooners, the Sweet Home, a 2-mast schooner built c1853 by S. Little, owned by William Bradt; the Mayflower, built c1862, also known as the Flying Yankee; and the Flying Dutchman, built c1862 by R. Gilbert, owned by Moses Overholt. Because the railway bridge was built in 1853, schooners built after that date had to be floated under the bridge without masts and rigged out on the north side of the bridge.
1851	Census – Solomon Secord and his family were living in a 1 ½ storey frame house in Louth Twp.
1852	Solomon Secord sold 6 ¼ acres to the Great Western Railway for a right-of-way across his land.
1853	A wooden trestle bridge spanned the Twenty Mile Creek (present steel bridge is in the same location).
1856	Solomon Secord surveyed and subdivided the land adjacent to the Railway, had Bridgeport Plan 41A drawn-up and registered 29 April 1856.
	A school had been built along the east side of the pond bank, south of the railway tracks, not too far from where the Macabee Lodge was located. This hall was used for school, a Lodge Hall, for travelling medicine shows, dances and as a polling station for this polling division.
C1856	The first Great Western Railway station was built.
1856-1875	Mail for Jordan and area was delivered twice a day 6 days a week, taken to Jordan Post Office, sorted, then the people in Bridgeport had to travel 2 miles to Jordan to get their mail.
1859	Cemetery land was sold to Methodist Church, and a church building was built on this property.
1861	Census – Solomon Secord and his family were living in a 1-storey brick bungalow in Louth Twp.
1862	Robert L. Gibson, quarryman, was living in the brick Secord house while the stone piers for the second railway bridge was being built. His first child was born in Bridgeport at that time.
1865	36 people lived in Jordan; 30 people lived in Bridgeport.
C1860s	A small red-brick Catholic church named St. Mary’s was built on the south side of Chestnut St. near the edge of Twenty Mile Creek. The small bay to the north of this location became known as Catholic Bay.
1865	Gould’s /Goold’s log and frame saloon burned down. Gould’s Hotel was known as Bridgeport Hotel, then “Jordan Station Hotel” as well as Gould’s Hotel.
1867	At the time of Confederation, the Grand Trunk Railway was the world’s largest railway system with 2,055 km of track.
1868	A stone trestle bridge was completed but it was not high enough to allow schooners with tall masts to pass under. The Grand Trunk railway took much of the business of delivering fruit and vegetables to far away places.
1871	There was a Constable in Bridgeport.
1873	April 10, the second Great Western Railway station burned – building was completely destroyed. Company books and goods in freight house were saved.
1873	September, Great Western railway established a telegraph at Bridgeport.
1875	JORDAN STATION – December 1, 1875, Jordan Station Post Office: Bridgeport residents requested their own post office – problem, another Bridgeport north of Waterloo so a new name for Bridgeport was needed. From the St. Catharines Daily News, December 1, 1875 “A new post office was opened at Jordan Station and will commence operations today. The Post Master is Mr. D. G. Smith. The name is ‘Jordan Station’. It will prove a great convenience to many in that locality and save many a two-mile tramp”
1880	Apples, peaches, plums, strawberries and blackberries were shipped to distant places.
1881	Senator E.D. Smith invented and built the first blower car for shipping fruit by train. The blower car was equipped with a fan that blew across blocks of ice, cooling the air and working like a refrigerator. This allowed fruit to be shipped for longer periods of time and over greater distances without spoilage.
1882	Great Western railway was sold to the Grand Trunk Railway; villagers complained of stagnant water lying in the ditches on each side of the track through Jordan Station; which caused malaria and other diseases.
1882	Methodist Church kept records of burial plots from this time on.
1886	A new Jordan Station Public School was built on 15th Street. It closed in 1982. It is now Jordan Christian School.
1890-1895	Moltimore Banks, teacher at Jordan Station Public School earned $480.00 per year but in 1895 salary was cut back to $450.00. Mr. Banks resigned in 1895.
1900-1910	A number of large, brick homes were built in the Jordan / Vineland area due to the successful fruit and berry crops.
1903	The present steel, double-track bridge and railway line was built along the path of the original trestle bridge. This was a double-track bridge and railway.
1907	Solomon Rittenhouse had such a successful strawberry crop that he built a new brick home (now Prudhomme’s antiques).
1908	Sterling Bank – new brick building opened – now converted to a private home.
1908	C.M. Honsberger built Jordan Station Canning and Preserving Co., a frame canning factory, on the southwest corner of Nineteenth St. and Red Maple St., when he had an abundance of fruit. The cans were sealed by soldering the caps, one step removed from the first days of canning when the cumbersome method of wrapping tin plate around a wooden mold fashioned the containers. This plant canned tomatoes, peaches, strawberries, beans, peas, apples and blackberries. It operated until 1912. This building became a basket factory until the 1950s.
1909	Moses K. Rittenhouse bought lots 22, 23 and 25, built his home and began making wooden sprayers for farmers. He paid young neighbourhood boys to paint the interiors.
1912	Dominion Canners built a large brick canning plant on the south side of Chestnut Street. As many as 200 workers were employed at the height of the season. Water was pumped from the pond and effluent was dumped into the same pond.
1913	New Railway Station built.
1915	Jordan Station became a police village.
1915	Concrete sidewalks were installed.
C1915	William Oliver had plans drawn up for the subdivision on Victoria St., now called Queen Victoria St.
1915	Chauncey Moote purchased Lot 11 on Victoria St. and built the first home in the subdivision.
1918	Dominion Canners had a typhoid epidemic traced to a “carrier” who worked in the plant. This plant was closed for four years, then reopened.
1919	Grand Trunk railway went bankrupt.
1928	Methodist Church purchased land on the northeast corner of Bridgeport St. and Red Maple Rd. and moved the church building to this lot – members brought their teams of horses and the building was rolled on logs to the new location and placed on the prepared basement. This information from Arminta Overholt who said her husband Courtland Overholt took his team of horses to help with the moving.
1930	Moses K. Rittenhouse purchased lots 2, 3 and 4 on the west side of Bridgeport Dr., next to Oaklawn Cemetery.
1946	Moyer Diebel Ltd. was started after WWII ended, located in a barn across from the Moyer home. Arthur Moyer and Howard Diebel, RCAF, began manufacturing metal barbeques. In 1953 the company moved to a plant at the foot of Jordan Road.
1950s	Dominion Canners closed its operations. The closing removed a considerable portion of the employment possibilities for people in the area.
1970	Jordan Station became part of the Town of Lincoln.
1976	The railway station was no longer used, it was sold and moved to the south side of Prince William St. and is now a private home.
2023	Now there is only a Post Office which covers the area from Beamsville to the east part of Louth Township in the Town of Lincoln, the Jordan Station United Church, Vineland Growers Ltd., Verhoef Electric Inc., as well as numerous fruit and vegetable farms and wineries.

