“The Gore” – the apex at the junction of the Side Road and Hwy. 6 in Millgrove – was owned by Albert Palmer in the first half of the 19th century. Palmer sold this point of the Gore to Joseph Black, who emigrated from Ayrshire, Scotland in 1835, and it thus became known as “Black’s Corners.”
Here, Black built a tavern with large stables that opened from the highway and side road, as well as a town hall and grocery store.
A Hamilton Spectator article from 1952 titled “Century Old Pioneer Bought His Farm For 50 Cents Per Acre” includes the history of Joseph Black’s founding of Black’s Corners. “You would have had to fell trees, cut logs, sink wells, tramp through swamps, fight wild cats, drive oxen, provide for your family and trust in a wise Providence who had placed all these things at your hand,” the newspaper explained of Black’s arrival on the West Flamborough property.
After crossing the Atlantic and clearing the bush along with others, Black and his acquaintances erected seven buildings. This area quickly became an established community. At a price of 50 cents per acre, most of which was originally swamp, Black’s purchase seems cheap when compared with the price of property today.
In 1882, Wesley Markle and his bride, Ida Crooker, established a frame building store which additionally sold such items as knee-high boots, beads, paint mixed on demand, barrels of oil, syrup, molasses, vinegar, sugar, salt fish, green tea, and other grocery items. Outside of the store, farmers would stop to water and rest their horses at a conveniently located well and pump.
Black’s Corners eventually came to be known as Eaton’s Corners after Thomas Eaton took over the Markles’ store.
The building was sold again in 1957 and during the widening of Hwy. 6 the buildings were removed and part of the old store was moved to the Flamborough Centre Baptist Church to be used as classrooms.
Lisa Jefferies, Flamborough Archives Summer Student
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 8 October 2015.
