Welland

Welland
City (lower-tier)
City of Welland
The Welland Civic Square
Highways		Highway 406  Highway 140
Website	welland.ca

Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.^[1]

The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Catharines, and Port Colborne. 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 Welland Canal and Welland River, which played a great role in the city's development. The city has developed on both sides of the Welland River and Welland Canal, which connect Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

History

The area was settled in 1788 by

who had been granted land by the Crown to compensate for losses due to property they left in the British Thirteen Colonies during and after the American Revolutionary War.

Tensions continued between Great Britain and the newly independent United States, and the War of 1812 broke out. On 19 October 1814, Canadian forces led by George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale,^[3] met an American raiding party, numbering approximately nine hundred, near the eastern edge of the present community during the Battle of Cook's Mills. After an intense skirmish, the Americans retreated to Buffalo, New York. Cook's Mills was the second to last engagement of the War of 1812 on Canadian soil.^[4]

The First Welland Canal was extended in 1833 to reach Lake Erie and has influenced development of this city ever since. A wooden aqueduct was built to carry the Welland Canal over the Welland River at what is now downtown Welland, and the area became known as simply Aqueduct. A lock to cross from the canal to the river and vice versa was also built. A small shantytown soon developed around the facility, providing essential services in what was a convenient stop-over location for travellers and workers on the canal.

The growing town was later named Merrittsville, after

on 25 July 1858. It became a city in 1917.

One of the few railway crossings across the canal was near Welland. Together with the canal, these two factors attracted the development of heavy industry in Welland. In 1906 the Plymouth Cordage Company was the first major industrial company to open a plant in Welland. By the 1930s, Welland was an important industrial city in the region and was developing rapidly.

In the 1960s, the city was starting to outgrow the canal passing through its core. The Welland By-Pass project, started in 1967 and finished in 1973, provided a new, shorter alignment for the Welland Canal by moving it from downtown Welland to the city's outskirts. With the completion of the bypass, Welland's east end (and the former town of Crowland) was like an island between the new and old canal channels.

The City of Welland is working to revitalize the downtown core through an ongoing community improvement plan. Integral to the program is the use of incentives to promote revitalization and redevelopment. A report published by the City of Welland in 2013 said, "for over 10 years now, these programs have produced only very moderate uptake and development since being introduced."^[5]: 78 Other former industrial cities have grappled with similar painful transitions.

Government

The Welland city council is made up of 12 councillors, each elected in his or her

, by all the voters in the city. Welland's current mayor is Frank Campion.

In addition, two regional councillors are elected at-large, to participate in the Niagara Regional Council. These councillors were George Marshall and the late Peter Kormos, who died in March 2013. Another representative of Welland was appointed to fill Kormos's seat since late May 2013, in order to represent the city on the Regional Council.

The city is responsible for fire protection, libraries, parks and recreation and secondary streets, but many municipal services come from the broader level of government, the Niagara Region. Regional responsibilities include social welfare, community health, and policing through the

.

The chief local political issue is the redevelopment of the downtown core, which has deteriorated in the years after the Welland By-Pass project. The Civic Square project has been completed after spanning the terms of three city councils and three mayors. The new building, facing both East Main Street and the old canal, houses the city hall and the Welland Public Library. The project is proving to be a catalyst for development, as several new establishments have been opened downtown and some businesses are expanding.

Welland is represented in the

ridings of Niagara Centre, respectively.

Demographics

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±%
1871	1,110	—
1881	1,870	+68.5%
1891	2,035	+8.8%
1901	1,863	−8.5%
1911	5,318	+185.5%
1921	8,654	+62.7%
1931	10,709	+23.7%
1941	12,421	+16.0%
1951	15,382	+23.8%
1961	36,079	+134.6%
1971	44,397	+23.1%
1981	45,448	+2.4%
1991	47,914	+5.4%
2021	55,750	+6.6%

According to the 2021 census conducted by Statistics Canada, Welland had a population of 55,750 living in 23,656 of its 24,530 total private dwellings, a change of 6.6% from its 2016 population of 52,293. With a land area of 81.16 km² (31.34 sq mi), it had a population density of 686.9/km² (1,779.1/sq mi) in 2021.^[6]

In 2021,^[7] 87.0% of the population was white/European, 8.7% were visible minorities and 4.3% were Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were Black (2.6%), South Asian (1.6%), Latin American (1.3%), Filipino (0.7%), Southeast Asian (0.5%), and Chinese (0.5%).

