St. Catharines, Ontario – Town Profile
St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario, Canada. St. Catharines is situated in Southern Ontario and is close to the U.S/Canada borderline.
History:
St. Catharines was first settled by Loyalists in the 1780s. The first business started in St. Catharines was a goods storehouse owned by Robert Hamilton, and was established around 1783.St. Catharines was visited by Laura Secord during the War of 1812, en route to warn James Fitzgibbon of the advancing Americans. She was travelling with her niece Elizabeth Secord, but Elizabeth was exhausted at that point and ceased her journey there. Laura Secord continued on to warn Fitzgibbon successfully.
In 1808 the name "St. Catharines" appeared for the first time on a survey; the name comes from Robert Hamilton's wife Catharine, In 1817 the post office was established with the name "St. Catherines" , but by 1821 the name was officially "St. Catharines".
Welland Canal:
The first Welland Canal was constructed from 1824-33 behind what is now known as St. Paul Street, using Twelve Mile and Dick's Creek. William Hamilton Merritt worked tirelessly to promote the venture, both by raising funds and by enlisting government support. The canal established St. Catharines as the hub of commerce and industry for the Niagara Peninsula. The Welland Canal runs 43.4 kilometres passing through the city. Three of its locks are within city boundaries. The canal allows shipping vessels to traverse the 99.5 metre drop in altitude from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
Major parks:
St. Catharines is known as “The Garden City” because it has over 1000 acres of meticulously groomed parks and gardens.
-Montebello Park
-Lakeside Park
-Short Hills Provincial Park
-Burgoyne Woods
-Happy Rolph’s Bird Sanctuary
-Ontario Jaycee Gardens
-Walker Arboretum
-Woodgale Park
Festivals:
The Folk Arts Festival was first presented to the city by representatives from the ethno cultural communities of Niagara over 35 years ago. From that first festival was created the Folk Arts Council of St. Catharines, which continues to run its festival each year throughout the month of May and concludes with "Folk Arts in the Park", which takes place in Montebello Park in the city's downtown.
The Art of Peace Festival is now in its fifth year. Montebello Park fills with performing arts events, Speak Your Peace! open mic program, community art workshops, an elementary school art exhibition, vendors, and Peace Through Art Stations at which peace groups make information available and offer arts activities.
The Niagara Grape & Wine Festival is a non-profit organization that presents three popular wine festivals in St. Catharines and Niagara during the year. The Niagara Icewine Festival (Winter), the Niagara New Vintage Festival (Summer), and the Niagara Wine Festival (Fall), which is the largest of the festivals, attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the region each year. This event known by most locals simply as "Grape and Wine" attracts young and old varying from partiers to wine connoisseurs.
The SCENE Music Festival is one-day event held in various clubs and pubs downtown. Rock, indie, pop, singer-songwriter, ska, punk, metal, and many other genres are represented by bands such as Alexisonfire, Bedouin Soundclash, Moneen, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Damn 13, Shad, Sick Boys, Raising The Fawn, Supergarage, Sailboats Are White, Revenge Of The Egg People, IllScarlett, Silverstein, Bang Theory, Dead and Divine, Teenage Head, Cancer Bats, Lights, Madball, and Billy Talent who have played at the festival, which has been sponsored by Solo Mobile in the past.
Shopping:
Fairview Mall
Lincoln Mall
Merritt Street, South St. Catharines
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