Elgin Pond Uxbridge

Location

Elgin Pond is located right in the heart of Uxbridge at the corners of Main Street South and Mill Street.

Photo from Uxbridge The First 100 Years, by: J. Peter Hvidsten

History

The photo above is a post card showing the view of the pond looking north from Main Street, taken in 1905. You can see the Oatmeal Mill at the north end of the pond beside the dam. If you look closely you can see the Library Tower and the Bell Tower on Toronto St. The photo below was taken in December 2021 showing the same view.

https://scugogheritage.com/postcards/uxbridge.htm

Elgin Pond viewed from Main Street looking north.

Photo from Uxbridge The First 100 Years, by: J. Peter Hvidsten

Elgin Pond was created by John Plank in 1828 to run a sawmill and was originally known as Park Pond.

The pond looking north. Oatmeal Mill on the north end of the pond, built by Isaac J. Gould in 1885. Photo courtesy of Uxbridge The First 100 Years by: J. Peter Hvidsten

The above photo shows the Oatmeal Mill on the north end of the pond which was build by Isaac J. Gould in 1885. The building to the right of the mill is the Gould saw mill. The building to the left is the Oatmeal Kiln which is still standing today and has been converted to a home (shown below)

Oatmeal Kiln taken in 2021

Here we see the Oatmeal Mill on the north end of the pond, built by Isaac J. Gould in 1885. Photo courtesy of Uxbridge The First 100 Years by: J. Peter Hvidsten

View of the dock and swimming area of Elgin Pond. Photo courtesy of Uxbridge The Good Old Days by: J. Peter Hvidsten

This photo shows the pond looking north towards Elgin Park from Mill Street. The docks in the above photo were located to left the of this photo.

Summer On The Pond

Through the 1950’s to 70’s Uxbridge residents cooled off in the waters of Elgin Pond during the hot summer months. Quite often children would first dunk themselves in the spring fed water trough and then jump in the pond. This would make the pond water feel warmer.

In this photo Mrs. Wm. (Joyce) Bradbury, a Red Cross swimming instructor teaches swimmers to dive into the pond Courtesy of Uxbridge The Good Old Days, by: J. Peter Hvidsten

Swimming lessons where held here prior to the construction of Uxbridge’s indoor pool, UxPool. Photo courtesy of Uxbridge The Good Old Days by: J. Peter Hvidsten

View of the dam and waterfall under Mill Street taken from the approximate location of the old beach and docks.

Winter on the Pond

Another memory of our youths is the “Old Man Winter” van on the ice (I believe it was called). They would place a van (stripped of all its parts of course) on the north end of the pond. You could purchase tickets and guess when you thought the van would fall through the ice. There was a clock mounted in the windshield that would stop the moment it hit the water. In the spring we would make mom and dad drive by everyday so we could see how far it had sunk into the ice until it was gone.

Elgin Pond in winter, viewed from Mill Street.

The above photo was taken just west of the dam. You can see the barricades that would keep skaters away from the thin ice near the dam. In winter sections of the pond are cleared for skating and hockey. The township monitors the ice safety using flags. A red flag means the ice is not safe to use, while a yellow flag means skate with caution.

Elgin Pond Today

Even though the pond has changed over the years and is not the swimming hole it used to be it still has its share of community fun. Every spring for the last 18 years it has been the location for the Huck Finn Youth Fishing Day and in the winter it becomes a favourite spot for a game of hockey or just some leisure family skating.