The first European settlement in the Weston area took place in the 1790s, when a saw mill was built on an old native trading path along the west side of the Humber River, named after the well-known Humber estuary in Yorkshire, England. In 1815 James Farr, a prominent local mill owner, named the growing settlement "Weston" after his birthplace, Weston, Hertfordshire. Weston initially developed along both sides of the river until a disastrous flood in 1850 destroyed the west bank settlement.[3] The former west bank settlement is now the site of the Weston Golf and Country Club.[4]