former Bridgeport Mill (Kitchener, Ontario)

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Jacob Shoemaker, the founder of Bridgeport, built the original mill and dam on this site in 1829. He also built the miller's house in 1849 for his wife nearby on 38 Shirk Place. The miller's house is still standing as a heritage building. Shoemaker operated the mill for 20 years and sold it to Elias Eby who had it roughly for the following 20 years. Peter Shirk who had bought the Blair Mills in 1866, sold the Blair Mills in 1869 and went into partnership with S. S. Snyder to purchase this former flour mill here, called Lancaster Mills at the time. The name was changed to the Shirk and Snyder mill. In 1887 Snyder retired and left Shirk as the sole proprietor of the Bridgeport mill. It is less known that Shirk was also the owner of the Baden Mills which he had purchased from James Livingston, the so-called flax and oil king, back in 1889. The two mills, Bridgeport and Baden, had a combined capacity of 250 barrels per day. The special flour brands were called, "Buda", a blended general flour, "Two Sisters", a special flour for pastry and cakes and "Evangeline", a pure Manitoba flour for bread. A fire destroyed the mill in Oct. 1970 and the derelict silos and dilapidated side buildings are what is left of the mill. If you explore the run down property you can still see remnants of the dam along Laurel creek.

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