Campden

At the close of the American Revolutionary War, the British Government negotiated land surrender treaties with First Nations. This land was surveyed and given to the Loyalists who fought along with the British soldiers. Many of the Loyalists who received land in this area were members of the famous Butler’s Rangers, who at the close of the 18th Century had extensive holdings in Clinton Township.

In 1799 a prospecting party of “Pennsylvania German” people visited the Niagara Region. They could buy land along the “Iroquois Trail” (now Hwy 8, below the Niagara escarpment) for $1.50 an acre.

Year	Event
1800	A large number followed this party in which there were a number of “Moyer” families who purchased land in this area. They at once began clearing farms and erecting buildings. This small community which sprang up along “Fly Road” was known as “Moyers’ Corner” for many years. There were some houses near this area when the War of 1812-1814 was in progress.
1812	Luther De Forris, on the site where the town hall once stood, erected a log cabin and dug a well which furnished water for the local citizens. De Forris would not allow his fire to go out and neighbours who had unfortunately let their fire go out could always get a live coal from him.
1812	Abraham Swartz, a tailor, was the first business in this hamlet. Soon there was a shoe shop, a weaver, a cabinet maker, and a cigar factory.
1816	The “Common School Act” gave people of the townships the opportunity to receive government assistance in paying teachers wherever they could establish school with 20 or more pupils.
1836	Samuel Fry, a weaver, living on the Townline (now Victoria Ave.) was advertising weaving of coverlets and was pressing apples for cider. (His home is now the Fry House at the Jordan Museum).
	Daniel Orth, potter, made crocks. Eventually in the village of Campden, there was a potter, tinsmith, cigar maker, brick maker, furniture maker and undertaker, post master, painter, general merchant, a carriage painter, bookkeeper, school teacher, teamster, and miller.
1843	A Mennonite church and cemetery was erected about one-half mile east of the village. Twice a week Noah Albright carried the mail from Beamsville.
1850	Evangelical United Brethren Church was built at the corner of Moyer and Tintern Roads with a cemetery across from the church.
1862	Villagers wanted a post office, but they were told there were too many “Corners” in the country. J.C. Rykert, an M.P. who drew-up the plans for the village in 1879, suggested the name “Campden”.
	A post office was built in CAMPDEN. CAMPDEN already had a blacksmith shop, a school and a church.
1865	A brick one-room school was built beside the Church.
1871	A brick Evangelical United Brethren Church was built on Fly Road, in Campden, beside the elementary school.
	School attendance was compulsory – before this time it was voluntary.
1874	A parsonage was built on the west side of the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
1876	The Plan of Campden was created, with the village subdivided into 66 lots.
1878	A hotel was built by Daniel Zimmerman.
1880	Independent Order of Templars was organized.
1887	A lodge of the Sons of Temperance was organized. Dr. W. A. Comfort served the sick in the vicinity. He was succeeded in his practice by his son, Dr. F. S. Comfort. There was also a carpenter who added the business of undertaker and furniture making. When Tilman W. Moyer died, Mr. A. Hansel carried on the business. The last undertaker in Campden was Oliver Tallman.
1906	Clinton Township voted to be dry (no alcohol purchased or sold).
1907	This vote took effect – all hotels, taverns, etc. were closed until the 1970’s.
1907	The Campden Old Boys and Girls Reunion was held at the church and school property. Moses F. Rittenhouse gave a gift of $500.00 and purchased new uniforms for the Beamsville Band which played at this reunion.
1925	Campden was incorporated as a Police Village. After 1925 cement sidewalks were laid throughout the entire village.
1970	Campden became part of the Town of Lincoln.
1972	The Trinity United Evangelical Brethren Church celebrated 100 years.
1970s	Another vote – now liquor could be sold in Clinton Township – this included Beamsville and Campden.

