THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 1 9 



the Boys' Home, near the corner of Stinson street and Erie Avenue, 

 and in another at the corner of King and Jarvis streets ; others who 

 have seen canoes and skiffs in a third creek near the Royal Hotel, 

 corner of J ames and Merrick streets, which creek was navigable for 

 that kind of craft from thence to the bay. The only son of Sir Allan 

 Macnab lost his life by the accidental discharge of his gun while 

 leaping across the same stream near the corner of Hughson and 

 Augusta streets. 



It is worthy of note that we have in the city one organization, 

 and one only, still in active operation which was established in this 

 place in 1795, eighteen years before its name was Hamilton — twenty- 

 nine years before it had a regular church building. Older than any 

 structure in the city to-day, The Barton Lodge of Freemasons stands 

 unchanged, amid a scene of change, except that its meetings and 

 festivities are held in a palatial hall, or temple, instead of a lodge- 

 room of logs. Its records tell of the first meeting for organization at 

 Smith's tavern, which stood, as before mentioned, at the north-west 

 corner of King and Wellington streets, and that after the meeting 

 the brethren marched in procession to the house of Bro. Beasley, 

 (Dundas), where Bro. D. Philps preached a sermon, and that Bro. 

 Brant, the great chief, was in the procession. The records show 

 also that at that early date the nearest store was at Niagara, whither 

 the brethren usually went on horseback to purchase the necessary 

 articles, as writing paper and ink-powder. 



The Road from Toronto to the head of Burlington Bay was cut 

 out in 1811, and Hamilton laid out as a village in 1813. In 1833 it 

 was incorporated as a town, but the population in 1830 was only 653. 

 In the same year the population of Toronto was 2,860 or about four 

 and a-half times greater. 



It is worthy of note that the corner of King and Wellington 

 streets is the location of Hamilton's first tavern, first Masonic lodge, 

 first school and first church. The first regular church building was 

 erected on the site of the present First Methodist Church, on land 

 donated by Col. Robt. Land in 1822. It was dedicated in 1824. 

 The first interment was that of Samuel Price, tavern-keeper, in 1822. 

 One of the oldest marble slabs in the burying-ground attached there- 

 to reads as follows : " Sacred to the memory of Capt. John McKeen, 

 who was a partner with James G. Strobridge for the construction of 

 Burlington Bay Canal, who died Sept., 1824. This monument was 



