Waterdown, Ontario
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
which since 2001 has been a community of Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton 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, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
On January 1, 2001 the new city of Hamilton was formed from the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth and its six municipalities: Hamilton, Ancaster
Ancaster, Ontario
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...
, Dundas
Dundas, Ontario
Dundas is a formerly independent town and now constituent community in the city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. It's nickname is the Valley Town. The population has been stable for decades at about twenty thousand, largely because it has not annexed rural land from the protected Dundas Valley...
, Flamborough
Flamborough, Ontario
Flamborough is a former town near, and a current community in, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....
, Glanbrook, and Stoney Creek
Stoney Creek, Ontario
Stoney Creek is a community in Ontario, Canada.Note: This article will only deal with matters up to its amalgamation with Hamilton.-Geography and population:...
. Before amalgamation, the "old" City of Hamilton had 331,121 Hamiltonians divided into 100 neighbourhoods. The new amalgamated city has 490,268 people in over 200 neighbourhoods.
Waterdown was created from that part of East Flamborough Township on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment
Niagara Escarpment
The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in the United States and Canada that runs westward from New York State, through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois...
, just east of the junction of King's Highways Nos. 5
Highway 5 (Ontario)
King's Highway 5, also known as Highway 5 and historically as the Dundas Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The east–west highway travels a distance of between Highway 8 at Peter's Corners, north of Hamilton and Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners...
and 6
Highway 6 (Ontario)
King's Highway 6, also known as Highway 6, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It crosses a distance of between Port Dover on the north shore of Lake Erie and Espanola on the northern shore of Lake Huron, ending at the Trans-Canada Highway in McKerrow.- Port...
. That intersection is known as Clappison's Corners, but continuous residential and commercial buildings between the two communities make it difficult to see any difference.
Community institutions include:
- Waterdown District High School
- Allan A. Greenleaf Public School
- Flamborough Review (merged with the Flamborough Post)
- Flamborough Family YMCA
- 3rd Waterdown Scouting
- Village Theatre Waterdown
- The Waterdown East Flamborough Heritage Society
In 1974, it was amalgamated with East Flamborough, West Flamborough and Beverly townships
Township (Canada)
The term township generally means the district or area associated with a town. However in some systems no town needs to be involved. The specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semi-rural government within the county...
to form the Town of Flamborough
Flamborough, Ontario
Flamborough is a former town near, and a current community in, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....
in the newly minted Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth. In 2001, Hamilton-Wentworth and all its former municipal federation members were abolished and replaced by an amalgamated City of Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton 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, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
.
Waterdown is expanding greatly, with the recent addition of a YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
and several commercial establishments. Because of the approval of new homes in Waterdown – at least 6,500 more houses in the near future – there are ongoing discussions regarding the planned $50 million 'Waterdown By-Pass', which would allow for easier access across the city. Waterdown population growth was approximately 28.9% over the years 1996 and 2001.
Waterdown District High School (WDHS) has faced an enrollment crisis and has recently voted to expand its facilities.
History of Waterdown
Long First Nations' history in the region
Perched atop the escarpment, the area that became Waterdown has been inhabited for centuries. Professor John Triggs of Wilfrid Laurier University found evidence of Algonquin-speaking Aboriginals from as far back as 7,500 BCE. One of the earliest known groups to inhabit the area was the Neutral First Nation (a name coined by Samuel Champlain because they did not take sides in the conflicts between the Huron and Iroquois Confederacy). By the early 1600s, the a powerful chief named Souharissen united the Neutral First Nations for a short 37 years. Diseases introduced by French explorers and missionaries devastated Souharissen's realm, allowing it to be consumed by the violent Huron-Iroquois War of 1650. The area was virtually empty by 1653.Since it was now empty the Anishinabe People moved in to thinly settle the region.
Robert de la Salle explores Flamborough
1669 saw French explorer Robert de la SalleLa Salle Explorers
La Salle Explorers is the name of the athletic teams from La Salle University. The school's 23 varsity sports teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and are a member of the Atlantic Ten Conference. The American football team previously played in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football...
follow Spencer Creek (from Lake Ontario) up toward present-day Westover and the native settlement of Tinawatawa. It was here that la Salle met up with another French explorer, M. Louis Joilet. Some historians think this meeting happened along the shores of Lake Medad (northeast of present-day Waterdown, beside Hidden Lake Golf Club).
