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Fort Erie and Ridgeway, Ontario

Fort Erie is a town on the Niagara River in the Niagara Region of Ontario. It is across the river from Buffalo, New York and is the site of Old Fort Erie which played a prominent role in the War of 1812.

Fort Erie is also home to other commercial core areas of Bridgeburg, Ridgeway, Stevensville and Crystal Beach as a result of the 1970 amalgamation of Bertie Township and the village of Crystal Beach with Fort Erie.

The Fort Erie area contains deposits of flint, and became important in the production of spearheads, arrowheads, and other tools.

After the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War and transferred Canada from France to Britain, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 establishing the territory beyond which (including what is now Southern Ontario) would be an Indian Reserve. This was an attempt to avoid further conflict with the Indians, although it did not forestall Pontiac’s War the following year. The British also built a string of military forts to defend their new territory, including Fort Erie, the first version of which was established in 1764.

During the American Revolution Fort Erie was used as a supply depot for British troops. After the war the territory of what is now the Town of Fort Erie was settled by soldiers demobilized from Butler’s Rangers, and the area was named Bertie Township in 1784.

The original fort was located on the Niagara River’s edge below the present fort. It served as a supply depot and a port for ships transporting merchandise, troops and passengers via Lake Erie to the Upper Great Lakes. The fort was damaged by winter storms and in 1803 plans were made for a new fort on the higher ground behind the original. It was larger and made of flint stone but was not quite finished at the start of the War of 1812.

During the war, the Americans attacked Fort Erie twice in 1812, captured and abandoned it in 1813, and then recaptured it in 1814. The Americans held it for a time, breaking a prolonged British siege. Later they destroyed Fort Erie and returned to Buffalo in the winter of 1814.

The Fort Erie area became a major terminus for slaves using the Underground Railroad between 1840 and 1860; many had crossed into Canada from Buffalo, New York.

In 1866, during the Irish-American Fenian raids, between 1,000 and 1,500 Fenians crossed the Niagara River, invading Canada as part of an attempt to oust the British and create an independent Irish republic; they occupied the town and demanded food and horses. The only payment they were able to offer was Fenian bonds which were not acceptable to the citizens. The Fenians then cut the telegraph wires and tore up some railway tracks. Afterwards, they marched to Chippewa and the next day to Ridgeway where they fought the Battle of Ridgeway, a series of skirmishes with the Canadian militia. The Fenians then returned to Fort Erie and fought the Battle of Fort Erie in 1866, defeating the Canadian militia. Fearing British reinforcements, they then decided to retreat to the U.S.

The Battle of Ridgeway shocked the country, spurring improvements to Canada’s defenses, and helping to bolster the movement for confederation, which took place the next year.

Ridgeway takes its name from the limestone ridge which runs through it from north to south. The main street of town aptly named Ridge Road, follows this ridge, and was part of one of the first two wagon trails in Bertie Township, connecting Point Abino on Lake Erie to Miller’s Creek on the Niagara River.

Ridgeway was settled by the United Empire loyalists in the late 18^th-century, and was originally a farming community. In the 1850s the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway line was put through, and service industries began to develop around the train stop on Ridge Road. The business district spread north from there towards Dominion Road. In 1873 the post office was opened.

In 1869 Fort Erie was served by the Grand Trunk and the Erie & Niagara railways. The Grand Trunk Railway built the International Railway Bridge in 1873, bringing about a new town, originally named Victoria and subsequently renamed to Bridgeburg, north of the original settlement of Fort Erie. By 1876, Ridgeway had a population of about 800, the village of Fort Erie had about 1,200, and Victoria had three railway stations. By 1887, Stevensville had a population of about 600, Victoria of about 700, Ridgeway of about 600, and Fort Erie of about 4,000.

In 1888, the amusement park at Crystal Beach opened. The park continued to operate until it closed in 1989.

On August 7, 1927 the Peace Bridge was opened between Fort Erie and Buffalo.

Niagara Falls, Ontario Book 3

Niagara Falls Ontario is located along the Niagara Gorge on the western bank of the Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Niagara River flows over Niagara Falls at this location and creates a natural spectacle that attracts millions of tourists each year. Niagara Falls is about 130 kilometers (81 miles) by road from Toronto, which is across Lake Ontario to the north.

Tourism started in the early nineteenth century. The falls became known as a natural wonder, due in part to paintings by prominent American artists such as Albert Bierstadt. Niagara Falls is the self-proclaimed “honeymoon capital of the world.”

With a plentiful and inexpensive source of hydroelectric power from the waterfalls, many electro-chemical and electro-metallurgical industries located there in the early to mid-20^th century.

