Georgetown, Former mill settlement in Halton Hills, Canada
Georgetown is a former industrial town within the larger municipality of Halton Hills in Ontario, located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Toronto. The settlement spreads along Silver Creek and the Credit River, surrounded by farmland and conservation areas that line the river valleys.
Charles Kennedy surveyed the land in the 1820s after the British government acquired it from the Mississauga Nation in 1781. The settlement grew quickly after the first mills were built, and in 1974 the GO Train connection brought many commuters traveling to Toronto.
The 1888 town hall still stands at the central Market Square, where local vendors sell their goods and residents gather on weekends. Old mill buildings along Silver Creek have been converted into homes and small shops, allowing visitors to walk through spaces once filled with industrial machinery.
The town is best explored on foot, as most historic buildings sit close together in the downtown core. Walking paths along the rivers lead through conservation areas and connect different parts of town.
The Barber brothers' paper mill was the first facility in North America to run on hydroelectric power transmitted from a distant source in 1894. The power line ran several kilometers from the DeCew Falls generating station to the mill, enabling a new kind of industrial operation.
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