Hamilton
City (single-tier)
City of Hamilton
From top, left to right: Downtown Hamilton from Sam Lawrence Park, Hamilton City Hall, Bayfront Park Harbour Front Trail, Dundurn Castle, Historic Art Deco and Gothic Revival Pigott Building complex, Webster's Falls
Flag Coat of arms Logo
Nicknames:  "The Ambitious City", "The Electric City", "The Hammer", "Steeltown"[1][2][3]
Motto:  English: Together Aspire – Together Achieve
Hamilton Stoney Ck Ancaster Dundas Binbrook Waterdown Carlisle Mt Hope Flamborough Glanbrook Major communities
Hamilton Location in Southern Ontario Show map of Southern Ontario Hamilton Location in Ontario Show map of Ontario Hamilton Location in Canada Show map of Canada
Coordinates: 43°15′24″N 79°52′09″W / 43.25667°N 79.86917°W / 43.25667; -79.86917 (Hamilton)[4]
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Southern Ontario
Incorporated	June 9, 1846; 178 years ago (1846-06-09)[5]
Named for	George Hamilton
Government
• Body	Hamilton City Council
• Mayor	Andrea Horwath
Area [6]
• City (single-tier)	1,118.31 km2 (431.78 sq mi)
• Urban	356.03 km2 (137.46 sq mi)
• Metro	1,373.15 km2 (530.18 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• City (single-tier)	569,353 (10th)
• Density	509.1/km2 (1,319/sq mi)
• Urban [7]	729,560
• Metro	785,184 (9th)
Demonym	Hamiltonian
GDP
• Hamilton CMA	CA$37.0 billion (2020)[8]
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Area codes	905, 289, 365, and 742
Website	www.hamilton.ca

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which encompasses Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Toronto in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, the town of Hamilton became the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe.^[9] On January 1, 2001, the current boundaries of Hamilton were created through the amalgamation of the original city with other municipalities of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth.^[10] Residents of the city are known as Hamiltonians.^[11]

Traditionally, the local economy has been led by the steel and heavy manufacturing industries. During the 2010s, a shift toward the service sector occurred, such as health and sciences. Hamilton is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, the Bruce Trail, McMaster University, Mohawk College, and Redeemer University. McMaster University is ranked 4th in Canada and 69th in the world by Times Higher Education Rankings 2021.^[12]

History

In pre-colonial times, the Neutral First Nation used much of the land. They were gradually driven out by the Five (later Six) Nations (Iroquois) who were allied with the British against the Huron and their French allies.^[13][14][15] The hamlet of Westover was built in an area that was originally a Seneca Iroquois tribal village, Tinawatawa, which was first visited by the French in September 1699.^[16]

After the American Revolutionary War, about 10,000 United Empire Loyalists left the United States to settle in Upper Canada, now southern Ontario. In 1792, the Crown purchased the land on which Hamilton now stands from the Mississaugas in Treaty 3, also known as the Between the Lakes Purchase.^[17][18] The Crown granted the Loyalists lands from this purchase to encourage settlement in the region.^[9] These new settlers were soon followed by many more Americans, attracted by the availability of inexpensive, arable land. At the same time, large numbers of Iroquois who had allied with Britain arrived from the United States and were settled on reserves west of Lake Ontario as compensation for lands they lost in what was now the United States.^[19] During the War of 1812, British regulars and local militia defeated invading American troops at the Battle of Stoney Creek, fought in what is now a park in eastern Hamilton.^[20]

The town of Hamilton was conceived by George Hamilton (a son of a Queenston entrepreneur and founder, Robert Hamilton), when he purchased farm holdings of James Durand,^[21] the local member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, shortly after the War of 1812.^[21] Nathaniel Hughson, a property owner to the north, cooperated with George Hamilton to prepare a proposal for a courthouse and jail on Hamilton's property. Hamilton offered the land to the crown for the future site. Durand was empowered by Hughson and Hamilton to sell property holdings which later became the site of the town. As he had been instructed, Durand circulated the offers at York during a session of the Legislative Assembly, which established a new Gore District, of which the Hamilton townsite was a member.^[21]

