The Village of North Gower

History
The original survey of the Township of North Gower was done in 1793, well before the founding of the village of North Gower. The first settler in both what is now Rideau Township, and in Carleton County was Roger Stevens. The first permanent settlers of North Gower Township were Stephen Blanchard, Richard Garlick and Ezra Beaman. They arrived in 1820 and settled on the banks of Stevens Creek between Rideau River and the present village.
The town of North Gower was first settled in 1846 by David Barrows, Silas Andrews, William Craig and Russell Andrews. It is located on Stevens Creek, in the centre of what is now Rideau Township. The first settlers were United Empire Loyalists. They were followed by waves of settlers were from Ulster, Scotland and England. Their descendants form the bulk of the population of North Gower today. The earliest settlers in the area cut timber for the British trade. The timber was floated down Stevens Creek to the Rideau River and thence to Montreal or Quebec. The last log drive on Stevens Creek was in 1876.
	The first industry in the village was a saw mill operated by water power with the dam and mill pond between the bridges on Church Street and the highway. Others involved in light industries from 1840 onwards, besides those mentioned: coopers, blacksmiths, pumpmakers, wheelwrights, harness makers, shoemakers, tailors, dressmakers and milliners. Most of these had shops with journeymen and apprentices. In the 1870s the journeymen and apprentices circulated a petition for a 12 hour day; it attracted 59 signatures.
An account from 1865 describes the town as having 4 general stores, 2 wagon shops, 5 boot and shoe shops, and other trades. There were 3 churches: the Church of England, erected in 1856 at a cost of $700; the Wesleyan Methodist church, 1843, $500; and the Canadian Presbyterian Church, built of stone in 1854 at a cost of $1000. The village post office was established in 1846. Blacksmiths made practically all the farm machinery: hoes, rakes, spades, forks etc. and ploy and drag harrow. Haying tools were the scythe and wooden hand rake, and harvest tools were the sickle and flail. The first horse-drawn haying and harvesting machine, known as the combined mower and reaper, was demonstrated and sold on lot 20, 3rd. concession in 1867. Between 1850 and 1900, however, with improved transportation, the tenor of the village changed, and village craftsmen were forced out of business by competition with mass-production. In this century, the focus of North Gower has been primarily agricultural. North Gower is in the centre of a rich and well-cultivated agricultural area. For more information about the history of North Gower visit the North Gower Archives...