80.2% of residents spoke English as a mother tongue. French was the first language of 7.2% of the population, compared to 3.3% in all of Ontario.^[8] In terms of non-official languages, the most common mother tongues were Italian (2.1%), Spanish (1.0%), Hungarian (0.6%), Polish (0.6%), Korean (0.4%), German (0.4%) and Chinese languages (0.4%). 1.5% of residents listed both English and French as mother tongues, while 1.2% listed both English and a non-official language.

62.4% of residents were Christian, down from 77.2% in 2011.^[9] 35.1% were Catholic, 15.1% were Protestant, 7.7% identified as Christian without specifying and 4.5% belonged to other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. 34.9% were non-religious or secular, up from 22.0% in 2011. All other religions accounted for 2.3% of the population, up from 0.8% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religions were Islam (0.9%), Hinduism (0.4%) and Sikhism (0.4%).

Another significant cultural group was established with the opening of the Plymouth Cordage plant. Many workers relocated to Welland from the company's operations in

Ethnic and Cultural origins (2021)[7]	Population	Percent
English	13,060	23.8%
Irish	9,100	16.6%
Scottish	9,000	16.4%
Canadian	8,935	16.3%
French n.o.s	8,240	15.0%
German	6,885	12.5%
Italian	6,825	12.4%
Dutch	3,450	6.3%
Ukrainian	2,825	5.1%
Hungarian	2,705	4.9%
Polish	2,350	4.3%
British Isles n.o.s	2,035	3.7%
Caucasian (White) n.o.s+ European n.o.s	1,875	3.4%
French Canadian	1,585	2.9%
Welsh	1,195	2.2%
First Nations (North American Indian) n.o.s.+ North American Indigenous, n.o.s.	1,260	2.3%
Métis	1,045	1.9%
Note: "n.o.s" = not otherwise specified. Respondents could report more than one ethnic origin.

Education

Like the rest of Ontario, Welland has access to four public education systems: the regional

(the French Catholic board) also operate schools in Welland.

The Niagara Catholic District School Board operates six elementary schools within the city. The board also operates one secondary school in the city: Notre Dame, which offers Grade 9 through to Grade 12. Continuing education courses are also offered by the board at its Father Patrick H. Fogarty Learning Centre within the city.

The District School Board of Niagara operates ten elementary schools within the city and two secondary schools: Welland Centennial Secondary School servicing the western side of the city and Eastdale Secondary servicing the eastern side.

A campus of Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology is located in Welland. The college offers post-secondary diplomas, baccalaureate degrees and advanced-level programs. From 1995 to 2001, the city was home to a satellite campus of the defunct francophone Collège des Grands-Lacs.^[11]

Economy

Welland, because of its proximity to the

, since 2012 owned by JMC Steel) continues to employ residents.

The Atlas Steel Co. was founded at some time in the 1920s.

in 2000, who went bankrupt in 2003. The plant was finally torn down in 2007.

The Canadian branch plant of the Plymouth Cordage Company was started in 1904 due to Parliament's initiation of a 25% import duty on rope and related products. Plymouth, with roots in Massachusetts, moved to secure its business in binding twine, necessary to package farm crops such as grass, wheat or straw. The city of Welland grew up around the Plymouth plant, which was prior to 1904, farmland. The cordage industry was a victim of the harvester-thresher, which obviated the need for binding (or baling) twine, as the threshing operation is now performed in a contiguous step immediately when the stalk is cut.

Welland's electricity comes from the

until rolling blackouts began the next day in an effort to provide power to areas that hadn't had it for nearly 24 hours.

Geography

Welland is located in the centre of south Niagara. Over the years, urban growth has all but united the northwest part of Welland with the community of Fonthill.

