The Brown Homestead

Hello! Welcome to The Brown Homestead, site of the oldest house in St. Catharines.

This special place has been home to four different families since the 18th century, and is the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples who were part of this land long before European settlement. The Brown Homestead functioned as an active farm for almost 200 years throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and we are excited to share its rich history with you today. The homestead is currently situated on approximately 7.5 acres of land, but when the Loyalist John Brown first built this house back in 1796 he actually owned over 1,200 acres, including much of Shorthills Provincial Park.

As caretakers of this important heritage site, we often wonder what life would have been like here centuries ago. This interactive exhibit will guide you on a journey through the past by illustrating the changing layers and cultural landscape of The Brown Homestead over time. By visualizing the land that the Browns and subsequent families inhabited, we can better understand the history of the site and its place within the Niagara community during each "era" of its existence. We hope you enjoy the journey!

Prior to Loyalist settlement, the Niagara peninsula was inhabited for around three hundred years by Iroquoian-speaking people known as the Attawandaron, or the Neutral Confederacy. In addition to hunting and trading, they engaged in agriculture in parts of Niagara township and disappeared in the mid-17th century. They formed three main east-west trails across the region, choosing to travel along the escarpment because it provided a flat, linear path and was a clear indicator of direction, connecting those living north of Lake Ontario to the Haudenosaunee in western New York. The Haudenosaunee regularly crossed the Niagara River to hunt for furs that they would then trade with Dutch and English merchants. These well-worn paths were later augmented by the Mississauga Nation who inhabited the lands between York and the Head of the Lake, or modern day Burlington, travelling through on their way to the Niagara River. The most prominent Indigenous route through Niagara was the Iroquois trail that ran from Queenston to Ancaster along the bottom of the escarpment, but the Mohawk trail along the top of the escarpment and the Lakeshore trail along Lake Ontario were also essential.

In the 1764 Treaty of Niagara, the Seneca agreed to cede to the British government the entire Niagara River, including a four-mile strip on the west side between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Twenty years later, the British government purchased much of the land situated to the west of the four-mile strip from the native Mississauga people in an agreement that was updated and solidified in 1792 as the "Between the Lakes Treaty (No. 3)." This land included the township of Louth, where the Brown family settled in the 1790s. The Brown Homestead is located on the historic Mohawk Trail (visible on the interactive map below), which ran along the top of the escarpment from the Niagara River into Ancaster and beyond.

This means that we exist within the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. Today, Niagara remains home to many Indigenous people, and we are pleased to recognize and celebrate their friendship and the continuing historic partnerships that make it possible for us to be here in the present.

The name Niagara was derived from a native Indigenous word, “Onguiaahra,” which was turned into “Niagara” by French missionaries during the 17th century. The generally accepted meaning is “The Strait,” but it may also refer to the “Thundering Waters.” The main arterial Indigenous trails in the map below are based on a c. 1770 map created by Andrew Burghardt in his  study of road networks  in the Niagara Peninsula.

Click on the coloured trails to see their names. Keep in mind that the historical map is over 200 years old and is not an accurate representation of Niagara's geography.

Niagara became home to hundreds of United Empire Loyalist refugees immediately following the American Revolution. This influx of families during the 1780s and 90s signaled the beginning of an organized colonial inhabitation of the region, wherein early patterns of settlement formed. As residents of this area today, much of what we see and the routes we travel are based on the lives, enterprises and ingenuity of the people that arrived here over 200 years ago.

The men who had served in Butler’s Rangers, their families, and other Loyalist refugees were initially sheltered and fed at Fort Niagara. In early 1784, some families were allotted farms on the west side of the Niagara River on the “Mile Strip” which had been a British possession since 1763-64. The strip was surveyed into 100-acre farms which were cleared, and the first crops were planted. The hope was that the disbanded Rangers would raise enough food to feed their families which would alleviate the stress placed on the King’s stores at the Fort. The situation at Niagara worsened in 1786-89 with the “Hungry Year” (when crops failed) and with the arrival of many “Late Loyalist” families who also needed to be sheltered and fed.