Jordan

Year	Event
1800	Patent – Lot 19, Concession 4, Louth Township, 100 acres, Crown Grant to Col. Johnson Butler (son of Col. John Butler).
1801	Johnson Butler sold to Daniel High, Mennonite settler who purchased this land – 100 acres.
1818	The Twenty Mile Creek which flowed into the pond was navigable for craft of five to twenty tons. At that time ships continue to sail southward almost three miles, very nearly to what is now the village of Jordan. From Gourlay’s statistical account of 1818.
1832	Louth Harbour Company formed to ship grain from Ball’s Falls.
1834-1836	Piers built on property given to or rented from Isaac Wismer, on the east side of Twenty Mile Creek north of the “Old Stage crossing” on the Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road, in deep hollow. Cribbing for these 2 piers are still visible when the water level is low.
1837	99 acres sold to Jacob Snure for £875.0.0
1837-39	Rough plan of village called St. Mary’s. (No abstracts for village).
c1837	Jacob Snure had a village plan drawn up by George Rykert as Snure Plan 3: Village of Jordan (the original, in poor condition and showing no date, was deposited in the Lincoln County Registry Office. A certified copy of the original is now used). In Lot 19, the Queenston and Grimsby Road turned north off the bench to follow the steep banks on the east side of the Twenty Mile Creek before entering the ‘deep hollow’ where there was a ford for the “Iroquois Trail”. The plan for the village of Jordan was laid out along this section of the Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road. Stagecoaches would travel along Main Street to the road leading to the Deep Hollow where there was a bridge to cross the Twenty, to become the “Old Stage Crossing”. From there was a road that travelled up the Vineland side of Deep Hollow where it joined up again with the Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road near present 23rd Street. Recorded by Captain A. H. Holmes to Lieut. Col. Butler 10 March 1814: “The Twenty Mile Creek runs from north to south through a deep, wide ravine, and of course is flanked east and west by lofty heights. My camp was formed upon the western heights, the enemy’s upon the opposite….the creek could be passed at no other point” This was recorded by a traveller in 1816 and 1817: “The road (Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road) follows the line of the heights, from which it is separated by an open meadow, studded with clumps of trees, over many of which the wild vine had woven natural bowers, but its graceful festooning is all its merit; for the grapes are small and sour……the road runs along a second bank, about twenty feet high, which follows generally the direction of the ridge, at a distance….this little elevation gives a pleasing view, to the right of a fertile country, newly redeemed from the forest, while the steep, and sometimes perpendicular wall of limestone, wooded to its summit, magnificently bars the prospect on the left.” Note the mention of wild grapes.
1839	Early Niagara District Court Records 1787-1841, file 35-30 – John Kerr, Louth, blacksmith was charged with assault and battery against Thomas Kilday, Louth, blacksmith on 20 August 1839. Christopher McAlpin, foreman. Witnesses: Thomas Kilday. Evidence of Stephen Burtch – Kerr was at Bush’s house in St. Mary’s. Arnold Acre saw Kerr strike Kilday with a black bottle. Russell Bush, tanner, came to Kilday’s coal pit, saw him take up an ax and shovel and threaten Kilday. (Thomas Kilday put up a coal pit in the village of St. Mary’s.)
1839	William Bradt – first Post Master; operated dry goods store.
1839	Red brick school house built behind lot 13 on west side of Church St.
c1840	New Connexion Methodist Church built 2 lots north of Church St.
1840	Church of Christ built a red-brick building located beside the Snure Cemetery.
1841	Snure Plan 3; Village of Jordan, Blocks 1 and 2 West Side were separated from Blocks 1 and 2, East side by Main Street (known by locals as Front Street and road down 19th Street was known as Back Street). Plan consisting of 26 lots on each side of Main Street – total of 52 lots. Abstracts of Jordan – First lot sold in 1841 to John Henry Preston, identified as “a Blacksmith, Negro”.
