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French Community in Welland
The neighbourhood that became commonly known as "French Town" was established in this area in 1918, when approximately 20 French-Canadian families arrived from Quebec to work at the Empire Cotton Mills plant. The Roman Catholic Parish of Sacré-Cœur was established in 1920 and became the cultural centre of the francophone community that developed around Empire Street. Additional French-Canadian families arrived from Quebec, New Brunswick and northern Ontario throughout the 1920s. Another wave of francophones moved... -
St. Andrew's Anglican Church
On this land donated by Robert Nelles, United Empire Loyalist, the pioneers of this community built a log church in 1794. It was replaced by a frame structure which was completed by 1804. The present stone church was erected 1819-25, and consecrated by bishop C.J. Stewart in 1828. The first three incumbents were the Rev. W. Sampson 1817-22, the Rev. A.N. Bethune 1823-27, and the Rev. G.F.R. Grout 1827-49. In this churchyard are buried many members of the Loyalist families who founded The Forty (Grimsby). -
First Mennonite Settlement, The
Following the American Revolution, Mennonites living in Pennsylvania began to come to the Niagara Peninsula in search of good farmland. A small group settled on land west of Twenty Mile Creek in 1786. Then, in 1799, Jacob Moyer, Abraham Moyer and Amos Albright scouted land in the vicinity of Vineland and Jordan and secured a 1,100-acre tract. They returned later that year with a number of families. Others joined them the next year. These industrious... -
Brethren in Christ Church, The
A distinctive religious denomination similar in doctrine and practice to Mennonite assemblies, the Brethren in Christ Church emerged in Pennsylvania during the 1770s. It was established in Upper Canada in 1788 when Johannes Wenger (John Winger), who later became bishop, and Jacob Sider formed a congregation here in the Short hills. The denomination advocated adult conversion and baptism, and rejected secular pleasures, fashionable dress, and political and military involvement. A small, tightly knit religious group... -
Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty 1877-1943
Born in Thorold, Beatty attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. In 1898, he joined the legal department of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in Montreal and became the company's first Canadian-born president at the age of 41. He led the CPR in head-to-head competition with Canadian National Railways and was responsible for building the Royal York Hotel in Toronto and the "Empress of Britain" luxury liner. He was knighted in 1935. During the Second... -
Founding of Port Robinson, The
Port Robinson, the southern terminus of the original Welland Canal, opened in 1829, was named for John Beverley Robinson, chief justice of Upper Canada. The village grew rapidly when hundreds of Irish immigrants laboured on the "Deep Cut" between Allanburg and this site. A company of Negro soldiers stationed here about 1843-51 enforced order along the canal. Port Robinson benefited from frequent canal improvements, and trade and industry, including a shipyard and dry docks, flourished... -
Colonel Robert Nelles 1761-1842
A Loyalist from the Mohawk Valley, New York, Nelles came to Canada during the American Revolution and from 1780 to 1784 served in the Indian Department. Following hostilities, he settled near the Grand River but by 1792 had moved to this area. Nelles built mills and a store on nearby Forty-Mile Creek and soon became a prominent merchant. About 1798, he constructed a Georgian-style stone manor on this site. Modified by later additions, notably the... -
First Cotton Factory, The
The first cotton goods produced in this province were being manufactured in Thorold in 1847. The mill, a joint stock company founded by local citizens, included Jacob Keefer as president and James Munro as secretary, and was located near here. About twenty looms, driven by water power, produced unbleached sheetings, scrim and cotton batting. The factory operated till about 1849. A few years later, after a period of renewed activity under different ownership, it was destroyed by fire. This cotton mill was the forerunner of what later developed into an important provincial industry. -
First Town Meeting 1790, The
Near this site on April 5, 1790, was held the earliest known session of a municipal government in what is now Ontario. This "town meeting" of Township No. 6, later named Grimsby, dealt with such matters as the height of fences and the registration of livestock marks. While magistrates, appointed by the Crown, still exercised the most important functions of municipal administration, this marked a beginning of local self-government by elected representatives of the people. -
Founding of Thorold, The
During the construction of the original Welland Canal, 1824-1829, a number of communities sprang up along its length. Here, on land belonging to George Keefer, a village known as Thorold had developed by 1828. A large flouring mill was built on the canal and the Thorold Township post office was moved from Beaverdams to the new settlement by Jacob Keefer. By 1831, two sawmills were in operation and in 1835, the village contained 370 inhabitants... -
Neutral Indian Burial Ground
This nearby burial-ground, one of few representative sites known to have survived relatively intact in Ontario, was used by the Neutral Indians, a confederacy of Iroquoian tribes which occupied the area around western Lake Ontario before 1655. The remains of over 373 individuals were carefully interred here in 31 single graves and 24 multiple graves. Revered by the Neutrals, these remains were typically accompanied by a variety of wares, including carved combs, pipes, pottery, beads... -
Mack Centre of Nursing Education, The
Dr. Theophilus Mack (1820-1881) emigrated from Dublin to Upper Canada with his family in 1832. He received his medical education at the Military Hospital at Amherstburg and at Geneva College, New York. Settling in St. Catharines in 1844, he was instrumental in founding the General and Marine Hospital in this city. In 1874, Dr. Mack, understanding the need for trained and disciplined nurses, established the St. Catharines Training School for Nurses. This school, using the... -
First Welland Canal 1824-1833, The