Prior to the Welland By-Pass project, the Welland Canal cut through the centre of Welland. As a result, a very prominent split was created between the east side and the west side of the city. The west side grew primarily to the north, while the east side expanded south. The west side also became the more affluent of the two. Today, even though the canal traffic no longer causes regular interruption in the traffic across the city, the channel lives on as Welland Recreational Waterway. The waterway still serves as a very prominent visual feature dividing the city, and it is perhaps for this reason that the east side/west side division is still very much alive in the minds of Wellanders. East side and west side are very commonly used as basic directions.

The communities of

". John Deere announced in September 2008 that it would be closing its plant and relocating manufacturing to Wisconsin and Mexico.

There is a slight movement to develop the northern end of the east side, an undeveloped area. A community named

Wal-Mart

store opened on Woodlawn Road close to Highway 406.

Technically, both the east side and Dain City are peninsulas, surrounded by the waters of the old and new channels of the Welland Canal and connected to "solid" ground only by the relatively small plug in the old canal along the Townline Tunnel approaches.

Crowland is a former township created in 1788^[13] that grew up around Ontario Road and Welland Recreational Canal. A man-made geographic feature is the Merritt Island, a strip of land approximately five kilometres long and, in some places, less than 100 metres wide. The island was created when the alignment of the First Welland Canal was constructed basically parallel to the Welland River and since the abandonment of the old canal has been established as Merritt Park, featuring a popular four kilometre-long paved trail.

Climate

Welland experiences a

hit Niagara and Western New York from 28 January to 1 February 1977.

Parks

Notable parks are Chippawa Park, an older, well-developed park in the northwest; Memorial Park, a newer park in the southeast which has been shrunk for suburban development; and Merritt Island Park along the canal with an upper level paved trail and lower level gravel trail.

Chippawa Park has rolling hills, mature specimen trees (predominantly Carolinian, including several species of Hickory and Maple), playgrounds, a large pond, and small ornamental fish pond in a formal rose garden. It features a large war memorial carved from Lacasse granite and designed by a famous Canadian sculptor, Elizabeth Wyn Wood.

Memorial Park was a project of the 1967 Centennial. It is very flat with younger trees. It has an outdoor pool shaped like a figure 8. There is also a cenotaph at this park. In the late 1960s, the eastern part of the park was used for the Welland Canal bypass. Patrons of the park can often see ships passing through the bypass.

At the heart of the old city of Welland, near the Main Street Bridge, the Welland River passes under the old Welland Canal, then runs parallel to it for a few miles. Between the old canal and the river lies a long narrow strip of land referred to as Merritt Island that is now a park. The end of the park closest to the centre of the city has picnic tables and playground equipment. The island also includes a main trail that follows the bank of the old canal for the entire length of the park, with a variety of intermittent side paths and trails.

Also located in the heart of downtown, between Main Street and Division Street bridges along the west side of the Welland Recreational Waterway, is a small parkette dubbed "Guerrilla Park"^[14] by locals. It was originally park space that had become neglected over years and was reclaimed as public space by volunteers. Through efforts of local artists and guerrilla gardening, the formerly neglected space is now tended by various unorganized volunteers, and features revitalized garden beds and flowers, outdoor paintings, and occasional impromptu events.

Welland Canal trails

The

. The sections of the trail located within Welland are paved. The trail follows alongside the Welland ship and Recreational Canals, and passes through downtown Welland.

Transport

Welland Canal

The Welland Canal, linking

) shown in the photograph above.

Roads

Highway 406 is the main route in and out of Welland, leading north to

.

Port Colborne is linked to Welland by Highways

58

. Port Colborne residents then can take the 406 further north.

The

Highway 58A

corridor in the south of the city. Should that occur, Highway 406 will likely be extended to reach the new thoroughfare.

Two of the three tunnels under the canal, Main Street Tunnel and Townline Tunnel, are located in Welland, just east of the main urbanised area.

Railways

Welland boasts a rich railway history. The city motto is "Where Rails and Water Meet", referring to the two prevalent means of transportation. The

.

Welland was also the terminus of the

and Welland).

There was also a

Wabash Railway

. Later, it became the Cayuga Subdivision of the Canadian National Railway.