1841	St. John’s Anglican Church – George Ball donated 4 acres for this church. Tenders were called for a “stone church 36 by 50 feet to be completed by 1st January 1842”.
1842	First mention of a tavern in Jordan (The St. Catharines Journal, June 1842). A vigilante meeting was held at Spence’s Tavern, Jordan.
1843	Tavern licenses were issued for Jordan by the Niagara Municipal District Council: one to John Spence, the other to John Rogers (The St. Catharines Journal, 23 Feb. 1843).
1844	Notice in the St. Catharines Journal: “The store of Wismer & Co. will be carried on by Issac Wismer and Abraham Martin”.
1845	Group of Mennonites purchased land from Jacob Snure opposite the old red-brick school behind Lots 11 and 12, West Side, and built a small building. The Fry House is presently on this location. Two disused cemeteries remain, one on each side of the Fry House, referred to as the Haines/Jordan Mennonite Cemetery.
1846	Smith’s Canadian Gazetteer – Jordan contains 4 churches: Episcopal, British Wesleyan, Canadian Wesleyan and Presbyterian; population 200 (this included Ball’s Falls area and Louth township); post office every day; three stores, carding machine and cloth factory, one tannery, two taverns, one saddler, one cabinet maker, two wagon-makers, four blacksmiths, two shoemakers, and one tailor. One of the wagonmakers was John H. Kelly, Lot 2, west side; the other one might have been John Petty. Note: The Episcopal church is St. John’s Anglican church outside the village; the carding machine and cloth factory would be at Glen Elgin (Ball’s Falls). William Bradt is still Post Master, and was one of two magistrates in Louth.
1848	Isaac Wismer built a home on Lots 25 & 26 East side.
1849	Surveyor’s Plan for Glen Elgin at Ball Settlement – 157 lots and Post Office. This village does not appear to have been built.
1851	From Collectors’ Rolls: George Eckhardt, harness maker; blacksmiths Peter Zimmerman, Daniel Clendennan, Henry Preston; Jordan House operated by I.N. Bonney. Up to 1853 shipping continued, taking flour from Balls Mills and delivering it to the Louth Harbour shipping company.
1853	Jacob Snure became Post Master The Grand Trunk Railway trestle bridge ran across the Twenty Mile Creek by the area that became known as Bridgeport.
1857	Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road was macadamized and no longer ran through Jordan, but was moved to its present location where a bridge had to be constructed across the Twenty and became known as Highway # 8, now Reg. Road 81. Now sloops with masts were unable to get under the bridge. Trains became more important than ships for moving goods from this area.
c1857	Red brick school house burned.
1858	Stone school house built on location of red brick school, now Museum property.
1862	Scows, FLYING DUTCHMAN and MAYFLOWER were built by Richard Gilbert on west side of the Twenty on a point of land known as ‘Hog’s Back’.
1894	Fire in Jordan: destroyed town hall, carriage works, couple of houses and out buildings north of the Jordan Hotel – 17 structures were destroyed.
1895	Emmanuel Lutheran Church was built on the escarpment near 6th Ave. Louth.
1908	C.M. Honsberger built a frame canning factory on the southwest corner of Red Maple Drive & 19th Street.
1920	Jordan Winery was established, Archibald Haines, one of the owners.
c1930	Archibald Judson Haines sold Jordan Winery.
1951	New Church of Christ built on Hwy #8, in Jordan.
1953	Jordan Museum of the Twenty was established. The Museum began as a joint venture between the people of the village of Jordan and the Jordan Wines Company. The Museum was first located at 3853 Main Street, known as the Vintage House. Additional buildings included stone schoolhouse, and 2 small cemeteries.
1957	Emmanuel Lutheran Church was moved to Beamsville.
1958	Dominion Canners closed. Property purchased by Vineland Growers.
1959	Fry House moved to museum site between 2 cemeteries – a Mennonite church had occupied this location.
1970	Jordan became part of the Town of Lincoln.
1995	The Jordan Historical Museum of the Twenty Volunteer Board of Directors approaches the town of Lincoln to take responsibility for the Museum.
2021	The new Lincoln Museum and Cultural Centre, Home of Jordan Museum of the Twenty opened.

