Port Colborne is a city in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada that is located on

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

, at the southern end of the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines t ...

, in the

Niagara Region The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region or Region of Niagara, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the southern ...

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after

Sir John Colborne Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedi ...

, a British war hero and the

Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada The following is a list of lieutenant governors of Ontario and the lieutenant governors of the former colony of Upper Canada. The office of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario was created in 1867, when the Province of Ontario was created upon Confed ...

at the time of the opening of the (new) southern terminus of the

First Welland Canal The Welland Canal has gone through many incarnations in its history. Today, five distinct canal-construction efforts are recognized. The retronym First Welland Canal is applied to the original canal, constructed from 1824 to 1829 and 1831 to 183 ...

in 1833. The city's population in 2021 was 20,033.

History

In pre-

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

times, Indigenous people of the

Onguiaahra The Neutral Confederacy (also Neutral Nation, Neutral people, or ''Attawandaron'' by neighbouring tribes) were an Iroquoian people who lived in what is now southwestern and south-central Ontario in Canada, North America. They lived throughout t ...

(Neutral Iroquois) lived in the area, due in part to the ready availability of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

and

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

from outcroppings on the

Onondaga Escarpment The Onondaga Limestone is a group of hard limestones and dolomites of Devonian age that form an important geographic feature in some areas in which it outcrops; in others, especially its Southern Ontario portion, the formation can be less promine ...

. This advantage was diminished by the introduction of firearms by European traders, and they were driven out by the Six Nations of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

around 1650 as part of the

Beaver Wars The Beaver Wars ( moh, Tsianì kayonkwere), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (french: Guerres franco-iroquoises) were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout t ...

. Originally called Gravelly Bay, after the shallow, bedrock-floored bay upon which it sits, today's City of Port Colborne traces its roots back to the

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 ...

settlements that grew up in the area following the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. Growth became focused around the southern terminus of the

after it reached

in 1833. The town was the location of the Port Colborne explosion, a grain elevator explosion in 1919 that killed 10 and injured 16. As the population rose,

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 J ...

was formed in 1845 from Lincoln County and Port Colborne was incorporated as a village in 1870, became a town in 1918, merged with the neighbouring Village of Humberstone in 1952, and was re-incorporated as a city in 1966. In 1970, Niagara Region municipal restructuring added Humberstone Township, further expanding the city. In the year 1888, American tourists from the Southern states began building vacation homes on the lakeshore of the Western edge of the town. By 1890, an entire gated community of vacationers from the US South called Port Colborne their home during the summer months, naming the community The Humberstone Club. Over 30 grand summer homes, along with a variety of clubhouses and service buildings, were built along the lake in the following years, many of which still stand today on historic Tennessee Avenue. The southern architecture and style of these buildings would influence the design and construction of other historic buildings in the area. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Varina Davis Varina Anne Banks Howell Davis (May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, and the longtime second wife of President Jefferson Davis. She moved to a White House of the Confederacy, house in ...

, wife of Confederacy President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

, spent three years in the relative comfort and safety of the community. Port Colborne was one of the hardest hit communities during the

Blizzard of 1977 The blizzard of 1977 hit Western New York and Southern Ontario from January 28 to February 1. Daily peak wind gusts ranging from were recorded by the National Weather Service in Buffalo, with snowfall as high as recorded in areas, and the hig ...

. Thousands of people were stranded when the city was paralyzed during the storm, and the incident remains one of significance to the local population.

Environmental concerns

Emissions from Inco's base metal refinery, closed in 1984, resulted in soils contaminated with concentrations of nickel, copper and cobalt above the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's "soil remediation criteria."Government of Ontario, Canada / Gouvernement de l'Ontario, Canada
/ref> However, two studies, one in 1997 and another in 1999 found " oadverse health effects which may have resulted from environmental exposures." After a series of public meetings between the City, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and Inco, it was decided to perform a Community-Based Risk Assessment, a process designed to determine whether the contamination poses a threat to the current, past, or future residents of Port Colborne, and what Inco must do to clean up the contaminated areas. Some residents launched a

Class-Action Lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

against Inco in 2001 seeking $750 million in damages to health, property value, and quality-of-life. Although this suit failed to be certified in 2002, it was subsequently modified to limit the class, and focus solely on devaluation of property and was certified on appeal on November 18, 2005. A timeline of the case has been written from the point of view of the plaintiffs. On July 6, 2010, the

Ontario Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Ontario was a superior court of the Canadian province of Ontario. Created in 1881 pursuant to the Ontario Judicature Act (1881), the Supreme Court of Ontario had two branches: the High Court of Justice Division and the Appel ...

sided with the residents and awarded more than 7,000 households in Port Colborne a total of $36 million. Households in the Rodney Street area, in the shadow of the nickel refinery, were each awarded $23,000 while those living on the east and west sides of Port Colborne were each awarded $9,000 and $2,500 respectively. Vale appealed the ruling to the

Ontario Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...