British Conquest of 1760 and the American Revolution
After the fall of New France the region changed dramatically. The Anishinabe forged an alliance with the British Crown that was reaffirmed by King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
. Politically, the region became part of the Province of Quebec that was created by the British.
The area remained largely unaffected until the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
unleashed a flood of Loyalists fleeing the American republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. Access was largely restricted to water, so the first settlements were along the coast of Lake Ontario. To facilitate the English-speaking settlers, the Province of Quebec was broken into Upper and Lower Canada with Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791–1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior...
as the first representative of the Crown for Upper Canada. It was John Graves Simcoe that was walking along the beach strip of Hamilton that looked up at the escarpment and named its northern arm around Burlington Bay "Flamborough
Flamborough, Ontario
Flamborough is a former town near, and a current community in, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....
" because it reminded him of Flamborough Head
Flamborough, Ontario
Flamborough is a former town near, and a current community in, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....
in Yorkshire, England.
The Flamborough area was ceded to the Crown by treaty with the Anishinabeg on May 22nd, 1784. The frontline of the new township was laid out by John Collins in 1790 with further surveys conducted through to 1797. Originally meant to be the Township of Flamborough, it was broken into the separate entities of East Flamborough and West Flamborough in 1798. Today Waterdown is the largest settlement in the former township of East Flamborough.
Alexander Brown
One of the first land grants in the area was to Lt. Alexander MacDonellAlexander Macdonell (politician)
Alexander Macdonell was a soldier and political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Scotland in 1762 and arrived in the Mohawk Valley of New York with other members of his family, including his brother, Angus Macdonell. He served with the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment during the American...
of Butler's Rangers
Butler's Rangers
Butler's Rangers was a British provincial regiment composed of Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War, raised by Loyalist John Butler.Most members of the regiment were Loyalists from upstate New York...
. MacDonell never visited the area, but ended up selling 800 acres to Alexander Brown of the North West Fur Company in 1802. Brown built a log cabin and sawmill at the top of the Great Falls in present-day Smokey Hollow in 1805, making him the first European settler in the region. Alexander Brown married Merren Grierson and was a key figure in the community until his death in 1852. Eventually moving down Grindstone Creek to the site of present-day LaSalle Park, Brown built a wharf (called "Brown's Wharf" or "Port Flamboro") to export the many things being created by the mills that quickly sprung up in the Waterdow-area. It was Alexander Brown that built the first school of the village (on the site of the present-day American House) in 1815, employing Mary Hopkins as its first teacher.
The Tombstones of Alexander Brown and Merren Grierson
Reprinted from Heritage Papers no. 54 & 55 of The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society:In 1978 the former East Flamborough Township Hall on Mill Street North underwent extensive renovations. During this work to the interior, an elevator was installed to enable wheelchairs and senior citizens to visit the second floor. Ever since the installation the elevator has taken unexplained trips on its own. In the beginning, the library staff thought there was something wrong, so the elevator company who had been responsible for the installation was requested to examine the machinery. But both the manufacturers and the inspectors reported that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the wiring or mechanics of the elevator . . .
The two white marble tombstones [mounted next to the elevator] commemorate Alexander Brown and his wife Merren Grierson. The actual wording on the monument to Merren Grierson reveals an error that may explain why these stones are not in the Union Cemetery of Waterdown. The spelling of her Christian name is given as Merion rather than Merren.
The two library monuments, almost certainly the first stones to be engraved, were "discovered" on Sunday, May 21st, 1978, by Mr. & Mrs. William R. Donkin while out for an evening stroll. The couple noticed the headstones on a Nelson Street property that was being prepared for the construction of four new homes. Originally this property had been the home of John Burkholder, caretaker of Waterdown Union Cemetery. The lettering on in inscriptions was still legible, probably because the stones had been laid face down to form a sidewalk to the outhouse on the Burkholder property. How the stones arrived on the Nelson Street property may never be known, possibly Mr. Burkholder rescued them when they were replaced by the present monument to the Brown family.
On the following day the Donkins happened to meet Mrs. Ellene Kennedy on Main Street and told her about their discovery. Fascinated by this news, Mrs. Kennedy went to the Flamborough Review Office and asked John Bosveld, the Editor and Publisher, if his two sons could collect the two old tombstones in their van and take them to the Municipal Offices for safekeeping.
