Beamsville ( 2021 Urban area estimated population 13,323) is a community that is part of the town of

Lincoln, Ontario Lincoln is a town on Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. The town's administrative and commercial centre is in the community of Beamsville. Geography Lincoln's location between the southern shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara E ...

, Canada. It is located along the southern shore of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

and lies within the fruit belt of the

Niagara Peninsula The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the ...

. It contains century-old brick buildings, an old-fashioned downtown area with barbershops, women's dress shops, a bakery, a print shop, restaurants, banks, and other businesses, and plenty of

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

s and

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s. The

Queen Elizabeth Way The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...

, the main road that connects

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, has an interchange at Beamsville. Many tourists stop off at the highway exit for something to eat at the many fast food restaurants located nearby.

Industry

Beamsville is in the heart of Ontario's wine country and contributes greatly to the wine industry in the

. Many

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, b ...

from the area have taken home top awards, including Grape King at the Niagara Grape & Wine Festival, as well as international awards.

Alanson Harris Alanson Harris (April 1, 1816 – October 3, 1894) was a Canadian businessman. He was a sawmill operator and later owner of a farm implement manufacturer in Brantford, Ontario. Alanson Harris was born in Ingersoll, Ontario in 1816 to John Harris ...

operated a foundry making farm tools and would go on to become farm implements marker

Massey Harris Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson-Brown Company, Ferguson Company of the United Ki ...

History

Beamsville was named after Jacob Beam (1723-1812), a

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

. Both of his homes — the original one located on the Thirty Mile Creek, as well as the one near downtown Beamsville — are still intact today. Jacob Beam (1723-1812) and wife Anna Catharine (Boughner) Beam (1737-1820), along with their daughter Catharine (Beam) Merrell (1766-1842), and son-in-law Samuel Russell Merrell (1757-1835), emigrated to Canada from Hopewell, Sussex County, New Jersey in 1788, and founded Beamsville. RFC Canada Beamsville Plaque

By 1869, Beamsville was a village with a population of 550 in the Township of Clinton, Lincoln County. It was on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

. The average price of land in vicinity was $45. In 1898, hockey players in the town of Beamsville were the first to make use of a hockey net. In 1917 the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

established a ''School of Aerial Fighting'' on the farmland immediately east of Beamsville. The school consisted of a camp, an airfield, and a gunnery range over Lake Ontario. Today an historical plaque at 4222 Sann Road marks the geographical centre of the 300 acre school property. The building adjacent to the plaque is an original hangar. In 1970, the Town of Beamsville was amalgamated with Clinton Township and (half of) Louth Township to form the larger Town of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

Education

There are five schools located in Beamsville: two secondary school (grades 9-12), and three elementary schools (Kindergarten-Grade 8).

District School Board of Niagara

Beamsville currently has one public secondary school,

Beamsville District Secondary School Beamsville District Secondary School was a secondary school in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada and was operated by the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN). History BDSS had established a long tradition of excellence dating back to 1888, when the ...

. Beamsville District Secondary School was first established in 1888 which is on Central Ave, and draws students from all over the Town of Lincoln. The current principal at BDSS is Mr. Miller and the current student population is just over 400 students. BDSS currently ranks as the 451st-best secondary school in Ontario out of 740 according to the Fraser Institute There are two public elementary schools located in Beamsville, Senator Gibson Public School and Jacob Beam Public School.

Niagara Catholic District School Board

The

Niagara Catholic District School Board The Niagara Catholic District School Board (Niagara Catholic or NCDSB, previously known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 50 prior to 1999) is the publicly funded Catholic school board in the Regional Municipality of Niagara ...

has two elementary schools in Beamsville (St. Johns and St. Mark). St. Mark Catholic Elementary School was opened in 2001. It has undergone a large expansion in 2011, growing to 22 classrooms. The current enrollment at St. Mark is 541 students. St. Johns Catholic Elementary School was built in 1958 and the current enrollment is 346 students

Private schools

Great Lakes Christian High School is a private, four year co-educational day and boarding Christian high school affiliated with the

Churches of Christ The Churches of Christ is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations based on the ''sola scriptura'' doctrine. Their practices are based on Bible texts and draw on the early Christian church as described in the New Testament. T ...

.Great Lakes home page

People

The town is home to numerous Dutch and

families, as evidenced by the large number of

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family an ...

and

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

churches in the area.

William Fairbrother William Fairbrother was a Canadian ice hockey player who is credited with inventing the ice hockey net in the 1890s. During the 1880s, Fairbrother played for Beamsville, Ontario's Men's Hockey team. At first, two poles or two rocks served as goals ...

, the inventor of the hockey net, lived in Beamsville. Bill Berg, formerly a hockey player for the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

, and now an

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) broadcaster, was born, and continues to make his home in Beamsville.

Paul Laus Paul Laus (born September 26, 1970) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League for the Florida Panthers. Laus was the last original members of the Panthers. Career Born in Beamsville, Onta ...

, a former

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

defenceman and

Ryan Christie Ryan Christie (born 22 February 1995) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club AFC Bournemouth and the Scotland national team. He began his career with Inverness Caledonian Thistle before joining ...

, who played seven games with the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames are also Beamsville natives. Another Beamsville native of note,

Tonya Verbeek Tonya Lynn Verbeek (born 14 August 1977) is a Canadian freestyle wrestler. Verbeek was the first woman to win a wrestling medal for Canada when she took silver in 2004, she added to that with a bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a second si ...

, earned an Olympic silver medal in women's wrestling at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, Greece. She won a bronze medal at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing, China, and another silver medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, England. Ralph Reid and Lloyd Southward, Beamsville natives, were Lancaster pilots during the Second World War and both were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Another Beamsville native is former

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) running back, Andre Sadeghian. Andre was drafted in the third round of the 2007 CFL Draft by the B.C. Lions. He went on to play four seasons in the league with the aforementioned B.C. Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Evelyn Dick Evelyn Dick ( MacLean, born October 13, 1920) was a Canadian woman convicted of murder until her pardon in 1985. Her trials remain among the most sensationalized events in Canada, Canadian criminal history. Background and case Dick was born in ...

, known for the murder of her estranged husband, John Dick, was born and lived in this town. Performance artist, writer, and former sex worker

Nina Arsenault Nina Arsenault (born January 20, 1974) is a Canadian performance artist, freelance writer, and former sex worker who works in theatre, dance, video, photography and visual art. Early life Arsenault grew up in a trailer park in Beamsville, Ont ...

grew up in a trailer park in Beamsville.

References

External links

Town of Lincoln website
{{RegionalNiagara Neighbourhoods in Lincoln, Ontario