Breslau Millpond, Hopewell Creek Summer's End, Breslau ON Canada

Hopewell Creek, which flows through a glacial spillway, rises in springs west of Marden, Wellington County and drains a 78 km2 watershed. Joseph Erb, a Pennsylvania-German Mennonite and Breslau’s founder, bought the water rights for Hopewell Creek from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, investor John Yund in 1840. In 1850, Erb dammed the creek to power his sawmill and gristmill. He also built a general store when the Grand Trunk Railway arrived in 1856. Mill Street, as Scheifele Place was then called, passed over the dam to connect Woolwich and Victoria Streets, serving as the main route from neighbouring Berlin (Kitchener after 1916) into the village. In 1864, Joseph Erb sold his holdings to David Bricker, who in turn sold to Moses Moyer in 1873. A lightning-sparked fire destroyed Erb’s sawmill circa 1895. The gristmill passed through several more owners after Moyer until Jacob Dedels bought it in 1900; his estate operated it after his death until sold to N. H. Cressman who operated it as Breslau Mills in 1931. In 1941, E. A. (Ernie) Knock was the mill owner; by 1956, the Waterloo County Supplies Co-Operative operated both it and the Bridgeport Mill. In Oct. 1954, Hurricane Hazel washed out Erb’s dam, which was replaced with the current 12 metre wide low head dam circa 1956, impounding the creek to create today’s 1.5 hectare pond. The Grand Valley Conservation Authority (est. 1948), precursor of today’s Grand River Conservation Authority (est. 1966), acquired and renovated it in 1961. The dam regulates the creek’s discharge into the Grand River 300 metres downstream near the 1856 Grand Trunk Rail bridge. The present day two-lane Woolwich Street South concrete bridge at the millpond’s upper reach replaced a 1955 girder bridge.