Mississauga’s Heritage Advisory Committee sees historical value in the these unassuming homes on Eglinton Avenue.<\/p>\n
Long before Mississauga became a city of subdivisions, office towers and highways, workers at one of Ontario\u2019s largest textile mills walked home each day to modest cottages overlooking the Credit River. Today, just two of those homes remain, providing a rare link to the city\u2019s industrial beginnings.<\/p>\n
The City of Mississauga\u2019s Heritage Advisory Committee is recommending the duplexes at 1595-7 and 1605-7 Eglinton Avenue West\u00a0be\u00a0designated\u00a0under the Ontario Heritage Act, recognizing them as the last surviving millworkers\u2019 cottages connected to the once-thriving Barberton industrial community near Streetsville.<\/p>\n
While the one-and-a-half-storey homes may not stand out to most people driving along Eglinton, city heritage staff say the structures represent an important chapter in Mississauga\u2019s history and offer one of the few remaining glimpses into the lives of the working families who helped fuel the city\u2019s early industrial economy.<\/p>\n
If approved, the heritage designation would formally recognize the properties for their historical,\u00a0architectural\u00a0and contextual significance while requiring city approval before they can be demolished or altered in ways that would affect their identified heritage features.<\/p>\n
According to a city report, the homes were built in 1860 by the Barber Brothers, pioneering industrialists who established the Toronto Woollen Mills along the Credit River after purchasing land south of Streetsville in the 1840s.<\/p>\n
The mill quickly became one of the province\u2019s manufacturing success stories.<\/p>\n
By the 1860s, the Toronto\u00a0Woollen\u00a0Mills was producing\u00a0roughly\u00a01,000\u00a0yards\u00a0of cloth each day and employed about 100 workers. At its peak, the operation grew to employ as many as 200 people and, by 1870, had become the fourth-largest textile mill in Ontario.<\/p>\n
The success of the operation led to the creation of an entire company community known as\u00a0Barberton,\u00a0centred\u00a0around the mill\u00a0near what is now\u00a0Barbertown\u00a0Road.<\/p>\n
The Barber Brothers built 43 structures to house workers and their families, along with shops, a boarding house, recreation\u00a0areas\u00a0and other amenities that transformed the area into a bustling industrial village.<\/p>\n
Many employees lived within walking distance of the mill, and in some cases entire families worked there. Skilled weavers were recruited from Scotland, while local businesses, including a blacksmith shop, tailor shop and general store, supported the growing community.<\/p>\n
Today, however,\u00a0almost all\u00a0of Barberton has disappeared.<\/p>\n
The two duplexes proposed for heritage designation are the only surviving millworkers\u2019 cottages from the original community. Heritage planners say they are just as important to understanding the area\u2019s history as the nearby William Barber House on Mississauga Road, which was built for one of the mill owners and is already\u00a0designated\u00a0under the Ontario Heritage Act.<\/p>\n
Together, the buildings tell the story of both the people who owned one of Ontario\u2019s largest textile operations and the workers whose\u00a0labour\u00a0made it successful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cottages are an important aspect of Mississauga\u2019s socioeconomic and industrial history,\u201d the city report states.<\/p>\n
Although the textile operation collapsed in the early 1880s, the mill site continued\u00a0operating\u00a0under various owners before eventually being converted to flour production. Today, the former mill survives as the ADM milling operation on\u00a0Barbertown\u00a0Road, making it one of Mississauga\u2019s oldest continuously\u00a0operating\u00a0industrial sites.<\/p>\n
City staff say preserving the cottages helps\u00a0maintain\u00a0that connection to the past.<\/p>\n
The proposed designation does not prevent the homes from being occupied,\u00a0maintained\u00a0or renovated. Instead, it protects the\u00a0buildings\u2019\u00a0identified\u00a0heritage attributes, meaning future demolition or alterations affecting significant exterior features would require municipal approval.<\/p>\n
Among the heritage features\u00a0identified\u00a0by the city are the buildings\u2019 duplex form, medium-pitched gable roofs, dormers, chimneys and original window and door openings.<\/p>\n
Not everyone supports the proposal.<\/p>\n
According to the report, heritage staff met with the property owners in 2025 and again in early 2026 to discuss the houses. Despite those discussions, the owners have indicated they are not in\u00a0favour\u00a0of the heritage designation.<\/p>\n
City staff nevertheless concluded the cottages meet multiple criteria for designation under the Ontario Heritage Act because of their physical,\u00a0historical\u00a0and contextual value.<\/p>\n
Nearly 170 years after they were built, the modest duplexes remain among the last tangible reminders of Barberton, a once-bustling mill village whose workers helped lay the foundations of Mississauga\u2019s industrial heritage.<\/p>\n
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