Lock number 6 of the original Welland Canal lies in the adjacent watercourse about 700 feet south-west of here. This first or "wooden" canal, constructed 1824-33 by the Welland Canal Company, ran from Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario to Port Colborne on Lake Erie. William Hamilton Merritt was its chief promoter. With the opening of the canal as far as Port Robinson in 1829, lake boats reached Lake Erie via the Welland and Niagara Rivers... -
Brock University
Resolutions by the Allanburg Women's Institute and the Welland County Council resulted in the founding of the Niagara Peninsula Joint Committee on Higher Education in 1958. The work of this group led to the establishment, in 1962, of the Brock University Founders' Committee headed by Dr. Arthur A. Schmon, who announced the selection of the DeCew Falls site in 1963. The University, chartered by a provincial Act, March 1964, was named after Major-General Sir Isaac... -
Battle of Ridgeway
On June 1, 1866 Irish-American revolutionaries called Fenians invaded Canada as part of an attempt to strike at Britain and support the creation of an independent Irish republic. The next morning Canadian militiamen from the Queen's Own Rifles, the 13th Battalion and the York and Caledonia rifle companies, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Booker, arrived here by train before marching on to battle the Fenian invaders. Contradictory orders and confusion on the battlefield... -
Capture of the "Somers" and "Ohio," The
On the night of August 12, 1814, seventy seamen and marines, led by Captain Alexander T. Dobbs, R.N., embarked in this vicinity to attempt the capture of three armed U.S. schooners lying off American-held Fort Erie. One of the six boats used had been carried some 25 miles from Queenston, while the others were brought overland from Frenchman's Creek. Masquerading as supply craft, the force boarded and seized the Somers and Ohio, the Porcupine alone... -
Reverend Anthony Burns 1834-1862, The
Born a slave in Virginia, Burns escaped from servitude in 1854 and fled to Boston, where he was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Abolitionists came to his defence and serious riots ensued. This was the last trial of a fugitive slave in Massachusetts. Four months after his return to his owner in Virginia, he was sold to a North Carolina planter. However, in 1855, Burns was ransomed with money raised by the... -
Lance-Corporal Fred Fisher, V.C. 1894-1915
Born at St. Catharines, August 3, 1894, Fred Fisher was a student at McGill University when World War I broke out. He enlisted in the 13th Battalion, First Division, Canadian Expeditionary Force, September 23, 1914. Fisher was awarded the Victoria Cross for valour in operations near St. Julien, April 23, 1915, during the second battle of Ypres, the first major engagement in which Canadian troops were involved. While under very heavy fire, he led his... -
William Hamilton Merritt 1793-1862
A pioneer in the field of transportation, Merritt was born in Bedford, New York and settled at Twelve Mile Creek (St. Catharines) with his Loyalist family in 1796. He served with the provincial cavalry during the War of 1812, then operated mercantile and milling enterprises here. Primarily responsible for the construction of the first Welland Canal (1824-33), Merritt worked tirelessly to promote this ambitious venture, both by raising funds and by enlisting government support. During... -
Ridley College
One of Ontario's most prominent independent boarding schools, this college, named for a 16th-century Christian martyr, was opened in 1889. It was established by Anglican churchmen to provide boys with a sound preparatory education and to instill in them enduring moral and spiritual values. Initially housed in a converted sanatorium, Ridley expanded steadily, adding a junior school, reputedly the first of its kind in Canada, in 1899 and moving all facilities to this site by... -
Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, The
The nearby waterway, a part of the first Welland Canal constructed in 1824-29, is the course used for the annual Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Competitive rowing became popular in Canada during the 1860s and 1870s, and in 1880, the Canadian Association of Amateur Oarsmen was formed in Toronto. This body held an annual regatta for international oarsmen in various Canadian centres until, in 1903, Port Dalhousie was selected as the permanent site. This rowing event, inspired by the famous regatta held yearly at Henley-on-Thames in England, has become one of the largest in the world. -
Harriet Ross Tubman c.1820-1913
A legendary conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman became known as the "Moses" of her people. Tubman was born into slavery on a Maryland plantation and suffered brutal treatment from numerous owners before escaping in 1849. Over the next decade, she returned to the American South many times and led hundreds of freedom seekers north. When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowed slave owners to recapture runaways in the northern free states, Tubman... -
Founding of Port Colborne, The
In 1831, the Welland Canal Company selected Gravelly Bay as the southern terminus of their waterway connecting Lakes Ontario and Erie, and in 1833 asked the permission of Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Colborne to name the site "Port Colborne". The Hon. William H. Merritt, president of the Canal Company, had streets laid out on both sides of the canal in 1834 and, with several partners, built a gristmill by 1835. Initially the community's economy depended largely... -
Founding of St. Catharines, The
Before this region was settled, several Indian trails intersected here at a ford in Twelve Mile Creek. They were improved by early settlers and a church was erected at the crossroads by 1798. A tavern soon followed and a settlement, known as St. Catharines or Shipman's Corners, developed. After the War of 1812, the community expanded largely through the efforts of William Hamilton Merritt. He was the chief promoter of the first Welland Canal, built... -
Louis Shickluna 1808-1880
A prominent Canadian shipbuilder, Shickluna was born in Malta, where he worked before emigrating to North America. By 1835, he was engaged in ship construction at Youngstown, New York. Three years later, attracted by the traffic stimulated by the Welland Canal's completion in 1833, he purchased a shipyard on the Canal at St. Catharines. Shickluna steadily expanded his operations, which contributed significantly to the commercial prosperity of the region. Between 1838 and 1880 he directed...