Tintern

Year	Event
1797	Settlers arrived, many obtained lands from the Crown.
c1830	Log school house built.
1856	Andrew Dean built a mill on the banks of the Twenty (now Twenty Valley Golf Club). The mill was 3-stories tall, had 4 mill stones imported from France at £440 each (total of $296,268 in 2023). Mill operated for 55 years. Andrew Dean pledged 1/10 of his income from all the flour sold to Tintern Methodist Church.
1856	Tintern had a blacksmith shop, a mason, wagon shop, chairmaker (John Strong famous for his rocking chairs, had a turning lathe run by horse power), carpenter, pump, and harness shop. A small school house was built on the flats.
1868	A new school was built and was used for 89 years.
Pre-1872	People had to travel to Campden to get their mail.
1872	Tintern Post Office: Tintern name came from the rolling land between Spring Creek and Twenty Creek which reminded residents of Tintern Abbey on the banks of the Wye River, England.
1884	Population of Tintern: 60 people
1885	During the Riel Rebellion, Theresa Johnson married John Gowanlock; they moved to Frog Lake, Saskatchewan. There John was shot and killed, and Theresa was held captive for 2 months in the Camp of Big Bear. Theresa wrote a book about her time at Big Bear.
1895	Population was 100 people.
1893	Tintern Methodist Church built – an earlier church had been built on the Johnson farm where there is also a cemetery.
1900	Governor General Roland Michener, 1967-1974, was born on the family farm near Tintern. His great grandfather had settled there in the early 1800s. Roland Michener and Lester Pearson were Rhode Scholars together.
1912-1916	Tintern received Rural Free Mail Delivery from Campden.
1951	Tintern had a United Church (former Methodist church), a store, a garage, school and 7 houses.
1957	School house burned – children were bused to school in Campden.
1970	Tintern became part of the Town of Lincoln.
2023	Only a garage is left in the village. The church was converted to a home.

