The Village of Shallow Lake

Then...

In the early 19th century, an Irish family settled beside a small creek that flowed into a shallow lake. Mr. and Mrs. Butterworth, along with their son John Spencer and his wife, were the first known settlers of what would later become the village of Stoney Creek. From a lone Irish family beside a stony creek emerged a village forged by ambition and industry - launched into a new era by Canada’s first Portland cement company, bound together by a united religious community, and tempered by the failure of the mid-20^th century fur industry.

Each summer, as the lake dried up, it left behind a chalky residue known as marl. Rich in lime, marl was a valuable natural resource, later used in the manufacture of Portland cement - a fine powder produced by calcining limestone and clay, which hardens when mixed with water. On April 16, 1888, Robert Butchart and four partners incorporated the North American Chemical Mining And Manufacturing Company of Ontario, the first Canadian company of it’s kind. After twenty-five years of exploiting natural resources, driving the local economy, and fueling population growth in the area, the company declined as its supply diminished. In 1908, it was taken over by the Canada Cement Company, and soon after, the region’s natural marl deposits were exhausted.