By 1792-94, a village grew up near Fort Chippawa on Chippawa Creek near the end of the new portage road from Queenston. In 1793, the creek was renamed the Welland River. The village was largely destroyed 1812-14 when the British and American forces fought for control of the Welland River. Portage traffic revived after the war and continued until Chippawa became an outlet for the original Welland Canal from 1829 to 1833. The first horse-powered railway in Upper Canada was built to Niagara Falls in 1837-39.

Precipitated by the opening of the Welland Canal in 1829, by the 1840s, Chippawa was a thriving town. A wide variety of business establishments were located around Cummington Square. Chippawa amalgamated with the City of Niagara Falls in 1970.

Niagara Falls, Ontario Book 2

Niagara Falls Ontario is located along the Niagara Gorge on the western bank of the Niagara River which flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

In 1853 construction began to build an international suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge. This brought work and prosperity to the north end of Stamford Township. A shanty-town development was erected to house workers at the base of the bridge. Over the years this became the Village of Elgin. Amalgamation of the Village of Elgin with the Town of Clifton was caused by the economic impact of the Great Western, Erie and Ontario Railways. The prosperous town boasted fifteen grocery stores and twenty saloons and hotels.

Samuel Zimmerman, one of the founding fathers of the city, came from Pennsylvania in 1842 with lots of ambition, and some knowledge of construction. He rebuilt parts of the Welland Canal. Recognizing the importance of railroads, Zimmerman began building railway lines including the Great Western (now Canadian National) from Hamilton. Zimmerman’s company played a role in building the Railway Suspension Bridge across the Niagara River Gorge.

During Zimmerman’s lifetime, there were four small communities within what is now Niagara Falls: Chippawa to the south, Clifton, Drummondville, and Stamford Village in the north.

The majority of the early downtown businesses were located on the lower part of Bridge Street, Erie Avenue and River Road, with a few businesses on Clifton Avenue (now Zimmerman) and Park Street. At the turn of the century, retail activity slowly started to shift to Queen Street where to date some of these firms are still operating. The residences of Queen Street have given way to stores and offices that form the Downtown core we see today.

Niagara Falls, Ontario Book 1

Niagara Falls Ontario is located along the Niagara Falls waterfalls and the Niagara Gorge on the western bank of the Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Niagara River flows over Niagara Falls at this location and creates a natural spectacle that attracts millions of tourists each year. Niagara Falls is about 130 kilometers (81 miles) by road from Toronto, which is across Lake Ontario to the north.

Louis Hennepin, a French priest and missionary, is believed to be the first European to visit the area in the 1670s. Increased settlement in this area took place during and after the American Revolutionary War, when the British Crown made land grants to Loyalists to help them resettle in Upper Canada and provide some compensation for their losses after the United States became independent. Loyalist Robert Land received 200 acres and was one of the first people of European descent to settle in the Niagara Region.

Tourism started in the early nineteenth century. The falls became known as a natural wonder, due in part to paintings by prominent American artists such as Albert Bierstadt. Niagara Falls is the self-proclaimed “honeymoon capital of the world.”

With a plentiful and inexpensive source of hydroelectric power from the waterfalls, many electro-chemical and electro-metallurgical industries located there in the early to mid-20th century.

Dunnville, Ontario Book 2 and Area

Haldimand County is a municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Haldimand was first created as a county in 1800, from a portion of Norfolk. It was named after the governor of the Province of Quebec Sir Frederick Haldimand. From 1974 to 2000, Haldimand County and Norfolk County were merged to form the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk.

The population centers in Haldimand are Caledonia, Dunnville, Hagersville, Jarvis and Cayuga. Most of Haldimand is agricultural land, although some heavy industry, including the Nanticoke Generating Station, is located here. Some of the smaller communities within the municipality are Byng, Canborough, Canfield, Cheapside, Fisherville, Kohler, Lowbanks, Nanticoke, Rainham Centre, Selkirk, South Cayuga, Sweets Corners, and York.

Dunnville is a community near the mouth of Grand River in Haldimand County, and is only a few kilometers from Lake Erie. Dunnville was one of the early thriving centers of Upper Canada and Ontario. Following the American Revolution, a six-mile strip of land on both sides of the Grand River from its mouth to its sources was opened up to settlement by displaced members of the Six Nations Confederacy. The land was granted to the Iroquois tribes by the British to compensate the Confederacy for land lost in the United States during the revolution. The British originally intended the land to remain in the hands of the Indians, but Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant wanted to open it up to settlement in order to create a source of revenue. Brant persuaded the Six Nations to surrender large blocks of land. Many of the early European arrivals were United Empire Loyalists.

