Welland, Ontario – My Top 13 Picks

Welland, Ontario – My Top 13 Picks

Welland is located in the center of Niagara. Within a half-hour, residents can travel to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Catharines, Port Colborne or Buffalo. It has been traditionally known as the place where rails and water meet, referring to the railways from Buffalo to Toronto and Southwestern Ontario, and the waterways of the Welland Canal and Welland River, which played a great role in the city’s development. The city is separated by the Welland River and Welland Canal which links Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

The city was first settled in 1788 by United Empire Loyalists.

Welland, because of its proximity to the Sir Adam Beck hydroelectric station at Niagara Falls, was historically known for its steel, automotive, and textile industries.  Manufacturing firms were the biggest employers in Welland, with companies like Union Carbide, United Steel, Plymouth Cordage Company, three drop forges, a cotton mill, and the Atlas Steel Company, as well as general manufacturing plants, influencing the shaping of early Welland.

The Plymouth Cordage Company was the first major industrial company to open a plant in Welland in 1906.  It was a rope making company with headquarters in Plymouth, Massachusetts; it became the largest manufacturer of rope and twine in the world.  Plymouth binder twine was popular among farmers to package farm crops such as grass, wheat and straw, and was the inspiration for the naming of the Plymouth brand of automobiles first produced in 1928.  Many workers who relocated to Welland from the company’s operations in Plymouth were of Italian origin. To minimize the potential effects of cultural and language barriers, Plymouth Cordage sent four foremen to Welland: one was Italian, one was French, one was German and one was English.

Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario

131 Aqueduct Street – Bagar-Bison House – 1880 – Victorian – two-storey tower, pediment, fish scale pattern on upper storey, sidelights around door – Welland Book 1

Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario

30 Bald Street – Queen Anne style, two-storey turret with cone-shaped cap, second floor sleeping porch

Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario

24 Burgar Street – The Glasgow-Fortner House – 1859 – Queen Anne style – now Rinderlins Dining Rooms

Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario

204 East Main Street – Lawrence-Phillips House – c. 1890 – Victorian style with a mixture of Gothic, Tuscan Italianate and Queen Anne elements

Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
195 East Main Street – Victorian style
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
102 East Main Street – Welland County Court House – built in 1855-56, four years after the creation of Welland County; Neo-Classical style, built of Queenston limestone – the front of the building is dominated by a huge projecting portico surmounted by a classical pediment and four large Ionic columns, sidelights beside door
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
28 Elgin Street East – Neo-colonial – gambrel roof, shed dormer
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
124 Elgin Street West – Queen Anne style, decorative dormer with walkout balcony, two-story bay window
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
King Street – Customs and Post Office – built 1901-02 – quoining, buttresses, dormers – Welland Book 2
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
140 King Street – former Welland Public Library – 1923 – dark red Milton brick and Indiana limestone in the Beaux-Arts style
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
123 Merritt Street West – Gothic, verge board trim on gable
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
201 Niagara Street – Cooper Mansion – 1913-1914 – Renaissance Revival style, Jacobean gables (parapet), symmetrical facade with projecting wings, , dormers, stone trim, neoclassical doorway with elliptical fanlight and slender sidelights sheltered by a classical portico supported on six Doric columns
Architectural Photos, Welland, Ontario
71 Elgin Street East – Edwardian – Doric columns, dormer, Palladian-type window in gable