Heritage Atlas of Hastings County / Maps from the Heritage Atlas of Hastings County / Water power was essential to industries in the mid-19th century. Mills in central Belleville were built at optimum locations wherever the Moira was swift-flowing. Working upstream from the bend in the river at top left, we find an axe factory, a sash factory, a grist mill, a foundry, a spring factory, two more sash factories, another factory, Brown’s foundry, a grist mill, a chair factory, a carding machine, an axe factory, a tannery, a woollen factory and a sawmill, all in approximately half a mile. This map was prepared for the Hastings Directory of 1864. The dotted route at top right was labelled “proposed Marmora Railway.” While the Marmora Railway never came to be, the right-of-way was used by the Grand Junction Railway which led to Stirling and beyond. It was also known as the Market Train because it delivered farmers and their produce to the city market.

Water power was essential to industries in the mid-19th century. Mills in central Belleville were built at optimum locations wherever the Moira was swift-flowing. Working upstream from the bend in the river at top left, we find an axe factory, a sash factory, a grist mill, a foundry, a spring factory, two more sash factories, another factory, Brown’s foundry, a grist mill, a chair factory, a carding machine, an axe factory, a tannery, a woollen factory and a sawmill, all in approximately half a mile. This map was prepared for the Hastings Directory of 1864. The dotted route at top right was labelled “proposed Marmora Railway.” While the Marmora Railway never came to be, the right-of-way was used by the Grand Junction Railway which led to Stirling and beyond. It was also known as the Market Train because it delivered farmers and their produce to the city market.