The tombstones stayed at the Municipal Offices for several months. During this time, arrangements were made by the Waterdown Centennial Committee and The Waterdown-East Flamborough Society . . . to have them placed on an interior wall of the Former East Flamborough Township Hall . . .'
People believe it is the ghost of Merren Grierson that haunts the library - brought there by the tombstone that displays her mispelt name - and countless village residents have stories of strange elevator rides and other happenings in the library.
Ebenezer Griffin - the founder of Waterdown
It was the arrival of entrepreneur Ebenezer Culver Griffin in 1823, purchasing over half of Alexander Brown's property, that marked the true beginning of the Village of Waterdown. It was Griffin that had his property surveyed into village lots in 1830.The name "Waterdown"
A local story credits Ebenezer Griffin with giving Waterdown its name. A prohibitionist, Griffin did not approve of the vast quantities of alcohol being consumed during the Victorian Age, including the whiskey used to christened new mills. During the christening of one of Griffin's mills the carpenter called out for its name and someone in the crowd called out "Hey Ebenezer, throw that water down." The carpenter heard the name "Waterdown" and it was given to the mill and soon adopted by the emerging village. It is important to note that Alexander Brown did not share Griffin's displeasure of alcohol.A child of the Industrial Revolution
Waterdown was born out of the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Thanks to the plan drawn up by Ebenezer Griffin, settlers and industrialists rooted themselves in village life. Mills grew along the banks of Grindstone Creek (especially in the area known as Smokey Hollow - given this name because of all the smog caused by the many complexes) as individuals like William P. Howland arrived to make their fortune. By 1879 the settlement was severed from the Township of East Flamborough and incorporated as a Village in its own right with quarrier Charles Sealey as its first reeve. Waterdown remained its own municipality until it was absorbed into the Township of Flamborough in 1974
Flamborough, Ontario
Flamborough is a former town near, and a current community in, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....
.
2001 Forced Amalgamation
Months before Waterdown's amalgamation into HamiltonHamilton, Ontario
Hamilton 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, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, the residents of the town were heavily contesting Premier Mike Harris'
Mike Harris
Michael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
push to include Waterdown into Hamilton. Due to Waterdown's location as a sandwich town, resting between Burlington
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington , is a city located in Halton Region at the western end of Lake Ontario. Burlington is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is also included in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. Physically, Burlington lies between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment...
and Hamilton, residents argued that Hamilton would not extend the services the city residents get out to Waterdown, such as bus routes. Along with this, Burlington had expressed some interest in amalgamating the town into its city – this idea was favoured by the Waterdown residents due to a collection of issues:
- Burlington's geographic location is closer to Waterdown than Hamilton, and parts of Burlington (AldershotAldershot, OntarioAldershot is a community in south-central Ontario, Canada, on Burlington Bay, Lake Ontario. It is a neighbourhood of Burlington, in Halton Regional Municipality....
+ Kerncliff Park) wrap around the south and east ends of the town. - Burlington promised bus service to Waterdown (two of the bus routes reached the eastern edge of Waterdown).
However, despite the residents' attempts to sway the Conservative Ontario
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
government otherwise, Waterdown was amalgamated into Hamilton. This prompted the elected MPP at the time, Conservative Toni Skarica
Toni Skarica
Antonio 'Toni' Skarica is a lawyer and former politician in Ontario, Canada. From 1995 to 2000, he was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario....
, to resign from his position – which shocked many, mostly because he ran (and won) on the platform of keeping the town unamalgamated, and vowed to resign if the Conservatives amalgamated with Hamilton. He gained a brief local celebrity status during that time because of his surprising honesty. As of 2006, Toni is employed as an Assistant Crown Attorney serving Hamilton.
Natural Attractions
Waterdown, and its associated Great FallsGreat Falls (Hamilton, Ontario)
Great Falls is a 10 metre high ribbon waterfall located in Waterdown, Ontario, Canada. Its a very picturesque waterfall featured many times on Hamilton waterfall postcards...
, (also called Grindstone Falls, so named for the creek that feeds it, or Smokey Hollow Falls, so named for the smoke rising from the hollow from the mills, or Barnes' Falls, named after the Barnes family who owned the property until 1978), are located on the local portion of the Bruce Trail
Bruce Trail
The Bruce Trail is a hiking trail in southern and central Ontario, Canada.-General:The trail follows the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, one of the thirteen UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves in Canada, for almost...
System in Ontario. Many national and regionally rare flora species grow in the natural areas of Waterdown.
