The community predates the establishment of what is now downtown Welland. In 1799, when present-day Welland was farmland, the Yokom family came from Pennsylvania and built a grist mill on Lyon's Creek. (Today, one of the roads in Cooks Mills is called Yokom Road after them.) Just before the War of 1812, an Englishman called Calvin Cook purchased the mill and added a tannery, a sawmill and a distillery. The place known as "Cook's Mills" became a prominent community of the Crowland Township; some early maps call the location Crowland Village.