Ancaster
Ancaster is a picturesque and historic community located on the Niagara escarpment, within the greater area of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This former town was founded officially in 1793 and was one of the oldest European communities established in present day Ontario along with Windsor (1749),[1] Kingston (1780), St. Catharines (1787–89), Grimsby (1790), Niagara-on-the-Lake (1792) and Toronto (1793). By 1823, due in large part to its easily accessible water power located nearby already existing historical trading routes, Ancaster had become Upper Canada’s largest industrial and commercial center. At that time it also had the largest population in Upper Canada with 1,681 townspeople surpassing both Toronto’s 1,376 and Hamilton’s 1,000 residents.[2] After this initial period of prosperity beginning in the late 18th century, sudden significant water and rail transportation advancements of the early 19th century would soon better benefit Ancaster’s neighbouring towns situated closer to the Lake Ontario waterfront. Stationary steam engines for industries were also being rapidly developed in the 19th century that would eventually make Ancaster’s water powered industries less vital. As a result, after the 1820s, Ancaster’s influence during the remainder of the 19th century would begin to wane. From the late 19th century Ancaster’s population would remain static until 1946 when new subdivisions around the village were established. The population expanded further with the completion of the Hamilton-Ancaster section of Highway 403 in 1968 and the introduction of sewer systems in 1974. After 1970, its population essentially doubled from 15,000 residents to its present-day 33,000. Today, Ancaster’s primary points of interest are its historical village core, its abundant recreational walking trails and its interesting variety of restaurants, pubs and shops.
Dundas
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Dundas enjoyed considerable economic prosperity through its access to Lake Ontario via the Desjardins Canal, and was an important town in Upper Canada and Canada West. It was later surpassed as the economic powerhouse of the area by Hamilton, but for decades it led in importance. A number of Ontario cities (including Toronto) retain streets named Dundas Street, which serve as evidence of its onetime importance. Dundas was once the terminus of Toronto’s Dundas Street (also known as Highway 5), one of the earliest routes used by Ontario’s first settlers.
With the establishment of McMaster University in nearby west Hamilton in 1930, Dundas gradually became a bedroom community of the university faculty and students, with a thriving arts community. Dundas has a large community of potters and several studio shows/walking tours of the town feature their work each year.
Flamborough
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Flamborough (sometimes both officially and informally spelled Flamboro) is a former town near, and a current community in, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
For most of its existence before amalgamation with Hamilton in 2001, Flamborough comprised the former townships of East Flamborough, West Flamborough, and Beverly, as well as the Village of Waterdown. The largest suburban community is the former Village of Waterdown containing perhaps one third of its thirty thousand or so inhabitants. Other Flamborough communities include: Carlisle, Christie’s Corners, Clappison’s Corners, Copetown, Freelton, Greensville, Lynden, Kirkwall, Millgrove, Mountsberg, Orkney, Rockton, Troy, Sheffield, Valens, and Westover.
Hamilton
Hamilton (pron.: /ˈhæməltən/; 2011 population 519,949; UA population 670,580; CMA population 721,053) is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812,[8] Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe. On January 1, 2001, the new City of Hamilton was formed through the amalgamation of the former city and the other constituent lower-tier municipalities of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth with the upper-tier regional government.[9] Residents of the old city are known as Hamiltonians.[10] Since 1981, the metropolitan area has been listed as the ninth largest in Canada and the third largest in Ontario.
Hamilton is home to the shared Royal Botanical Gardens, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, the Bruce Trail, McMaster University and Mohawk College. The Canadian Football Hall of Fame can be found downtown right beside Hamilton City Hall and across town to the east, the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats play at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Partly because of its diverse environment, numerous TV and film productions have been filmed in Hamilton, regulated by the Hamilton Film and Television Office.[11] A growing arts and culture sector garnered media attention in a 2006 Globe and Mail news article, entitled “Go West, Young Artist,” which focused on the growing art scene in Hamilton. The article highlighted local art galleries, recording studios and independent film production.[12]
Stoney Creek
Stoney Creek is a community (formerly a municipality which is now part of Hamilton after amalgamation by the province in 2001) in Ontario, Canada.
Note: This article will only deal with matters up to its amalgamation with Hamilton.
The community of Stoney Creek located on the south shore of western Lake Ontario, just east of Hamilton (pre-amalgamation) into which feed the watercourse of Stoney Creek as well as several other minor streams. The historic area, known as the “Old Town”, exists below the Niagara Escarpment. In 1984 Stoney Creek became a city.