, which found in 2010 that the plaintiff had not provided sufficient evidence of economic harm, raising the legal burden of proof but not invalidating

Rylands v Fletcher ''Rylands v Fletcher'' (1868) LR 3 HL 330 is a leading decision by the House of Lords which established a new area of English tort law. It established the rule that one's non-natural use of their land, which leads to another's land being damaged ...

as precedent law. In April 2012 the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

sided with Vale and denied the residents the awarded compensation. Court costs in the amount of CAD$1,766,000 were awarded the defendant by Henderson, J.

Geography

Climate

Communities

Communities within the city include: * Bethel - Chippawa Road and Yeger Road * Cedar Bay - Cedar Bay Road and Vimy Road * East Village * Elco Beach - Wyldewood Road and Fireland 15 * Gasline - Pinecrest Road and Vimy Road * Humberstone - Killaly Street and Highway 3 * Lorraine - Weaver Road and Firelane 1 * Nickel Beach - foot of Lake Road * Pine Crest Point - Pincrest Road and Firelane 2 * Pleasant Beach * Sherkston * Sherkston Beaches * Shisler Point * Silver Bay * Sugar Loaf Point/Sugar Loaf Marina - west side of Gravelly Bay * Lidsville

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), 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 cultur ...

, Port Colborne 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.

Economy

Maritime commerce, including supplying goods to the camps for the labourers who worked on the first canal, ship repair and the provisioning trade, was, and still is, an important part of Port Colborne's economy. Like other cities in the region, Port Colborne was a heavily industrial city throughout most of the early 20th century. A

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

, two modern

flour mills A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

, a

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

, a

cement plant A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

operated by Port Colborne Canada Cement, and a

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

operated by

Algoma Steel Algoma Steel Inc. (formerly Algoma Steel; Essar Steel Algoma) is an integrated primary steel producer located on the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Its products are sold in Canada and the United States as well as overseas ...

were all major employers. As recently as 2017, Port Colborne has been successful attracting new industry, such as the agro-business operations of Casco Inc. and Jungbunzlauer, which process corn into products such as sweeteners and citric acid. The International Nickel Company (now Vale) has long been one of the city's main employers, since the opening of a refinery in 1918. Taking advantage of inexpensive

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

from generating stations at nearby

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

, the refinery produced electro-refined nickel for the war effort, and grew to employ over 2,000 workers by the 1950s. Cutbacks in operations and increasing factory automation have reduced the workforce to its present-day (2018) total of 170. Marine Recycling Corporation is a ship recycling firm, boasting of Green (environmentally friendly) services, located next to the

at Gravelly Bay and operating since the 1970s. A 2012 report indicates the following as the largest private sector employers, with a staff of over 50, in Port Colborne at that time: * Port Colborne Poultry (Pinty's Delicious Foods), 229 employees * Vale Canada Limited, 200 * J. Oskam Steel Fabricators Ltd., 150 * IMT Partnership, 108 * ADM Milling, 95 * Thurston Machine Co. Ltd., 85 * JTL Machine Ltd., 78 * Jungbunzlauer Canada Inc., 74 * Brennan Paving Ltd., 70 * Ingredion Canada Inc., 70

Arts and culture

Port Colborne hosts the annual Canal Days festival in recognition of the important role played by the

in the history of the city. Originating as a small fair held at the Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum, it has grown to feature live music, an antique car show, fireworks, tall ships, a kite festival, and international foods. The festival also highlights Lock 8, which at , is one of the world's longest

canal locks A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

. Lock 8 keeps the water level on the Welland Canal constant independent of weather on Lake Erie. Hence the ships are only raised or lowered one to four feet depending on the current water level in Lake Erie. Much of the festival centres around West St., which runs parallel to the canal, and offers a view of the

Clarence St. Bridge The Clarence Street Bridge (also known as Bridge 21) is a vertical-lift bridge located in Port Colborne, Ontario. Built between 1927–1929 during 4th Welland Canal Construction, the bridge still serves today as a vital link connecting East and W ...

, built in 1929, it is one of only three remaining lift bridges on the canal today. The Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum, located near the centre of town, is a resource for local history and archival research. In addition to a collection of historic buildings and artifacts, it opened the "Marie Semley Research Wing" to foster research into local history, named to commemorate the long-standing efforts of a local resident who devoted hours to the museum. The community features theatre venues with the professional Showboat Festival Theatre and the amateur Port Colborne Operatic Society. The company has been presenting annual productions since its inception in 1945. The Port Colborne

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , ...