Initially, this town was not the most important centre of the Gore District. An early indication of Hamilton's sudden prosperity occurred in 1816 when it was chosen over Ancaster, Ontario to be the new Gore District's administrative centre. Another dramatic economic turnabout for Hamilton occurred in 1832 when a canal was finally cut through the outer sand bar that enabled Hamilton to become a major port.^[22] A permanent jail was not constructed until 1832, when a cut-stone design was completed on Prince's Square, one of the two squares created in 1816.^[21] Subsequently, the first police board and the town limits were defined by statute on February 13, 1833.^[23] Official city status was achieved on June 9, 1846, by an act of Parliament of the Province of Canada.^[5][24]

By 1845, the population was 6,475. In 1846, there were useful roads to many communities as well as stagecoaches and steamboats to Toronto, Queenston, and Niagara. Eleven cargo schooners were owned in Hamilton. Eleven churches were in operation. A reading room provided access to newspapers from other cities and from England and the U.S. In addition to stores of all types, four banks, tradesmen of various types, and sixty-five taverns, industry in the community included three breweries, ten importers of dry goods and groceries, five importers of hardware, two tanneries, three coachmakers, and a marble and a stone works.^[25]

As the city grew, several prominent buildings were constructed in the late 19th century, including the Grand Lodge of Canada in 1855,^[26] West Flamboro Methodist Church in 1879 (later purchased by Dufferin Masonic Lodge in 1893),^[27] a public library in 1890, and the Right House department store in 1893. The first commercial telephone service in Canada, the first telephone exchange in the British Empire, and the second telephone exchange in all of North America were each established in the city between 1877 and 1878.^[28] The city had several interurban electric street railways and two inclines, all powered by the Cataract Power Co.^[29]

Though suffering through the Hamilton Street Railway strike of 1906, with industrial businesses expanding, Hamilton's population doubled between 1900 and 1914. Two steel manufacturing companies, Stelco and Dofasco, were formed in 1910 and 1912, respectively. Procter & Gamble and the Beech-Nut Packing Company opened manufacturing plants in 1914 and 1922, respectively, their first outside the US.^[30] In June and July 1916, the a strike of up to 2,000 machinists was caused by a failure of employers to improve working conditions or pay during a booming World War I economy. The strike disrupted production at many of the largest manufacturers and was the largest dispute in the city's history.^[31] Population and economic growth continued until the 1960s. In 1929 the city's first high-rise building, the Pigott Building, was constructed; in 1930 McMaster University moved from Toronto to Hamilton, in 1934 the second Canadian Tire store in Canada opened here; in 1940 the airport was completed; and in 1948, the Studebaker assembly line was constructed.^[32] Infrastructure and retail development continued, with the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway opening in 1958,^[33] and the first Tim Hortons store in 1964.^[34]

Since then, many of the large industries have moved or shut down operations in a restructuring that also affected the United States.^[30] In 1997, there was a devastating fire at the Plastimet plastics plant.^[35] Approximately 300 firefighters battled the blaze, and many sustained severe chemical burns and inhaled volatile organic compounds when at least 400 tonnes of PVC plastic were consumed in the fire.^[36]

On January 1, 2001, the new city of Hamilton was formed from the amalgamation of Hamilton and its five neighbouring municipalities: Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Glanbrook, and Stoney Creek.^[10] Before amalgamation, the "old" City of Hamilton had 331,121 residents and was divided into 100 neighbourhoods. The former region of Hamilton-Wentworth had a population of 490,268. The amalgamation created a single-tier municipal government ending subsidization of its suburbs. The new amalgamated city had 519,949 people in more than 100 neighbourhoods, and surrounding communities.^[37]

The city was impacted by a widespread blackout in 2003^[38] and a tornado in 2005.^[39] In 2007, the Red Hill Valley Parkway opened after extensive delays.^[40] The Stelco mills were idled in 2010 and permanently closed in 2013.^[41] This closure capped a significant shift in the city's economy: the percentage of the population employed in manufacturing declined from 22 to 12 percent between 2003 and 2013.^[13]

Geography

Hamilton is in Southern Ontario on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of Lake Ontario; most of the city, including the downtown section, is on the south shore. Hamilton is in the geographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe. Its major physical features are Hamilton Harbour, marking the northern limit of the city, and the Niagara Escarpment running through the middle of the city across its entire breadth, bisecting the city into "upper" and "lower" parts. The maximum high point is 250m (820') above the level of Lake Ontario.^[42]