Lastly, the

Thorold, Ontario

via Welland. Passenger service ended in November 1959, but the tracks remained in freight use until 1981 when a trestle over the Welland River became unsafe and the line was removed from service.

The relocation of the Welland Canal in the early 1970s caused massive changes in the local railway network. The new route of the canal was previously crossed by five separate railway lines. The new segment of canal would have no bridges, and just one railway tunnel, so all of these routes required redesign. The two branches of the CASO line, plus the Cayuga Subdivision were re-routed through the Townline Tunnel, while the North/South Canadian National line was split and discontinued as a through route. The station at King Street was abandoned and demolished. It was replaced by a new station outside of town, but passenger service ended soon after.

Today, Welland is the location of one of only two remaining railway crossings that span the Welland Canal. The Townline Tunnel is built for three railway tracks, but the center track was removed in the early 1990s. Now, only two tracks run through the tunnel. The north track is the Canadian Pacific Railway Hamilton subdivision. The south track was formerly the Canadian National Railway Cayuga subdivision. Since the abandonment of the majority of that subdivision, operations on this track were limited to occasional trains interchanging with Trillium Rail's Port Colborne Harbour Railway. Today, Canadian Pacific also uses this track as their "Brookfield Siding".

There is also a

control.

Prior to the Welland Canal relocation in the early 1970s, there were two bridges crossing the old canal. The busiest was a swing bridge located between the Lincoln and Broadway bridges (the CASO line). This bridge was a relic of an earlier canal, and although it does not swing any longer, it remains in railway use. Once or twice per week, a local Trillium Rwy way freight crosses this bridge to access Vesuvius Industries on the west side of the old canal located on Trillium Rwy's West Welland Spur. The second crossing was as vertical-lift bridge at

St. Thomas, ON

. Do note that CP Brookfield Siding becomes Trillium's Cayuga Spur where the Feeder Canal once cross through, prior to the building of this Townline Tunnel infrastructure, in the 1800s. This Cayuga Subdivision by-pass runs from between Wilhelm Road and Troup Road, east of Welland and to the west between Phillip's Road (mentioned above) Green Road S,(Formerly Farr Road S.). In total, the Cayuga Subdivision by-pass was a total length of 8.9 miles.

A recent initiative proposed by local businessmen and politicians, in particular Trillium Railway owner Wayne Ettinger and former mayor Damian Goulbourne calls for the planned GO Train extension into the Niagara Region to include a station — and cross the Welland Canal — in Welland rather than St. Catharines. The proponents argue that an adequate rail line is already in place and using the Trillium's track through the Townline Tunnel would allow for uninterrupted train traffic to Niagara Falls. They also point out that a station in Welland would fit in the Niagara Region's "Grow South" policy of expanding the infrastructure south of the Niagara Escarpment.^[15]

Air

The closest airport to Welland is the

as well as various charter flights to/from Niagara.

Public transit

Between 1912 and 1930, local

From 1973 to 2022, Welland Transit operated the public transport service of scheduled bus services and paratransit covering the city. Also provided was Welland-St. Catharines Connection, a link to the St. Catharines public transit system from Niagara College to Brock University terminal in St. Catharines, with the first and last run of the day interconnecting to the downtown core. Service was also provided to Port Colborne and Pelham.^[17]

In 2023, Niagara Region Transit acquired Welland Transit, along with St. Catharines Transit and Niagara Falls Transit. Services remain largely unchanged with the exception of extended service hours and changes to the fare structure.

Events

The Concerts on the Canal series provides a line-up of free Friday night summer concerts on the floating stage at Merritt Park.^[18]

Niagara Regional Exhibition, running since 1853, is held at the Fairgrounds in the north end of the city every fall. Tradition stands that on at least one of the operational days it will rain.

Canada Day Celebrations has become a local favourite event. The free family fun event is hosted in downtown Welland at Merritt Park.

The Farmers' Market, held downtown in the Market Square, features 80+ vendors offering food, Niagara wines, produce and homemade items every Saturday morning, year-round.^[19]

Welland's Eastdale High School held its 50th Anniversary Reunion on 20, 21 and 22 May 2011. The Welland High and Vocational School Reunion was held 15/16 May 2009 in Welland.

