Harrowsmith Fall 2019 | 225TRAVEL & CULTURE: WHY WE LOVE AYRIn 1973, Ayr was amalgamated
into North Dumfries Township,
part of the regional municipality
of Waterloo. Living in nearby
West Galt (Cambridge) for several
years as an adult, I watched Ayr
“grow up,” too, as the sweet rural
village of century homes along
the Nith River expanded into an
affordable bedroom community.
The downtown became spirited
by independent businesses,
enterprising chefs and home design
shops. Now? Ayr has become a hot
spot for entrepreneurs opening
shared-space brew pubs and
culinary schools.
GPS
In 1798, Colonel Joseph Brant
of Six Nations sold a parcel of
land to Philip Stedman for a tidy
8,841 pounds. William Dickson,
a visionary from Dumfries,
Scotland, bought the prime real
estate from Stedman in 1816,
recognizing the potential of the
Nith and Cedar Creek. In 1817,
there were 38 families (163
people) living on Dickson’s tract
of land. John Telfer was hired by
Dickson to encourage Scottish
immigration, and by 1832, every
plot in Dickson’s tract was filled.
Abel Mudge had built a dam
and the mills that became
the namesake of the Mudge’s
Mills settlement.
Originally, Ayr was comprised
of three settlements: Mudge’s
Mills, Jedburgh and Nithvale.
In 1840, a merge occurred with
a new post office designation.
Many Scots had settled in the
area, and the name Ayr—also
the name of a town in Scotland
known for its skinners, fleshers,
weavers and dyers—was a logical
choice for the amalgamation.
The name Ayr had also been
traced back to a pre-Celtic
word meaning “watercourse” or
“strong river.”
By 1846, the population of
Ayr was 230. According to
Smith’s Canadian Gazetteer,
there were two churches, a post
office, a mill, a carding machine,
a tannery, a cooper, two
shoemakers, two tailors and
two stores. Ayr was booming!
A foundry, John Watson
Manufacturing Company (which
later became Ayr Machinery
Works), was built, producing
threshing, mowing, reaping and
farm implements. In just three
years, Ayr’s population tripled
to 700. A town hall and fire
department were established
in 1850, followed by a newspaper
in 1854.
A road had been built to Galt
in 1850 for goods from the flour
and woollen mill to be delivered
by ox cart to the railway there. By
1879, the Credit Valley Railway
line opened in Ayr. Progress was
fast and furious: coal lamps lit
the streets in 1888, and concrete
sidewalks were poured in 1901.
When the stately Carnegie
library was built in 1909, Ayr was
an enviable place to call home.