Though residential growth exploded, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s in the lower city and in the west mountain in the 1990s and 2000s, most of the land mass of Stoney Creek remains agricultural. The communities of Elfrida, Fruitland, Tapleytown, Tweedside, Vinemount, and Winona serve as distinct reminders of the agricultural legacy of Stoney Creek and Saltfleet township.
It lost its independent status in 2002 as the Provincial Government formally merged Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Glanbrook, Dundas, Flamborough and Hamilton into the new city of Hamilton, turning the new multi-million dollar Stoney Creek City Hall into a Stoney Creek Public Library.
According to the 2002 census the population of Stoney Creek was 59,327 up 5.5 per cent from the 1997 census.[1] Children under 14 years of age totaled 19.4% while those in retirement age constituted 12.6% of the total population. Some 25.94% or a quarter of the population was foreign born. The census showed that Stoney Creek was 92.72% white (European), (of which 55% had British or Irish origins, 16% Italian, 21% Serbian, Polish, Croatian, Ukrainian etc.), 3.0% South Asian, 1.0% Black, 1.0% mixed race, 0.6% Chinese. As of the 2006 census, the population of Stoney Creek had risen to 62,292.
Westdale
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Westdale is a residential neighbourhood in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is centred on the Westdale Village shopping district and located near McMaster University. Westdale has been the heart of the Jewish community of Hamilton for many years. It is bordered to the north by Cootes Paradise, an extensive nature reserve marking the western end of Lake Ontario, to the south by Main Street, to the east by Highway 403, and to the west by McMaster University.
Etymology
On 29 March 1923, real estate agents and politicians announced the winning name of a “Name the Neighbourhood” contest, at the Royal Connaught Hotel in downtown Hamilton. 6,170 people were gathered for the official announcement. Rev. Canon Percival Lawson Spencer won $200.00 for his submission of the “Westdale” name. Other names that were seriously considered for the neighbourhood include Westhome, Vimy Ridge, Bridgeton, Woodlands Park, Surrey Park and Bridgeview.[1]
History
Archeological surveys have shown that the land south of what is now Cootes Paradise was once occupied by successive cultures of aboriginal peoples. In the early seventeenth-century, when the first French explorers and missionaries visited the western edge of Lake Ontario, they found the region populated by native people, who were referred to as the Neutral Nation because of their neutrality in the disputes between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Huron.
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Neutral Nation and the Hurons were defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. Eventually, Ojibway from what is now northern Ontario began to push southwards and displace the Iroquois and occupied the land until they themselves were displaced by European pioneers.[citation needed]
Survey
Following the creation of Upper Canada in 1791, the land upon which Westdale is now located was surveyed as part of the Township of Barton. Shortly afterward, the boundary was adjusted and the lots west of present-day Paradise Road were incorporated into the Township of Ancaster. This area of the township situated below the escarpment was commonly referred to as the Gore of Ancaster.
Following the transfer of the land from the Township of Barton to the Township of Ancaster, the land upon which Westdale is now located became lots 57 through 60 of Concession 1.
Early settlers of these lots include the Forsyths, Ashbaughs, Clines, Paisleys, Buttrums, Brambergers and Strouds. Land use was primarily devoted to agriculture.
Founding
Westdale was founded in the 1920s (in conjunction with McMaster’s 1930 founding in Hamilton) as one of Canada’s first planned communities. Spearheaded by W.J. Westaway’s development company Westdale Properties and a contingent of local investors on the Westaway Citizens Committee, the project aimed to stimulate an upscale Protestant environment. Established on what had been predominantly farmland, its shopping district was constructed on King Street, the western end of a major Hamilton route. The major housing developments branched from Sterling Street, a wide tree-lined lane that ends at McMaster’s east campus gates.
Westdale was envisioned as an exclusive white Protestant neighbourhood. Specific groups such as blacks, Asians, Slavs, and Jews were unable to purchase homes; near the end of the Second World War restrictions upon Jewish home ownership were lifted whereupon many relocated from the central part of the city. However, legal loopholes allowed for discrimination to persist into the 1950s. Over time, Westdale has become increasingly diverse and vestiges of its former exclusivity have largely disappeared – yet well into the 1990s accusations of “racism” in the Westdale community were made surrounding opposition to a multicultural festival which was causing significant traffic issues.
Present
Although urban development has reduced the isolation once integral for Westdale’s modelled environment, the Village persists as an established shopping destination for West Hamilton residents. The Westdale Business Improvement Association represents over 70 businesses located in the immediate Westdale area. The Westdale community is contained between Highway 403, Main Street and the areas east of McMaster. In addition to many small businesses, Westdale is also home to a grocery store, a branch of the Hamilton Public Library, and branches of three major banks.[citation needed]