Vineland

Year	Event
1791	The land along the Townline (Victoria Ave.) was granted by the British government to Col. John Butler and his sons, Thos. Butler, Andrew Butler, Johnson Butler, all Loyalists, and members of the Butler’s Rangers when they fled to Upper Canada as Loyalists.
1800	Much of this land was purchased by Mennonite members of the Moyer family when they arrived in Canada as pioneers. These people arrived with their Conestoga wagons loaded with belongings to set up their homes and money to purchase the land from the Loyalists who were willing to sell. They immediately set about cutting down trees, building log cabins, and preparing the land to raise crops. Amongst the settlers were men with other talents as well: blacksmiths, carpenters, millers, etc., and ministers.
1801	The First Mennonite Church was built along the Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road and beside it a Walled Burial Ground was created. A community developed and prospered at the corner of the Queenston/Grimsby Stone Road, which ran a stagecoach line through the area and the Townline (the road which ran to Lake Ontario and also divided Clinton and Louth Townships). Eventually, a general store was built and this hamlet, with a stagecoach stop (west of Rittenhouse Road), became a focal point between Beamsville and Jordan.
1881	The Missionary Church on Victoria Ave. South was built.
1894	Vineland acquired a Post Office and received its official name.
1895	Brick one-room school built on the east side of Victoria Ave.
1904-06	Hamilton, Grimsby, Beamsville Radial extended its line to Vineland.
1908	Pentecostal Church was organized as the result of the 1874 division in the Mennonite church.
1910	Vineland railway station was built and became an important fruit shipping business for farmers in the area. Moses F. Rittenhouse had a cement sidewalk built up Victoria Ave., which improved the muddy, rutted road. Eventually, he had it macadamized, which encouraged and helped to build schools with libraries.
1910	Imperial Bank of Canada came to Vineland.
1912	Vineland Canning Factory – Christian S. Fretz had a bumper crop of peaches in 1910 and built the canning factory.
1915	Moses F. Rittenhouse purchased 3 acres north of the Walled Cemetery for a new cemetery Deed #7972, Clinton Twp.
1917	Vineland wished to become a police village but was not organized enough. This was a crossroads in an agricultural area.
1918	A Pentecostal Church building was built on Victoria Ave. opposite Menno St.
1925	Vineland became a Police Village with a trustee board to look after the demands of a village, which spanned two townships.
1935	Vineland Canning Factory sold to Canadian Canners Ltd.
1936	United Mennonite Church was organized by Russian Immigrants who arrived c1920.
1937	Mennonite Brethren church members remodeled the sawmill on the east side of Victoria Ave. in Vineland to be used as a church.
1950	Vineland waterworks was built – water eventually was taken along No.8 Highway as far as Maple Grove Road and across The Twenty to Jordan and Jordan Station.
1957	United Mennonite built a new church on Menno St.
1960	Mennonite Brethren Church built a new church building on Hwy #8 west side of Vineland.
1964	A 500,000-gallon underground storage reservoir was built atop the escarpment.
1970	Vineland became part of the Town of Lincoln. Vineland began to grow with subdivisions created near the crossroads where there are now a pharmacy, hardware store, large grocery store, gas station, restaurant, and library.

