Pelham (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

population 17,110) is a town located in the centre of Niagara Region in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. The town's southern boundary is formed by the

Welland River The Welland River (originally called the Chippawa Creek) is a river in the Golden Horseshoe that passes through the Southern Ontario cities of Welland and Niagara Falls. It flows from its source, a Drainage Basin just south of Hamilton, On ...

, a meandering waterway that flows into the

Niagara River The Niagara River ( ) flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, forming part of the border between Ontario, Canada, to the west, and New York, United States, to the east. The origin of the river's name is debated. Iroquoian scholar Bruce T ...

. To the west is the township of West Lincoln, to the east the city of Welland and the city of Thorold, and to the north the city of St. Catharines and the town of Lincoln. North Pelham contains the picturesque Short Hills (see attractions). Two important creeks have their headwaters within Pelham; Coyle Creek, which flows south into the Welland River, and Twelve Mile creek, a spring-fed stream that flows north into

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 (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

History

Pelham Township was part of the original

Welland County Welland County (area, excluding cities was 226,970 acres) is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario. The county was formed in 1845 from Lincoln County. The county was named from the Welland River. The river got its name from Joh ...

since the late 1780s. The Town of Pelham derives its name from Pelham Township, which John Graves Simcoe named in the 1790s. In the beginning, the townships were only numbered and not named. The policy of Simcoe was to adopt township names from England. Pelham was named after the Pelham family though it is uncertain which particular Pelham family member it is attributed to - either Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (nephew to 2 Prime Ministers and considered powerful and influential) or Charles Anderson Pelham (a quiet MP who spoke only once in 26 years in the House of Commons). But in fact, it turns out that it was named after early landowner Joshua Pell's family manor in Westchester County, New York—Pelham Manor—lost by the Loyalist Pells during the American Revolution (Pell went first in exile to Nova Scotia in 1783, before later being granted lands in the Niagara area after a direct appeal to George III.). In 1922, the Village of Fonthill became a separate municipality by petitioning for land from the Township of Pelham and the Township of Thorold. The current Town of Pelham was created in 1970 as part of area municipal restructuring through the amalgamation of the Township of Pelham, Village of Fonthill and a small portion of the Township of Thorold immediately adjacent to Fonthill.

Notable people from Pelham

* Dorothy Wetherald Rungeling, C.M. spent 106 years in this town. *

Steve Bauer Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de Fr ...

grew up in Fenwick winning a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in cycling and later became a professional

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

. *

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame was, until recently, located at World Golf Village between Jacksonville, Florida and St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States. It is unusual amongst sports halls of fame in that a single site honored both men ...

inductee Marlene Streit also grew up in Pelham, belonged to the Lookout Point Golf and Country Club, and has a park in the Town's core named after her. *CTV's morning show

Canada AM ''Canada AM'' is a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, an ...

's weather and sportsman, Jeff Hutcheson currently lives in Fenwick. *Former NHL enforcer Matt Johnson was raised and lived in Fenwick, although his birthplace is listed as Welland as this is where the local hospital is located. * Natalie Mastracci, Silver Medalist for rowing at the

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

went to St. Alexander School in

Fonthill, Ontario Fonthill is a community in the town of Pelham, Ontario, Canada. It has a few small industries, but is primarily a residential suburb with some fruit orchards and nature trails. As a bedroom community, most residents commute to Welland, St. Catha ...

*Lacrosse player

Mike Accursi Mike Accursi (born February 25, 1975, in Pelham, Ontario) is a former professional lacrosse player. He is also a teacher and lacrosse coach at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario. Accursi professionally coaches current ...

is from Pelham.

Government

The Town is divided into three wards, each of which elects two councillors to sit on Town Council for a period of four years. The Mayor is elected separately, serves on the Council of the Niagara Region, and (since 2006) also serves four years.

Mayors of the Town of Pelham

*1970-1976: Harold Black *1976-1978: John Weldon *1978-1988: Eric Bergenstein *1988-1994: Marty Collins *1994-2003: Ralph Beamer *2003-2006: Ron Leavens *2006-2018: Dave Augustyn *2018-2022: Marvin Junkin

Regional Councillors of the Town of Pelham

Regional councillors represent Pelham on Regional Municipality of Niagara Council. *2003-2018: Brian Baty *2018-2022: Diana Huson

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Pelham had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Sports and recreation

Pelham's sports include: *

Pelham Panthers The Pelham Panthers, formerly the Port Colborne Pirates, are a junior ice hockey team based in Pelham, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Golden Horseshoe division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. History The Port Colborne Recreation ...

Climate

The city has a

warm-summer humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb''), due to the absence of a UHI to heat as in cities of latitudes equal or more to the north as

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

(in ''Dfa'' zone), but approaching this climatic category

Communities

* Effingham * Fenwick * Fonthill * North Pelham * Pelham Centre * Pelham Corners * Ridgeville

References

External links

* {{RegionalNiagara Towns in Ontario Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in the Regional Municipality of Niagara