Port Dalhousie community, park and canal history

Port Dalhousie owes its existence and growth to the building of the First Welland Canal, begun in 1824 and completed in 1829. The entrance to the first canal was at the west end of the present Lakeside Park and followed along the bank, on the northeast side of Lock Street then turning south and passing behind the former Government Gate Yard and Maple Leaf Rubber Company (Lincoln Fabrics) before linking up with the Twelve Mile Creek.

The locks of this canal were very small, being only 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, built of wood. Traffic at the time was carried on small sailing vessels, having a carrying capacity of between five and six thousand bushels of grain.

Along with the canal came the people to serve its needs. Barge and horse handlers, tow boys, ships chandlers, and dry dock workers. Rooming houses and grog shops flourished bringing a different life and flavour to what had been a rural farming area, sparsely populated and not easily accessible.

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the area at the mouth of what we now call the Twelve Mile Creek, was a fertile marshy area teeming with fish and wildlife and inhabited by the Neutral Indians. They built their villages and hunted in the interior wilderness, creating trails and clearing forests. Their diet consisted of corn, beans, squash, fish and meat.

In 1650 these Indians, who had avoided conflict with the Huron tribes to the north and the Iroquois in the east, were annihilated by the Iroquois who had just defeated the Hurons. Soon after, the Mississaugas, a branch of the Chippawa tribe, settled in this area and further developed trails which would be used by the French who followed. Throughout the years, arrowheads from these early tribes have been uncovered in McMahon's farm, on Read Island and in other areas of Port Dalhousie.

The first families to settle around the Twelve Mile Creek lakefront entrance and shoreline were the United Empire Loyalists. These former American Colonists had remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution. Many had fought with the Butler's Rangers against the American Revolutionaries and when the war was over they disbanded in Niagara in 1783. For their efforts, loyalty and their losses of land, possessions and livelihood they were given grants of Crown land as compensation.

One such United Empire Loyalist was Captain Peter Tenbroeck, an officer in Butler's Rangers, who re-entered civilian life with hundreds of others when Butler's Rangers were disbanded at Niagara. In 1796 he received over eight hundred acres of Crown land. The land which Port Dalhousie was later built on was listed in the Crown grants in the name of Captain Tenbroeck.

Benjamin Pawling, also a Butler's Ranger, received a large tract of land in the township of Grantham just east of Port Dalhousie. He and his brother Jesse were sons of a Welshman who settled in Pennsylvania before the American Revolutionary War. Later Jesse married Captain Tenbroeck's daughter, Gertrude, and they had several children.

On December 28, 1821, Jacob Tenbroeck, son of Captain Peter Tenbroeck, sold to Henry Pawling, son of Jesse and Gertrude, three hundred acres of land now in Port Dalhousie. On the same day Henry Pawling deeded the land to his younger brother (Squire) Nathan Pawling. Both Gertrude and Jesse were dead, as well as Benjamin, leaving Henry heir-at-law. With the speculations of improved communications between Lakes Erie and Ontario, it's possible that Jacob was ensuring that the Pawlings had the land deed of the area.

Peter Tenbroeck and Benjamin Pawling also served as judges and members of the Land Board from 1789 to 1791. Benjamin Pawling was then elected to the first Parliament of Upper Canada in 1792. Thos. Merritt, another early settler, served as Sheriff from 1803 to 1820. These men, and their families, took up land on both sides of the Twelve Mile Creek. Other settlers included the families of Adam Bowman, William May, the Coles and the Schrams.

The settlement was called 'Dalhousie' as early as 1826. It was not yet a port and was named after the Earl of Dalhousie, who was Governor-General of Canada from 1820-1828.

This was General George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, his ancestral home was Dalhousie Castle in Midlothian, Scotland. He was first appointed Governor of Nova Scotia from 1816 to 1820, then Governor General of British North America from 1820 to 1828 and later Commander-in-Chief in India.

While serving as Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia he founded Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The early settlers who arrived were faced with many hardships and met with much misfortune in attempting to clear and cultivate the land, build homes for their families and establish businesses. It was a constant battle filled with tragedy and suffering, often resulting in the loss and abandonment of hope. The severe drought of 1818; the increases in population upon completion of each canal and the resulting poverty and starvation; the depression in the early 1830's and 1840's and the Irish feuds and raids contributed to the drudgery and misery of settlement life. Their lot was difficult and bitter, and it was a struggle merely to stay alive.

The early roads followed Indian trails one of which paralleled the lakeshore from Old Niagara to the Burlington inlet. Each creek along the way had to be ferried. Today, lake erosion has destroyed much of this road.

NOTE: As a young boy I can remember travelling out Lakeshore Road to "Fifteen Beach" and going down the hill, to the lake, just past Gregory Road. My Grandmother had a friend, Mrs. Buchanan, from Brantford, who owned a beautiful summer home right on the beach.

