Scott Park Nith River Dam Summer Scenes, New Hamburg ON Canada

William Scott Park, named in honour of a prominent town entrepreneur, occupies 11 hectares (27 acres) on the Nith River floodplain surrounding the Nith Reservoir dam. His 1847 residence, located beside the park, later was the ‘Waterlot’ restaurant. For three decades, he was New Hamburg’s leading citizen.
Josiah Cushman (1782-1834), the town founder, who built a saw mill on the Nith River (then called “Smith’s Creek”) near the park site in 1820, named the nascent settlement “Cassel”. A millwright born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, he constructed the first Nith (wood) dam, in 1833. he died of typhoid the following year.
Cassel was almost totally depopulated by a severe cholera outbreak in 1834; German settlers arriving from 1834-1840 renamed it “New Hamburg”.
William James Scott (1812-1882) immigrated from Scotland in 1832, building a log cabin and saw mill on the Nith. He later emigrated to New Zealand, where he died (date unknown). Having acquired pioneer settler Josiah Cushman’s water rights, Scott later built a 4-storey flour mill, woollen mill, distillery and 3-storey commercial block.
Washed out in 1840, Cushman’s dam was replaced by Scott’s wooden dam in 1845 to supply water for his flour mill (burned in 1902) and woollen mill. A third (concrete) dam, of concrete, which replaced Scott’s dam in 1912, was superseded by the present fourth Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) dam in 1990.
The operational 15 metre heritage water wheel, promoted as the world’s largest and which was constructed in wood for the New Hamburg Trade Board in 1990, is slated for a steel replacement in 2024-25 (estimated cost about $500,000).
Replacing a 1903 bridge, the current single-span 42 metre (136 ft), 8-panel steel truss Hartman (Huron Street) bridge spans the Nith River at the park’s north side. Designed by Waterloo County engineer D. J. Emery, it was built in 1936 by the Hamilton Bridge Company (Hamilton Ontario) and rehabilitated in 2006. The Wilmot Township designated it under the Ontario Heritage Act in 2001. The 1903 bridge replaced an 1882 iron truss bridge which, although swept off its abutments by a 1883 flood, was repaired. That 1882 bridge was moved to New Hamburg’s Shade Street in 1902. The 1882 iron bridge, in turn, replaced a mid-19th century wood bridge.
The 1990 cenotaph bears the names of 29 New Hamburg and Wilmot Township fallen heroes of the 2 World Wars and the Korean War. The third such monument since 1922 overlooking Scott Park, Kitchener's Shuh Memorials constructed it from grey granite for $28,000. Rev. Roy Shepherd and Royal Canadian Legion branch 532 president Jack Pearson conducted the dedication service on May 20, 1991.
The Nith River which, with the Speed and Conestogo Rivers, is a major Grand River tributary, rises in forest marshes northwest of Crosshill, Wellesley township, flowing 125 km generally southeast to its confluence with the Grand at Paris, Brant County, Ontario. The Grand River, together with its tributaries, was designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1994.