According to all records from local historians, this district was called Attiwandaronia by the native Neutral people.^[43] Hamilton is one of 11 cities showcased in the book, Green City: People, Nature & Urban Places by Quebec author Mary Soderstrom, which examines the city as an example of an industrial powerhouse co-existing with nature.^[44] Soderstrom credits Thomas McQuesten and family in the 1930s who "became champions of parks, greenspace and roads" in Hamilton.^[45]

Hamilton Harbour is a natural harbour with a large sandbar called the Beachstrip. This sandbar was deposited during a period of higher lake levels during the last ice age and extends southeast through the central lower city to the escarpment. Hamilton's deep sea port is accessed by ship canal through the beach strip into the harbour and is traversed by two bridges, the QEW's Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway and the lower Canal Lift Bridge.^[46]

Between 1788 and 1793, the townships at the Head-of-the-Lake were surveyed and named. The area was first known as The Head-of-the-Lake for its location at the western end of Lake Ontario.^[28] John Ryckman, born in Barton township (where present day downtown Hamilton is), described the area in 1803 as he remembered it: "The city in 1803 was all forest. The shores of the bay were difficult to reach or see because they were hidden by a thick, almost impenetrable mass of trees and undergrowth".^[47]

George Hamilton, a settler and local politician, established a town site in the northern portion of Barton Township in 1815. He kept several east–west roads which were originally Indian trails, but the north–south streets were on a regular grid pattern. Streets were designated "East" or "West" if they crossed James Street or Highway 6. Streets were designated "North" or "South" if they crossed King Street or Highway 8.^[48] The townsite's design, likely conceived in 1816, was commonplace. George Hamilton employed a grid street pattern used in most towns in Upper Canada and throughout the American frontier. The eighty original lots had frontages of fifty feet; each lot faced a broad street and backed onto a twelve-foot lane. It took at least a decade to sell all the original lots, but the construction of the Burlington Canal in 1823, and a new court-house in 1827 encouraged Hamilton to add more blocks around 1828–9. At this time he included a market square in an effort to draw commercial activity onto his lands, but the town's natural growth occurred to the north of Hamilton's plot.^[49]

The Hamilton Conservation Authority owns, leases or manages about 4,500 hectares (11,100 acres) of land with the city operating 1,077 hectares (2,661 acres) of parkland at 310 locations.^[50][51] Many of the parks are along the Niagara Escarpment, which runs from Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in the north, to Queenston at the Niagara River in the south, and provides views of the cities and towns at Lake Ontario's western end. The hiking path Bruce Trail runs the length of the escarpment.^[52] Hamilton is home to more than 100 waterfalls and cascades, most of which are on or near the Bruce Trail as it winds through the Niagara Escarpment.^[53] Visitors can often be seen swimming in the waterfalls during the summertime, although it is strongly recommended to stay away from the water: much of the watershed of the Chedoke and Red Hill creeks originates in storm sewers running beneath neighbourhoods atop the Niagara escarpment, and water quality in many of Hamilton's waterfalls is seriously degraded. High e. coli counts are regularly observed through testing by McMaster University near many of Hamilton's waterfalls, sometimes exceeding the provincial limits for recreational water use by as much as 400 times. The storm sewers in upstream neighbourhoods carry polluted runoff from streets and parking lots, as well as occasional raw sewage from sanitary lines that were improperly connected to the storm sewers instead of the separate sanitary sewer system. Notably, in March 2020, it was revealed that as much as 24 billion litres of untreated wastewater has been leaking into the Chedoke creek and Cootes' Paradise areas since at least 2014 due to insufficiencies in the city's sewerage and storm water management systems.^[54]

Climate

Hamilton's climate is humid-continental, characterized by changeable weather patterns. In the Köppen classification, Hamilton it is on the Dfb/Dfa border found in southern Ontario because the average temperature in July is 22.0 °C (71.6 °F).^[55] However, its climate is moderate compared with most of Canada. The airport's open, rural location and higher altitude results in lower temperatures, generally windier conditions, and higher snowfall amounts than lower, built-up areas of the city. The highest temperature ever recorded in Hamilton was 41.1 °C (106 °F) on July 14, 1868.^[56] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −30.6 °C (−23 °F) on January 25, 1884.^[57] In 2023, it was found that the city has areas of poor air quality with a high concentration of benzo(a)pyrene, particularly in neighbourhoods near industrial sites.^[58]