South Cayuga lies on the north shore of Lake Erie, ten kilometers east of Dunnville. Initially part of the Six Nations of the Grand River Indian Reserve, the heavy clay soil of South Cayuga Township was well suited to the cultivation of grain, hay, and livestock.

Sweet’s Corners is located on Rainham Road west of South Cayuga.

Kohler was named for the Kohler family, one of many German immigrants who came to the area in the mid-1800s. It is located on County Road 8 south of Cayuga, and north of Rainham Centre.

Jarvis is located near the towns of Simcoe, Cayuga, Port Dover and Hagersville. Jarvis is strategically located at the junction of Highways 3 and 6. Jarvis has some excellent examples of brick architecture. Many of the historic homes were built after 1873. Many of the town’s restaurants and shops are clustered around the intersection of the highways. The majority of the buildings are red brick.

Dunnville, Ontario Book 1

Dunnville is a community near the mouth of Grand River in Haldimand County, and is only a few kilometers from Lake Erie. Dunnville was one of the early thriving centers of Upper Canada and Ontario. Following the American Revolution, a six-mile strip of land on both sides of the Grand River from its mouth to its sources was opened up to settlement by displaced members of the Six Nations Confederacy. The land was granted to the Iroquois tribes by the British to compensate the Confederacy for land lost in the United States during the revolution.

The British originally intended the land to remain in the hands of the Indians, but Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant wanted to open it up to settlement in order to create a source of revenue. Brant persuaded the Six Nations to surrender large blocks of land. Many of the early European arrivals were United Empire Loyalists.

By 1825, twenty-five people lived around Dunnville with a grist mill, a saw mill, and a distillery owned by Squire Anthony who was perhaps the first settler in the area. William Hamilton Merritt is called the Father of Canadian Transportation. With his vision and energy, the Feeder Canal connected Dunnville to the rest of the Welland Canal which flowed from Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario to Welland. Large amounts of timber were shipped by scows from the Grand River to Buffalo and other markets for use as fuel for the new and growing railroads. The initial Dunnville Dam was finished in 1829, in time for the opening of the Welland Canal in November of that year. The project brought laborers to the area, creating a need for farm produce and housing. The damming of the river provided a reliable source of power which supported mills and businesses including a tannery and a cloth factory. Dunnville was also served by the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway and was an important port which warranted its own government customs office.

By 1907, Dunnville had four large textile mills. Textiles continued to fuel the town’s development for many years.

Cayuga and York, Ontario

Early patterns of settlement in Haldimand County are still visible in the landscape and architecture, spanning from the pre-Contact era to the proclamation of the Haldimand Land Grant for the Six Nations and the subsequent migration of Loyalist settlers – Americans, largely of German descent and Mennonite tradition. Throughout the 1800s, immigration from the British Isles contributed significantly to the area’s development, as did the small but industrious Black community of the late nineteenth century – many descended from ex-slaves of the American South. Since the post-war years of the twentieth century, a significant stream of immigration from the Netherlands has also added to our ever-expanding mosaic of cultural identity, as have the age-old traditions of our Indigenous neighbors – the Six Nations and New Credit communities.

Following the American Revolution, Sir Frederick Haldimand, Governor-in-Chief of Canada, granted in 1784 to the Six Nations of the Iroquois a tract of land extending for six miles on both sides of the Grand River from its source to Lake Erie. This grant was made in recognition of their services as allies of the British Crown during the war, and to recompense them for the loss of their former lands in northern New York State. In later years, large areas of this tract, including portions of the present counties of Haldimand, Brant, Waterloo and Wellington, were sold to white settlers.

By 1853, Cayuga had lumber yards, a foundry, and a glass factory.

At its height, York had twenty businesses that included mills, inns, shoemakers, general stores, blacksmiths, and a lumber yard. It had a two-room school house and two churches.

Fisherville, Nanticoke, Selkirk, Ontario

Haldimand County is a municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Haldimand was first created as a county in 1800, from a portion of Norfolk. It was named after the governor of the Province of Quebec Sir Frederick Haldimand. From 1974 to 2000, Haldimand County and Norfolk County were merged to form the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk.

The population centers in Haldimand are Caledonia, Dunnville, Hagersville, Jarvis and Cayuga. Most of Haldimand is agricultural land, although some heavy industry, including the Nanticoke Generating Station, is located here. Some of the smaller communities within the municipality are Byng, Canborough, Canfield, Cheapside, Fisherville, Kohler, Lowbanks, Nanticoke, Rainham Centre, Selkirk, South Cayuga, Sweets Corners, and York.

The first white inhabitants of Rainham were Jacob Hoover with his sons Abraham, David, Benjamin and Daniel who came from Pennsylvania in 1791, traveling in wagons in which they carried all their moveable possessions.