The Welland

The Welland Rose Festival is one of Niagara's longest running festivals. The Rose Festival promotes and encourages community participation through many events such as the Rose Parade, Baby Show, Rose Show, Days in the Park, and more. Celebrating 50 years in 2011, the Rose Festival continues to offer a host of spectacular events and entertainers in the month of June.

The city will host the 2018

Welland FloatFest began in 2016 and usually occurs for one day in July. The aim of the event is to encourage participants to enjoy the Welland Recreational Waterway by use of an inflatable. The event is complemented with vendors and a concert. In 2017, FloatFest gained a Guinness World Record for a line of touching inflatables that extended 165 metres in the canal to make it into the record book.^[22]

The Welland Zombie Walk is a community-based event held in October for the past several years.^[23]

Notable people

• Stacey Allaster – former Chair, Women's Tennis Association
• Attack in Black – Alternative Band
• Paul Beeston – former president of Major League Baseball and former president of the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Paul Bissonnette – colour commentator and former NHL hockey player
• Ken Breitenbach – former Buffalo Sabres Hockey Player (NHL)
• Nina Bunjevac – cartoonist
• Cal Clutterbuck – New York Islanders player
• Yvon Corriveau – retired NHL hockey player (Washington, Hartford)
• Brian Daboll – Head Coach, New York Giants
• Sabrina D'Angelo - Goalkeeper for Canadian Women's National Soccer Team and Arsenal^[24]
• Andre Deveaux – professional hockey player, Florida Panthers
• Matt Ellis – Buffalo Sabres hockey player.
• Robert Hilborn Falls – Chief of the Defence Staff
• Simon Gatti – soccer player
• Daniel Girardi – Retired New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning hockey player.
• Wayne Groulx – former NHL/Austrian league Hockey player
• Chris Haney – Co-inventor of "Trivial Pursuit" board game
• Curtis Harrison – actor, writer
• Mike Hominuck – player for the Toronto Rock of the NLL.
• Nathan Horton – Columbus Blue Jackets player
• Bill Huard – former NHL Hockey Player
• Matt Johnson (ice hockey) – former NHL Hockey Player
• Peter Kormos – long-serving NDP Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• Wind Mobile
• Amy Ciupak Lalonde
  – actress
• Food Network Canada (Born in Georgia, United States
  , now resides in Welland)
• Daniel Paille – Boston Bruins hockey player.
• Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada
• Mike Pelino – professional hockey coach
• Daniel Romano – Country and Rock musician, visual artist and leather craftsman
• Matthew Santoro – YouTube comedian and video blogger
• NBA
  player (Chicago, Los Angeles, San Antonio & Golden State)
• Steve Terreberry - Guitarist and YouTuber

In popular culture

Welland's

Welland was the site of the first scene filmed for the movie Meatballs. Actor Bill Murray appears in front of the Kmart at Seaway Mall.

The Welland International Flatwater Centre was featured on Season 9, Episode 6 of The Amazing Race Canada. Teams had to row a double scull along a 200-metre (660 ft) course on the Welland Canal within two minutes in order to receive their next clue from local rower, Rhonda Chopin. The episode aired August 15, 2023.^[28]

See also

• Welland Canal, Welland By-Pass, Welland Recreational Waterway
• Battle of Cook's Mills
• Niagara College
• List of francophone communities in Ontario

References

Citations

• Lewis, William H. (1997). Aqueduct Merrittsville and Welland : a history of the city of Welland : the beginning years. A.M.W. Publications.
  ISBN 0-9682743-0-7
  .
• Lewis, William H. (2000). Aqueduct Merrittsville and Welland : a history of the city of Welland, volume 2 : the continuing years. A.M.W. Publications.
  ISBN 0-9682743-1-5
  .
• Lewis, William H. (2003). Aqueduct Merrittsville and Welland : a history of the city of Welland, volume 3 : the 20th century. A.M.W. Publications.
  ISBN 0-9682743-2-3
  .
• Balenovich, Walt (2007). Travels in a Blue Chair Alaska to Zambia Ushuaia to Uluru. iUniverse.
  ISBN 978-0-59-546149-3
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Welland, Ontario.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Welland.

• Official website