The opening of the First Welland Canal caused a migration to the area of a canal labour force, as well as industry and services to meet the needs of the growing settlement. Most of the men who had come to work on the canal were fortunate enough to establish themselves in the settlement, some on canal and bank maintenance, and others on canal concerns and businesses.

One industry which developed was shipbuilding. The abundant growth of virgin timber at the water's edge and the proximity to the canal directly resulted in the birth and flourishment of this enterprise in Port Dalhousie and St. Catharines.

In 1837 Robert Abbey, a Scotsman whose trade was boat building, established a shipyard at Port Dalhousie, building yawls, sailing yachts and steam yachts. In 1839 Alexander Muir came to the Twelve Mile Creek entrance to set up a Dry Dock. By 1860 another shipyard, Donaldson, Andrews and Ross had been established in Port Dalhousie.

On a return trip from sailing to Port Dalhousie, Muir bought ten acres of land on Queen Street (now Dalhousie Avenue) for sixty dollars and built a house on it. He did not settle there at that time, rather preferring to further sail the lakes.

At that time there were 14 houses in the settlement. Those early settlers names were Pawling, Woodall, Wood, Brown, Abbey, Alexander, Read, Ingster, Irvine, Smiley, McGrath, Neilon, Sullivan, Bruce and Col. Clark. Squire Pawling acted as magistrate. school teacher, farmer, postmaster and storekeeper.

The Muir Bros; Alexander, Bryce, David, and Archibald arrived from Ayshire in 1835. By 1840, Alexander had built the first Dry Dock, a sort of wooden box on the creek bottom, with a gate at one end. By 1855, they had a real Dry Dock and were building ships. All the names of the ships began with an "A" - AYR (the first built), ADVANCE, ARK, ALBATROSS, ALBACORE, ANTELOPE, ACORN, ASIA, AUGUST and ARTIK plus the NIAGARA and a tug, SAM PERRY. Soon they had a fleet of schooners, brigs and barges on the canl which mainly carried grain. These vessels which were sailed by Alexander's brothers also sailed to places like England and Ireland. This industry employed many in Port, either at the shipyard or sailing on the ships.

At the same time the shipyard was expanding other developments were taking place. In 1846 a telegraph line connected Port Dalhousie to Port Colborne. In 1859, John and Robert Lawrie, early settlers built a small flour mill next to the weir. It was destroyed by fire in 1898 and replaced with the Maple Leaf Rubber Company building. Sylvestor Neelon also had a mill nearby.

In 1842 the first steam vessel travelled through the Welland Canal and traffic began to grow.There was one group who inevitably would suffer considerable losses as a result of this - the tow teams.

Towing of boats was an important factor of canal navigation. As the barges, sloops, scows and schooners had no power with which to propel themselves, they relied heavily on this service, there were, at the time, one hundred and fifty teams of horses stabled at the west end of Lakeside Park. With the advent of steamships and tugs for towing purposes, the use of the horse and oxen teams at Port Dalhousie and other points along the canal was on the wane. The towmen obviously objected strongly to the use of steam tugs for towing. Although their decline was gradual, they ultimately met their demise during the period of the third Welland Canal.

It is widely believed that the tow teams are responsible for the designation of the east bank of the canal as the 'Michigan Side'. As the nature of their employment was seasonal, the tow boys and teams were jobless when the canal froze and shipping had stopped for the winter. At that time he teamsters transported their men and teams by rail to Michigan where they were engaged to cut and haul timber. In the spring these men returned to Port Dalhousie to resume their business and settled on the east side of the canal which was then termed the 'Michigan Side'

Port Continues to Grow

Lock One, Second Canal, and Front Street

The first cluster of buildings naturally developed close to the canal along Front Street and up Lock Street. At the corner of Front and Lock was the Wood House, originally owned by Sam Cole. Next door was a General Store, owned by Richard Wood. Opposite the Wood House was a feed store, while in the "grand basin" Alexander Muir built his Dry Dock and Shipyard.

Nathan Pawling built many stores and buildings. He built one store and Post Office at the corner of Dalhousie Avenue and Lock Street andanother store at the corner of Main and Brock Streets.

Thos. Read built a large rooming house at the corner of Main and Simcoe Streets to house the canal workers. The Government erected a brick building on Lock Street for Customs and other officials. This brick building is still in use as an apartment building. It was my first home in Port in 1946.

At the time of the opening of the Second Canal Port Dalhousie was a growing settlement. It was portrayed in 1846 as "a small village on the [west] side of the canal, in the north west corner of the township of Grantham, five miles from St. Catharines, where is a shipyard. Port Dalhousie contains two hundred inhabitants, two stores, one tavern, and two blacksmith".