Vineland Station

Moses F. Rittenhouse grew up on his family farm on John Street (now owned by Larry Short). At the age of 18, he left the area and travelled to Pennsylvania, worked for a lumber dealer in Chicago and eventually owned the company. He became a wealthy businessman. He often returned to this area and donated money for various projects: Libraries in schools in the area, gave to help build some churches, land for Vineland Experimental Station, Victoria Ave. was macadamized from Lake to No 8. Highway, sidewalks along both sides of Victoria Ave., had maple trees planted along Victoria Ave., purchased additional land and planned the layout for Vineland Cemetery. These are just some examples of M.F. Rittenhouse’s generosity.

Year	Event
1886	Established a Public Library.
1890	Purchased land for an Elementary School, donated to the local school board. The Public Library was in one room of the new Rittenhouse Public School.
1906	Moses F. Rittenhouse purchased the 97-acre farm and donated this land to the Ontario Government for an Experimental Farm – Deed #5666 Clinton Twp.
1906	M.F.R. purchased land for Victoria Hall and set up a Trust Fund of $20,000.00 for the upkeep of said hall and grounds. This building was used as a community center for the area.
1907	Construction of the Vineland Experimental Station.
1910	M.F.R. purchased land adjacent to Victoria Hall for tennis courts and a bowling green.
1910	Vineland Railway Station opened. Farmers in the area could ship their produce from Vineland. Carey Painter, Station Master.
1912	Post Office opened for Vineland Station.
1912	Subdivision plan for Rittenhouse Park, on Townline between railway tracks and John St.
1913	Presbyterian Church built on northwest corner of Victoria Ave & John St.
1915	Moses F. Rittenhouse died, is buried in Vineland Cemetery.
1915-1918	Percy E. Culverhouse, a young scientist at the Vineland Experimental Station was asked to develop a way to safely send fruits and vegetables to the soldiers in Europe during WWI. During this time The Experimental Station canned 240,000-gallon cans of fruit, jams, jellies and vegetables for the war effort.
1922	Percy E. Culverhouse resigned from the Experimental Station, and with his brother built a white frame canning factory at the end of Victoria Ave. across from the Experimental Farm.
1929	Peoples’ Cash Store opened south of the railway tracks on the Townline (Victoria Ave.).
1939	QEW opened, was close to Rittenhouse Public School. When the north service road was built, the school was too close and was closed.
1941	C.H. Prudhomme purchased the William Wismer farm – began growing nursery stock, then added a restaurant, then a hotel, etc. Prudhomme’s Garden Centre Hotel & Resort became a famous resort until 1967 when fire destroyed most of the complex. Broken Front, Parts of Lots 21 & 22, 37.3 acres.
1964	Land where Rittenhouse School and Victoria Hall were located was expropriated by the Highway Department of the Province of Ontario. School was torn down and Victoria Hall was moved to Prudhomme’s Garden Centre Hotel & Resort.
1964	The Rittenhouse trusts for the school, library, and Victoria Hall were a sum of $68,000.00, which continued to grow under the guidance of the Trustees of the fund.
1970	Vineland Station became part of the Town of Lincoln.
1978	Culverhouse Canning Factory closed its doors.

Historical Plaques

The Friends of Lincoln’s History undertook the plaque project in 2019 to recognize historic agricultural businesses that laid the foundation for the Town of Lincoln to become today a Centre of Excellence for Agriculture.

From canning factories to basket factories to blacksmiths, the farming community became successful because of businesses servicing the agriculture economy. The 17 plaques were researched and designed in cooperation with current property owners and descendants of the original business owners. Funding was provided by Niagara North Federation of Agriculture which has represented producers in the area for 75 years.

Driving Tour

We hope Lincoln residents will pick up a driving tour brochure and explore the sites of each business to learn about a unique part of the Town of Lincoln’s history!

Download the Driving Tour Brochure