The Smokey Hollow falls originally powered a sawmill and gristmill when the town was founded, and later a number of other small mills, and as a result of demand on the limited water supply, time shared the water. The last operating mill ceased operation in 1912. Today, only remote foundation ruins of the mills remain, although a lookout over the falls and a signboard detailing the history of the area is in place.
Furthermore, Waterdown also has many wetland trails in the eastern end of town which are well marked and have informational signage.
Other Attractions
Tourists may come to Waterdown in October and November to visit the Rotary Haunted House which has been in operation for 16 years (as of 2008). Until 2006 this haunted house was operated by the Rotary Club of Waterdown, and is now operated by the Rotary Club of Hamilton.Also of interest are several historical buildings which remain from the founding of the town, these include the American House, the library, the Rotary (originally the town hall), and several private residences.
Waterdown is also home to local community institutions such as Pickwick Books, Red Sky Design, Waterdown Cycle and the Waterdown Legion.
Waterdown is also home to a hockey arena, North Wentworth Community Centre & Arena, which is home of the Flamborough Hockey Association.
Famous residents
- Sir William P. Howland, (1811-1907), Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario (1868-1873), Father of Confederation, Industrialist. Sir William Pearce Howland was born at Paulings in New York State of the United States of America on May 29, 1811, the second son of Johnathan Howland and Lydia Pearce. He was educated at the Kinderhook Academy; and in 1830 he came to Upper Canada. He first settled at Cookstown, near York (Toronto), where he went into business with his brother. In 1840 he purchased the Lambton mills in York County; and shortly afterwards he established a wholesale grocery business in Toronto. Though he was sympathetic to the Reform movement, he refused to implicate himself with the Rebellion of 1837. In 1841 Howland became a naturalized Canadian. In 1857 he was elected as a Reformer to represent West York in the Legislative Assembly of Canada; and he continued to represent the constituency, first in the Assembly, and then in the House of Commons until 1868. From 1862 to 1863 he was Minister of Finance in the S. Macdonald-Sicotte Government and in 1863/64 he was Receiver-General in the S. Macdonald-Dorion Government. In November 1864, he entered the Great Coalition with the portfolio of Postmaster-General. When George Brown retired from the cabinet in 1865, Howland, with William McDougall declined to follow him. In 1866 Howland's porfolio was changed to finance. In 1867 he was appointed Minister of Inland Revenue in the first cabinet of the Dominion of Canada. The following year, Howland retired from office to accept the Lieutenant-Governorship of Ontario, a position in which he remained until 1873. He then retired from public life. He continued in business, moving to the Village of Waterdown and running one of the largest mills in the Smokey Hollow industrial complex, until his son died in 1900. Moving to Toronto, Howland died on January 1, 1907.
- Todd HarveyTodd HarveyTodd Douglas Ross Harvey is a former professional ice hockey forward. He was selected in the first round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, 9th overall, by the Dallas Stars, following a successful junior career, which included being the captain of the Canadian team at the World Junior Hockey...
, (1975- ), Retired NHL hockey player. Also had a successful junior career, which included being the captain of the CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
team at the World Junior Hockey Championships. - Mark VisentinMark VisentinMark Visentin is a Canadian major junior ice hockey player currently playing for the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League . He was selected 27th overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, and was the second goaltender taken in the draft...
, (1992- )Ice hockey player, Goalie for Niagara Ice Dogs OHL, drafted to Phoenix Coyotes, 1st round 27th overall 2010 NHL entry draft, member of 2008 U17 Team Canada gold medal team, began hockey career playing for the Flamborough Sabres AA in 2000,winnng OMHA gold medals in 2001(undefeated season) and 2002, member of Halton Hurricanes AAA team for six years winning 5 OMHA medals and member of Waterdown Wolves Rep Baseball team for seven years winning 5 provincial championships, Awarded Hamilton Civic award(2004)and Halton Hills Civic Award (2005) for Junior Athletic achievement. In December 2010, Visentin was named to Team Canada Under-20 that won a silver medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo, New York. - John Williams, Jr., (1977- ), CFL Football Player. Played for the B.C. Lions, The Edmonton Eskimos, Toronto Argonauts, currently the Hamilton Tiger Cats. Along with his father John Williams Sr. is the only father son combination in CFL history to both have won a Grey Cup. Jr.- 2002, Sr.- 1972.