In 1784, the British government purchased much of the land situated to the west of the Mile Strip from the native Mississauga people. Part of this large tract of land was surveyed between 1786 and 1789 into ten townships situated along the Niagara River and the south shore of Lake Ontario. This included Louth Township, where the John Brown House was constructed. This part of Louth Township was eventually incorporated into the City of St. Catharines in 1970 along with the rest of the lands east of the Fifteen Mile Creek.

The “interior” townships such as Thorold and Pelham (where the Browns also owned land) as well as those along the north shore of Lake Erie, were surveyed in 1794-95. They were initially simply referred to by a number: ie, Niagara Township was “Township No. 1,” Stamford was “Township No. 2,” Grantham was “Township No. 3,” and so on. They were not actually given proper names until after the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1792.

What did all of this mean for the Brown family?

Early Settlement (1796-1858)

John Brown (1740 - 1804) was one of these early Loyalist settlers. He and his brothers joined the British cause during the American Revolution, during which time he served as a private in the Butler’s Rangers from 1781 until their discharge in 1783. He was subsequently granted 900 acres of land in adjoining corners of Thorold, Pelham and Louth Townships to reward his loyal service to the crown and to replace lands he lost in Schoharie, New York. This tract included the parcel on which the John Brown House sits facing Pelham Road, as well as the rolling hills and valleys once referred to as “The Gore,” now part of the Short Hills Provincial Park, which the house overlooks.

Three generations of the Brown family lived here at The Brown Homestead until 1858 when John's grandson Jacob Brown sold it to the Chellew family. During this period of approximately 160 years, the boundaries of the Brown family's land shifted enormously, including an astounding 1206 acres around the turn of the 19th century, and eventually dwindling down to 119 acres by the 1850s.

Scroll through the maps below to see developments in land ownership during the Brown era.

The Next Generation (1858-1902)

Joseph Chellew Sr. was a wheelwright from Cornwall, England, who immigrated to Canada in 1845. He and his wife Eliza purchased 100 acres of land in Louth Township, just one concession over from The Brown Homestead. This means they were neighbours to the Brown family for over a decade. They were listed as farmers, and must have done well because in 1858, Joseph and Eliza Chellew purchased The Brown Homestead from Jacob Brown.

The Chellew family would have needed the extra space by this point, for in addition to their growing prosperity, the family itself had grown. A total of seven children of various ages moved into the John Brown House, with four more born shortly after.

Keep reading to see how The Brown Homestead evolved during the Chellew Era.

On the Farm (1902-1979)

Lafontaine B. Powers purchased all 119 acres of The Brown Homestead from Joseph Chellew Jr. in 1902.

The Powers family lived at The Brown Homestead for much of the 20th century, planting orchards, riding horses, and continuing the site's farming legacy. This 119 acres in 1902 slowly dwindled down to one lonely acre by 1966.

A Single-Date Restoration (1979-2015)

The Jouppien era was a significant period of time in the life of The Brown Homestead. Recognized at this point for its historical value, heritage consultant and archaeologist Jon Jouppien purchased the home, where he lived with his family until 2015.

During this time, Jon purchased back some of the property, and began to restore the house to what he thought it may have once looked like during the Georgian era when the Brown family lived here. He used new materials to imitate old styles, which meant replicating some original wall stencil patterns, creating a reproduction floorcloth in the dining room, and even completing some imitation wood graining in the parlour. Jon also added another important artifact to the homestead in 1997: The Norton Cabin.

The Brown Homestead (2015 - Today)

The Brown Homestead was founded in 2015 to preserve and maintain significant heritage buildings and sites.

We believe that historic sites reach their full potential when they are vibrant community spaces that nurture a growing passion for learning. The Brown Homestead is a model of how historic sites can become creative educational leaders and community catalysts, helping to redefine educational paradigms for a changing world.

We are working to ensure that historic site management becomes an integral part of community planning and development.

In this video, we discuss our five-year plan as one of Niagara’s most exciting cultural venues, offering community festivals, public and private events, and creative educational programming, often with our outstanding educational, cultural and charitable partners.

Thank you!

If you enjoyed scrolling through these maps today and would like to interact with the layers in more detail, you can do so by clicking the "Mapping The Brown Homestead" button below and selecting the different layers in the "Contents" pane.

We hope you enjoyed exploring this digital map exhibit, and learning about The Brown Homestead's changing cultural landscape. We invite you to visit us soon!

Our door is open.