From Queenston to Kingston. Ron Brown
the harbour, literally at McNab’s feet.
Smith’s foresight was prescient. By the late 1800s, Hamilton was indeed in Ontario’s industrial forefront as two more rail lines converged on the growing city. In 1873, the Hamilton and Lake Erie began service between Hamilton and Jarvis, and five years later to Port Dover on Lake Erie. In 1879 the line was extended to Collingwood on Georgian Bay as the Hamilton and Northwestern Railway. This new route gave Hamilton rail access to both American coal from the south shore of Lake Erie and to western grain shipped down the Great Lakes.
In 1896 the Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) laid tracks through the city, providing both Hamilton and Toronto (via running rights over the Grand Trunk) with their shortest rail link to Buffalo. Within a few years, the TH&B had extended a branch line to Port Maitland on Lake Erie, giving Hamilton yet another link to coal from the United States. By the time the TH&B established their headquarters and main yards here, those of the Great Western had largely gone. Following its merger with the GT, the new owner relocated most of the facilities to Stratford and London.
Because of the easy access to coal from West Virginia and Pennsylvania, iron from the Lakehead, and the presence of steel industries building locomotives for the Great Western, Hamilton was well on its way to becoming “Steel Town.” In 1895, the Hamilton Blast Furnace Company began producing iron right in the city, and in 1899 it joined Ontario Rolling Mills to form the Hamilton Iron and Steel Company, which in 1910 became The Steel Company of Canada (Stelco, now US Steel Canada). The other iconic name in steel production, Dofasco, began more modestly as a small foundry, later merging with the Hamilton Malleable Iron Company to become Dominion Foundries and Steel Company, or Dofasco.
As more heavy industry arrived, attracted by the ready availability of steel, the old port of Hamilton became unrecognizable as landfill pushed the docks farther into the harbour. In this emerging industrial landscape, workers’ suburbs also began to take shape. With minimal public transport available, living close to the factories was essential. Union Park was one example of a workers’ subdivision created by land speculators in the east end of the city. Others were laid out by the local factory owners themselves. Most such homes were simple wooden structures of one or one and a half storeys, and often built by the owners themselves, who would enlarge them as money became available.
For many years, Hamilton was scorned for its endless industrial landscape and its yellow, rank air that spewed across the entire peninsula. In recent years the industries and the government authorities have drastically reduced the air pollution, and many of the aging factories have modernized and earned a place in the industrial heritage of Hamilton.
While most of the original industrial buildings have long since been replaced with brighter and safer working environments, a few early survivors remain. In a building set back from Biggar Avenue, Royal Recycling occupies a structure built by the Hoepfner Refining Company in 1899. A stone building fronting on Barton Street at Wellington, once closer to the water, dates from 1876 and began life as a malt house.
The oldest of the industrial buildings is the Hamilton Waterworks. Finished in 1859, it claims to be the only mid-nineteenth-century intact waterworks in North America. When in operation, two steam-powered pumps extracted water from the lake. This water then flowed three kilometres to a reservoir, and from there into the city’s water system. As the city grew, a second pump was added, but by 1938 they could not keep pace with the growing demand, and the plant was closed. Today the buildings — complete with original boiler house, pump house, chimney, and fuel shed — have been preserved and deemed a national historic site. Inside are two original water pumps, fourteen metres high, one of which remains operational and is used for demonstrations. Visible from the busy QEW, the waterworks is situated at Woodward Avenue and Burlington Street.
Hamilton’s historic waterworks, located on Woodward Avenue, were designated a National Historic Site in 1983.
Hamilton Harbour sports two faces. The industrial landscape lies largely east of the HMCS Haida, which was towed to Hamilton in 2002 and is now a popular national historic site.3 West of the Haida, the harbour becomes recreational. The Hamilton City Yacht Club and the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club show off dock after dock of sailboats and yachts. Farther west are the Parks Canada Discovery Centre and Harbourfront Park, once the site of the Great Western Railway’s dock facilities. Now a landscaped landfill, the park offers boat launches, cycling trails, a swimming beach, and fishing docks. Pier 4 Park nearby offers lookouts over the bay and play areas for children.
Though most evidence of old Port Hamilton has long gone, one link remains. The red-brick building at number 469 Bay Street once housed William W. Grant’s sail-making operation. Built in 1869, the exterior still looks much like it did when the nine-by-twenty-eight-metre interior was workspace. But the age of steam rendered the tall ships a thing of the past, and in 1907 the building became Reid’s Gasoline Engine Company. Over the years it was put to a variety of uses, until 1985, when it fell into disrepair and was condemned. The new owner, recognizing the heritage value of this rare building, has begun to restore it — an unusual success story in demolition-happy Hamilton. Nearby streets also reflect the heritage of the harbour, and rows of early workers’ homes are now undergoing gentrification.
One of the first Europeans to arrive at the head of the lake was Richard Beasley. Among the first of the Loyalists to flee the newly independent American colonies, he constructed a small house on the summit of Burlington Heights, overlooking Burlington Bay. This location would prove strategic during the War of 1812, for it was from these heights that on June 5, 1813, seven hundred British and Canadian troops, under Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey, set out for Stoney Creek. Here they surprised 3,750 American troops, putting them to flight and marking a key turning point in the war. A section of the British earthworks remains visible in the Hamilton Cemetery, across from Dundurn Castle, and is marked with a commemorative cairn.
Mention the word castle in Ontario, and two spring to most minds: Casa Loma in Toronto, and Hamilton’s Dundurn Castle. While nearly eight decades separate the ages of the two massive structures, both were the accomplishments of men with vision and dreams. Casa Loma was built by Sir Henry Pellatt in 1912, a home that high taxes, combined with his dwindling fortune, forced him to vacate. Completed in 1835, Dundurn Castle was the dream home of parliamentarian and railway promoter Allan Napier McNab (later knighted by Queen Victoria in 1837 for his role in helping to repress William Lyon Mackenzie’s rebellion).
The sprawling forty-room Regency-style villa, one of Ontario’s grandest then and now, earned the nickname “castle,” although architecturally it was not castle-like in its appearance. From its vast grounds, McNab enjoyed a wide view across Hamilton Harbour (then known as Lake Geneva) and within a few years would add to it the sprawling yards and shops of his pet project, the Great Western Railway.
Today the castle is a national historic site and Hamilton’s most visited museum. Costumed guides lead visitors through the many rooms, refurbished to reflect the 1855 time period. In the basement is the brick and stone foundation of a much older building, the home built by Richard Beasley in 1799. The grounds also contain such unusual features as a one-hundred-hole birdhouse and the controversial Cockpit Theatre. In the late nineteenth century a small amusement park operated on the grounds. The stone Coach House was added in 1873 to shelter the family’s horses and carriages. Now a restaurant, The Coach House is available for rental only. Curators have also recreated a Victorian kitchen garden similar to that which McNab would have harvested.
Although the McNabs resisted overtures from the city to buy the property, thirteen hectares were opened to the public in 1878. As the popularity of the park increased, sports fields and a small roller coaster were added. In 1899 the city finally purchased the park for fifty thousand dollars and closed the amusement facilities, although they opened a small zoo that remained until 1928. Opened as a museum in 1935, then renovated in the mid-60s, Dundurn Castle and its grounds now offer visitors access