They purchased about 2,500 acres of land from the government. The Hoovers were Mennonites of Swiss descent. The Hoovers were a thrifty and industrious family and soon had large clearings. They became wealthy as they were the first settlers who had any surplus produce to sell to others who came a few years later.

Manufactured items were very expensive so the settlers made as many items as they could. Many of them made their own harness of basswood bark boiled in lye which was a fair substitute for leather.

The township covers about 25,000 acres with stiff clay soil that is very productive and well cultivated. Fisherville and Rainham Centre are the only villages wholly in the township. Fisherville is the center of the German settlement and has a population of about one hundred and fifty people.

Nanticoke is located on the western border of Haldimand County. Nanticoke is located directly across Lake Erie from the United States city of Erie, Pennsylvania. Unlike the majority of Haldimand or Norfolk County, Nanticoke is a highly industrialized community. This community is southeast of Simcoe in neighboring Norfolk County and south of Brantford. Nanticoke’s residential area is bordered on the west by the Nanticoke Industrial Park, home to the U.S. Steel Canada Lake Erie Works and a number of smaller businesses.

The Esso Refinery Nanticoke is on the northeast, and the Nanticoke Generating Station is on the southeast. Nanticoke used to be a bustling farming and fishing community inhabited since the late eighteenth century. Nanticoke adapted to the Industrial Revolution and became a desired spot for heavy industry.

In 1974, Nanticoke was incorporated as a city within the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk through the amalgamation of the towns of Port Dover and Waterford, the village of Jarvis, and parts of the townships of Rainham, Townsend, Walpole and Woodhouse. In 2001, the town and all other municipalities within the region were dissolved and the region was divided into two single tier municipalities with city-status but called counties. What was the city of Nanticoke is now split between Haldimand County and Norfolk County. Wind Turbines were installed in November 2013.

Cheapside is located in the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk and is part of the City of Nanticoke. I n 1854 David Silverthom settled here and opened the first store. He was bought out in 1860 by William Pugsley who called the place Cheap Corner. When the post office opened around 1865 the postal department proposed the present name which was accepted by residents.

Lake Erie shoreline, quiet roads and countryside make Selkirk a haven for travelers. Selkirk is located forty-five kilometers southwest of Hamilton and a short drive from Dunnville, Cayuga, Port Dover and Simcoe. Selkirk is the oldest village in Walpole Township. Settled by the Hoover family around 1800, the village was the site of a mill and an important center for the local farming community. When the post office opened in 1831 the village was called Walpole. In 1855, the village was renamed Selkirk, in honor of Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk, who once owned land in the area.

Port Perry, Ontario

Port Perry is a community located in Scugog, Ontario. The town is located northeast of Toronto and just north of Oshawa. The area around Port Perry was first surveyed as part of Reach Township by Major S. Wilmot in 1809. The first settler in the area was Reuben Crandell, a United Empire Loyalist who built a homestead with his wife in May 1821.

Settler Peter Perry laid out village lots on the shore of Lake Scugog in 1848 on the site of a former native village known as Scugog Village. The town site was named Port Perry in 1852 and its first Postmaster was Joseph Bigelow.

The first train on the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway reached the terminus in Port Perry in 1872. Cargo from all over northern Ontario was shipped via the Trent-Severn Waterway to Port Perry via Lake Scugog, and then via the railway to Whitby, where it could be loaded onto the Canadian Pacific or Canadian National mainlines running along the shore of Lake Ontario, or onto ships in Port Whitby.

The village was amalgamated with Cartwright, Reach and Scugog Townships to form the Township of Scugog in 1974 upon the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham.

On July 3, 1884 the entire business section of Port Perry was destroyed by fire. The wooden buildings exploded when sparks hit them. The Ross & Sons Grain Elevator on the waterfront, plus two other buildings were the only ones to survive. Thirty-three commercial buildings housing nearly fifty businesses, as well as factories, warehouses, stables, six lodges, and a dozen homes were reduced to rubble in under an hour.

Four months later, the entire commercial sector with seventeen large brick buildings were built.

Uxbridge, Ontario – Book 2

Uxbridge is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham in south-central Ontario and is located about forty kilometers northeast of Metropolitan Toronto. The main center in the township is the community of Uxbridge. Other communities within the township include Coppins Corners, Goodwood, Leaskdale, Sandford, Siloam, Victoria’s Corner, and Zephyr.

The first settlers in the area were Quakers who started arriving in 1806 from Pennsylvania. The community’s oldest building, the Uxbridge Friends Meeting House, was built in 1820 and overlooks the town from Quaker Hill, a kilometer to the west.