Doon, Ontario

Doon, Ontario
Homer Watson House / Doon School of Fine Arts
Doon, Ontario
Coordinates: 43°23′32″N 80°24′51″W / 43.392173°N 80.414304°W / 43.392173; -80.414304Coordinates: 43°23′32″N 80°24′51″W / 43.392173°N 80.414304°W / 43.392173; -80.414304
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario

Doon is a former village in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Doon was settled around 1800 by Menonite Germans from Pennsylvania, and after 1830 by Scottish immigrants. The area is located at the confluence of two rivers, the Doon and the Grand. The post office was opened in 1845. A large flour mill, oatmill mill, distillery and sawmill were built on the Doon River over the following years. The Perine brothers established extensive linen works and flax mills near the settlement. By 1870, there was a single church, Presbyterian, a variety of tradesmen and a population of 200.

Although never large, at one time it was a bustling community with sawmills, a rope factory and other businesses.

It is known as the lifetime home of landscape artist Homer Watson. It is now a suburb of Kitchener, Ontario, home to the Doon Heritage Village and the main campus of Conestoga College.

Doon was established in a forested area around Schneider's Creek where it enters the Grand River from the south. Richard Beasley sold 3,600 acres (1,500 ha) of this land to John Biehn Sr. of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1800. Biehn's relatives bought portions of this land, and started to clear it for farming, His son John Biehn Jr. built a sawmill in what became Doon, and Frederic Beck also ran a sawmill in the area. Most of the early settlers were German Mennonite famers from Pennsylvania.

By 1869, the population was 200 and the settlement had a station on the Grand Trunk Railway.

In the 1830s the Ferrie family moved to the area, where they established several businesses in what is now Lower Doon including a distillery, tavern, general store, saw mill, cooperage, blacksmith shop and kiln. They also built workers' houses. Adam Ferrie Jr. gave Doon its name after Loch Doon and the River Doon in Ayrshire, Scotland. From this time most of the settlers were artisans, millers and brick makers of Scottish and English background. Doon Mills, driven by water, was fully operational in 1839, grinding oatmeal, flour, and barley for the local population. The population of Doon in 1855 was 200.