Samuel Street, Jr.

Who was Samuel Street, Jr.?

Samuel Street was a businessman in Upper Canada.

He was born in Farmington, Connecticut in 1775. In 1787, after his father's murder in New York state, he came to live with his uncle, Samuel Street, in Chippawa. He worked with his uncle and later entered business on his own, forming a partnership with Thomas Clark around 1798. He established a number of sawmills and gristmills in the Niagara region, mainly in partnership with Clark. The gristmills processed wheat produced on farms in the region; these mills, by virtue of their location, were the major source of flour production in Upper Canada. Several of their mills were burned by the Americans during the War of 1812 but they were eventually compensated for these losses. Street also profited as a major money lender. He became a major share-holder in the Bank of Upper Canada and the Gore Bank; he also held shares in the Bank of Montreal and the Commercial Bank of the Midland District. With William Hamilton Merritt, he acquired shares in the Welland Canal Company. He also had extensive land holdings, some acquired via foreclosures on loans and via sales of land to recover unpaid taxes.