, chartered in 1922, is one of the world's oldest Lions Clubs, and one of Canada's oldest

service club A service club or service organization is a voluntary nonprofit organization where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organizations. A service club is defined firstl ...

s in continuous operation. The club is still active within the community, hosting many yearly events including an annual Lions Club Carnival in the summer. Kinnear House is a local heritage property associated with the jurist Helen Kinnear, the first woman in Canada to be appointed judge by the federal government, or to appear as counsel before the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. The "incredible shrinking mill" is an optical illusion produced when viewing the federal grain elevator in Port Colborne. When travelling east on Lakeshore Road, the mill appears to move farther away as one drives closer.

Attractions

Port_Colborne_Historical_and_Marine_Museum

Tourism is important to the Port Colborne's economy, aided by the city's proximity to Lake Erie beaches and marinas, and to Niagara Falls. In 2015, Port Colborne formed The Tourism and Marketing Advisory Committee to provide advice and recommendations for increasing this aspect of the economy. Described by the city as "Niagara's South Coast", Port Colborne features live theatre, golfing, trails, fishing, beaches, restaurants, recreation, a marina, and shopping districts along the Welland Canal. Notable sites in Port Colborne include: * The Welland Canal * Port Colborne Port Promenade * The Friendship Trail * HH Knoll Lakeview Park * The Welland Canals Parkways Trail * Nickel Beach * Lock 8 Gateway Park * Sugarloaf Harbour Marina * Historical and Marine Museum

Education

There are two

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s in Port Colborne, Port Colborne High School (commonly called Port High) and the

Lakeshore Catholic High School Lakeshore Catholic High School is a high school located in Port Colborne, just north of the eastern edge of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Niagara Catholic District School Board, and competes with students from communities in Fo ...

(formerly a public high school called Lockview Park Secondary School). Lockview closed in 1987.

Notable people

David Lametti David T. Lametti (born August 10, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the minister of justice and attorney general of Canada since 2019. A member of the Liberal Party, Lametti sits as a member of Parliament (MP) and has represented L ...

, federal Minister of Justice * Tony Dekker, singer/songwriter of folk band

Great Lake Swimmers Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian folk rock band from Wainfleet, Ontario, and currently based in Toronto. The current touring line-up includes Tony Dekker on lead vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica, Erik Arnesen on banjo, electric guitar and ...

* Jim Gregory, NHL General Manager (

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 ...

) * Ted 'Teeder' Kennedy, NHL hockey player * Helen Kinnear, first woman appointed judge by the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

* Joseph "Bronco" Horvath, NHL hockey player *

Floyd G. Robinson Floyd Grant Robinson (2 Jan 1931–18 Dec 2023) was a teacher, education theorist and curriculum developer. He wrote many works on the topics of stimulating complex thinking and the importance of education across the entire lifespan. Robinson is mo ...

, teacher and educator *

Melissa McIntyre Melissa Erin McIntyre (born May 31, 1986) is a Canadian former actress. She is best known for her role as Ashley Kerwin on the long-running CTV/The N teen drama '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''.Menon, Vinay (March 20, 2006). "Teen drama Degras ...

, actress ('' Degrassi: The Next Generation'') * Don Simmons, NHL hockey player * Lynton 'Red' Wilson, former CEO of BCE Inc., chancellor of

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, and officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

DeFranco Family The DeFranco Family, featuring Tony DeFranco, was a 1970s pop music group and family from Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. The group, all siblings, consisted of guitarist Benny DeFranco (born 11 July 1953); keyboardist Marisa DeFranco (born 23 July ...

, 1970s pop group * Francis William "Dinty" Moore, goaltender for the 1936 Canadian men's Olympic hockey team * Lieutenant Colonel

Russell Lambert Boyle Russel Lambert Boyle (October 29, 1880 – April 25, 1915) was a Canadian rancher and soldier. Boyle served in the Second Boer War and commanded the 10th Battalion, CEF from its time at Valcartier at the beginning of the First World War, to his d ...

, Commanding Officer of the 10th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Killed at the 2nd Battle of Ypres, April 1915. * Alexis Davis, mixed martial artist *

Elmer Iseler Elmer Walter Iseler, (October 14, 1927 – April 3, 1998) was a Canadian choir conductor and choral editor. He was the conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and founder of the Festival Singers of Canada and the Elmer Iseler Singers. Edu ...

, choral conductor *

Matt Craven Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

, actor *

Vance Badawey Vance M. Badawey (born October 5, 1964) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Niagara Centre in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election. Badawey was first elected to the city council of Port ...

, politician

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Ontario Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Populated places on Lake Erie in Canada Important Bird Areas of Ontario