Now mostly hidden behind trees and shrubs, the house situated at the highest point in Waterdown was once the site of the Waterdown detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police.
Number Three District of the O.P.P. was headquartered in Dundas, and consisted of several detachments, including Waterdown, which opened in late 1953 with a staff of 10 officers. The house was previously the farmhouse for a sod farm.
The O.P.P. patrolled provincial highways and rural areas without their own police forces. Waterdown had its own small police force but council was continuously trying to cut costs. As far back as 1948, there had been discussions with the O.P.P. to take over Waterdown, but the cost was always too high.
After the annexation of the lower portion of the Township of East Flamborough by the Town of Burlington in 1958, they considered policing the rest of the township, but Burlington council voted that down in 1964.
Both members of the Waterdown two-man police force resigned in April 1967, and the O.P.P. took it over on a temporary basis. The O.P.P. policed Waterdown for 10 years, until June 20, 1977 when the responsibility was officially handed over to the Hamilton Wentworth Regional Police.
