BELLEVILLE DIRECTORY.
THE CITY OF BELLEVILLE.
HISTORICAL,
One hundred years ago the site of the City of Belleville was in a
state of nature. It was not until 1787 that what was then designated
the " Ninth Town "—not known as the Township of Thurlow—was
surveyed by Louis Kotte, a Surveyor in the employment of the
Crown Lands Department, who had been engaged in the survey of
several of the other townships bordering upon the Bay. If appears
by the original map that lot No. 4, 1st concession of Thurlow, was
reserved for an Indian burying ground, and it was upon this lot that
the site of the village was subsequently laid out by Surveyor Wilmot in 1816. Settlement for some years.was very slow, the Townships of Sidney and Thurlow forming the western limit of colonization. Capt. John Singleton and Lieutenant Ferguson were the first
settlers in the new Township, their location being made soon after
the survey was completed on lot No. 6, afterwards owned by John
CannirT, sen., and subsequently by Shubael Foster, which is now included within the limits of the city. Neither of these gallant pioneers
survived Ions;, however, as it is recorded that Singleton died in 1789,
and Ferguson followed him to the grave three months afterwards,
In the spring of the same year a party of fifty refugee loyalists settled
in Sidney and Thurlow, and the following year John Taylor, one of
the party, who had settled up the river in the 5th concession, came
to live near the mouth of the river, on lot No. 5, now the most important part of the city. Capt. John W. Meyers, having purchased
from Mr. Taylor the north half (more or less) of his lot for $100. in
1790, erected a dam on the site of which is now known as Bleecker's
or Meyers' dam, where he built a mill, the only one between Port
Hope and Napanee, and in 1794 constructed the famous old brick
house which, until 1876, stood on the northern brow of the hill, and
was the oldest brick house in the Province. Up to the commencement of the present century but little progress was made by the embryo village, and this is not to be wondered at, as near the mouth of
the river was a barren plain, with a heavy cedar swamp extending on
each side of it. What is now Front Street, one of the finest streets
in Canada, was a thick cedar swamp, with the rock within a few
inches of the surface. Soon afterwards a few houses were erected
south of Dundas Street, and for many years settlement did not extend
north of that street. Probably the first person to build a house in
17
Belleville was Asa Wallbridge, and in 1798 John Simpson built the
first tavern in Thurlow, which stood on the south-east corner of Dundas and Front streets. At this place was the ferry, and subsequently
the first bridge. About six years later the site of the bridge was
transferred to the spot now occupied by the lower bridge.
At the time last spoken of, and until 1816, Belleville was known
as " Meyers' Creek," so called in honor of Capt. Meyers, the millowner. The Indian<<name of the river was Sagon-aska, and it had
also borne the name of Singleton's River. In the year mentioned,
according to a disputed statement, Governor Gore named the village
Bellville, in honor of his wife, Lady Bella, which name has subsequently been transmogrified, by the addition af a single letter, into
that which it now bears.
This year Mr. Wilmot, acting under instructions from the Government, laid out the Indian reserve on lot No. 4 into town lots of half
an acre each
In this year, also, a post office was established in
Belleville, and Mr. S. McNab was the first Postmaster.
The growth of the place is shown by the gradual increase of population, which was, according to Talbot, about 150 in 1818 ; in 1824
about 500 ; in 1829 about 700; and in 1836 about 1,700.
In 1836 Belleville set up as an independent municipality, when the
first Board of Police was organized, the members composing which
were : For the first ward, William McCarly and Asa Yeomans ; for
the second ward, Zenas Dafoe and Wm. Connor. Billa Flint, jr,
(now Hon. Billa Flint,) was by the people at large elected the fifth
member, and the Board also chose him President by a vote of 3 to 2,
Zenas Dafoe being the opposing candidate. The late Geo. Benjamin
was chosen Clerk to the Board. la 1838 the Court House and Gaol
were completed, the contractors for which were Robert Matthews
and David Duff, of Kingston, the contract price for the building
being $23,640,
The first quarter sessions was held in the Court House in 1839,
when Benjamin Dougall presided; Edmund Murriey, Clerk of the
Peace; J. W. D. Hoodie, Sheriff.
After several years of slow but substantial progress, Belleville was
incorporated as a Town in 1850, the members elected to serve in the
Council for that year being : Samson Ward, C. O. Benson, F. McAnnany and Jacob Bonter ; Ketcheson Ward—B. F. Davy, Dr. R.
Holden and Samuel Stevens; Baldwin Ward—Jonathan McCurdy,
John Coulter and Edward P. Bosely; Coleman Ward—R. F. Coleman, Burleigh Hunt and John Donoghue. M. Sawyer was Town
Clerk. At this time the Council elected the Mayor, and Benjamin