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Visit the historic Dominion Hotel in beautiful downtown Minden.

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Dominion Hotel Founder: Daniel Buck was one of the earliest settlers of the area and perhaps one of the most colourful. He was born in Essex, England and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1849 and settled in Gull River (Minden) in 1858 .

Daniel Buck built and opened Buck's Hotel on the site of what became the Dominion Hotel. When he opened it was a small log shanty building.

He married Mary Jennette Jackson and they had seven children.

"Early writers say that the Bucks were a handsome couple and that the food they served won the praise of the whole frontier."


Extracted from Pelham Mulvaney's "History of the County of Peterborough" (1884)

The temperance cause has made considerable progress of late years throughout the county, and this, no doubt, has contributed to the improved condition of the settlers. Twenty years ago, the arrival of a barrel of whiskey at the hotel was an event which was marked by a general meeting of the entire settlement, the meeting sometimes lasting several days, and refreshing itself at intervals with a violin and cotillions. There was a dance at Buck’s hotel, Minden, which commenced on New Year’s Eve, 1864, and lasted with slight intermissions, for four days and five nights. The population in those days was greatly addicted to dancing, and the festive meetings at Buck’s were numerous. The same social characteristics still prevail, but the temperance sentiment is now sufficiently developed to have caused a great diminution in the number and duration of the dance meetings.