Blantyre Ghost Town

James Paterson arrived at the Northern edge of Euphrasia Township (about 15 km south of Meaford on Cty Rd 112) in 1848. He along with seven other pioneering families established their farms nearby Hoerser Creek (since renamed Paterson Creek) a tributary of the Minniehill creek.

In 1856 Paterson built the first grist and saw mills in the Northern portion of Euphrasia Twp. Originally a small workers village of about a dozen wooden homes were built around the mill. The village took on the name of Patersons Mills.

A dairy was established by Fred Schomtz, who later added a cheese works around 1861.

Sometime in the early 1860's James Paterson became postmaster as well as a mill owner. It was around this time that the village name was changed to Blantyre. Todd Burns, the local blacksmith, suggested the name of his birthplace in Scotland, which was called Blantyre.

Paterson went on to add a woolen and carding mill in the late 1860's.

By this time, Blantyre had become a busy village containing three stores, a barrel maker, mills, blacksmith, tinsmith, two stage coaches (one to Meaford the other to Owen Sound), Orson Wilright's Tavern/Hotel, a school, and a wagon maker.

With the arrival of the railway in the 1870's, the population of approximately 150 residents began to decline slowly. The railway constructed a small station half a mile south of the village. The Hooper Grain company built a small elevator nearby to cash in on the small prosperous grain trade in the area. While it didn't compare with those western elevators, it carried a maximum capacity of 10,000 bushels.

There were three churches in the village. The Catholic and Anglican churches were built around 1863-67, while a Seventh Day Adventist church was built a quarter mile out south of town. It was later moved to Temple Hill, a small settlement a little further south of Blantyre around 1900. The Seventh Day Adventist Church burnt in 1954. The Catholic Church was eventually removed stone by stone to a nearby farm and reassembled as a foundation for a barn.

All the postmasters in town were Patersons. Alfred Charles was the last post master in town. The post office closed sometime between 1920-1924.

Thank you to Gordon Paterson for contributing the information and photographs. Gordon spent much of his childhood (from 1942-1957) in Blantyre. He recalls visiting the charred remains of the church the day after the fire as well as being told tales of the village by his grandfather. His great great grandfather was James Paterson. Gordon left the family fam in 1957, and it was sold in 1964.

Today there isn't much there except for a few buildings at the intersection, and some mill ruins. Most of these buildings date back to the community's heyday in the 1860's.