BALLS FALLS

NAME: Balls Falls COUNTY: -- ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Snow in Winter, Warm Summer. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer

COMMENTS: Be sure to see the museum REMAINS: Museum and buildings.

There is reason for the town’s unusual name. It was founded in 1809 by the Ball brothers, John and George. As for the “Falls,” the town was located by a double waterfall on Twenty Mile Creek and supported a gristmill, a sawmill and a five story high woolen mill. During the 1840s, the town was referred to as the industrial heart of the Niagara Peninsula. But that was not to be as the Great Western Railway laid tracks a considerable distance from the town during the 1850s. Balls Falls began to fade as an industrial center as new businesses located near the railroad and it soon became a ghost town. However, much to the credit of local officials, the old woolen mill has been preserved as a museum. Submitted by: Henry Chenoweth

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