A grain elevator was built for storing grain from lightered ships when the Second Welland Canal was built in 1842-1845. Literally thousands of ships used the Welland Canal system. Lock One, of the second Welland Canal, was at the foot of the hill on Front Street (lakeport Road). What remains of the lock is still visible today.

Front Street was known as "Tavern Strand" because there were 17 grog shops located on the street and up Lock Street. Beside the Wood House there were three other hotels; Runcey's, Walkerley's and one owned by a coloured person "Lancaster" whose hotel was reportedly a gathering place for bounty hunters during the U.S. Civil War.

By the early 1850's it became clear that the size of the canal was not large enough to handle the size of the newer vessels. In an effort to avoid the high costs of rebuilding, a decision was made to construct a railway connecting the two canal terminal points to assist in the transfer of grain and other products between steamships operating on both lakes. In addition, some winter traffic would be possible after the canal had frozen. Consequently, in 1853 the Port Dalhousie & Thorold Railway Company was chartered with authority to build a line between Port Dalhousie and Port Colborne.

The grain elevator and railway on the east side of the canal

A Large elevator was built to handle grain which had previously been lightered in scows. The railway was connected to the Michigan Central Railway and that is how the east side was called the Michigan side. However, the local version of how Michigan Side got its name is somewhat different.

In the early days, the flow of water down the Twelve Mile Creek from the escarpment was not nearly as strong as it is today. The present current is caused by the increased flow of water through the Decew Power Station. Until this happened, Martindale Pond was a quiet, calm and shallow body of slowly moving water which froze over early in November. As a consequence shipping halted by late October and forced many ships to tie-up in the lower harbour.

The Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway

The Port Dalhousie and Thorold Raiway, incorporated in 1853, was designed to link the Great Western Railway at Merritton where it would with the Welland Canal and its steamer services. The charter also permitted the company to transport passengers and freight to ports around Lake Ontario. This potential received a considerable boost when , in 1856, the provincial parliament approved extending the railway to Port Colborne.

In 1859 the railway line name was changed to the Welland Railway. Later it was acquired by the Grand Trunk system which finally became part of the (CNR) Canadian National Railway. The railway was not built for the convenience of passengers but to augment the revenue of the canal. Grain could be off-loaded and stored and shipped between elevators at either end. This increased the speed with which the grain could be shipped between Lakes Ontario and Erie. It also compensated for the size and limited draught of the small sailing ships.

A foot bridge was later constructed from Port Dalhousie to the Welland Railway, a convenience to pedestrians wanting to catch the train.

Large grain elevators were built at both ends. As the canal was not very deep some of the vessels had to be lightened to ensure passage. Some of those vessels were heavy laden and had to be lightened at Port Colborne by taking off part of their cargo and shipping them down on the railroad.

Wooden freighter in the outer harbour, with one grain elevator to the right and the coal chutes in the background, 1900

The railway station had a round house with a turntable, in front. The locomotives arrived each day to unload the rail cars. They left the emptied cars, or any others they had left, at Johnston's Coal Yard. The engine then went to the turntable where it was turned around and backed into the round house for the night. The next day they would come out facing the right direction, go to where the empty cars were, back up and hook up.

The northern terminus of the Welland Railway was located on the east side of the lower harbour at Port Dalhousie

Welland Railway and steamboat timetable

Coal and grain were the predominant freight. In the case of grain, it would be lightered in Port Colborne and transhipped by rail to Port Dalhousie where it was was milled and stored in the grain elevator. When the ship had transited through the canal it would head for the elevator to reload. Local workers would roll the barrels up gang planks onto the ship.

Village becomes Incorporated

With the population steadily increasing, it was decide to incorporate as a village. Applications had been made to the County Council and on October 30, 1862 a bylaw was passed "To Incorporate the Village of Port Dalhousie". A vote was taken and the following were elected as the first council: John Lawrie, reeve, Alexander Muir, Owen McMahon, Nathan Pawling and Richard Wood, councillors; John Hindson, clerk.

In 1876 "EMPRESS OF INDIA" the provided regular passenger service between Toronto and Port Dalhousie.The village seems to have been called Port Dalhousie as early as 1842.The village was known mainly as a turning place for the canal crews. Its one principal street facing the canal basin had houses on one side only, mostly taverns, with or without a license, plus a few supply stores. Its inhabitants were a collection of sailors and towing gangs waiting for another job.

But alongside the rough and ready side of life that the canal brought, this same scattered and rural community was concerned with the responsibilities of a community. This included churches and schools.

In this photo by Wm. Traill believed taken in 1898, her last year on the route, EMPRESS OF INDIA enters Port Dalhousie harbour.