Indiana, Ontario

Indiana is an old village site—a ghost town—now within the precincts of the Ruthven Park National Historic Site, 1 km north of Cayuga, in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada. The site was also referred to as "Deans" as late as 1940-1951, when it was marked on a map published by C. Tarling & Co (Archives of Ontario 2006). The Indiana site lies on the north-east bank of the Grand River, south of Regional Road 54.

Settlement history

Nelles (1905:98) noted that Thomas Lester "settled there in 1837" and that "he carried on an extensive and successful lumbering business." However, the website of the Ruthven Park National Historic Site (2006) attributes the development of Indiana to the builder of Ruthven Park, David I. Thompson (and his descendants, including the politician David Thompson), who "obtained land along the Grand River where he built a dam and lock, grist mill and saw mill around which the village of Indiana grew. By 1870, Indiana was humming with several industries and approximately 300 residents." Both sources associate the development of Indiana with the Grand River Navigation Company, which "was forced out of the trade by railway competition" (Nelles 1905, p. 98). Nelles noted in 1905: "Only the site of Indiana or Dean's now remains. ... Only the older residents of Haldimand remember anything about Indiana."

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References
  • Archives of Ontario (2006), County of Haldimand
  • Nelles, Rev. Robert Bertram (1905), County of Haldimand in the Days of Auld Lang Syne, Port Hope, Ontario: Haldimand Old Boys' Association of Toronto
  • Ruthven Park National Historic Site (2006), Indoors & Outdoors: Building and Landscape, Ruthven Park National Historic Site web site
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