The Town of Pelham (

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

population 17,110) is located in the centre of

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 ...

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. 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 just south of Hamilton, Ontario to meet the Nia ...

, a meandering waterway that flows into the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

. 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 Coyle Creek is a small creek in the municipalities of Welland, Pelham, and West Lincoln in Ontario, Canada, that forms an important component of the Welland River watershed. The last section of the creek constitutes an oasis of wild habitat in ...

, 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. The Canada–United States border sp ...

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 J ...

since the late 1780s. The Town of Pelham (est. 1970) 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.

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, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

. *

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

inductee

Marlene Streit Marlene Stewart Streit, (born March 9, 1934) is a Canadian amateur golfer, and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. She was born in Cereal, Alberta. She learned golf from Gordon McInnis Sr. at the Lookout Point Golf Club in Fonthill, Ontar ...

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'' was 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, and ...

's weather and sportsman,

Jeff Hutcheson Jeff Hutcheson (born April 15, 1954 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former Canadian weather and sports anchor for ''Canada AM''. He started his career in 1976 at CFRB as a "good news" reporter, during his first year in college. His next work was with CK ...

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 Natalie Mastracci (born June 5, 1989 in Welland, Ontario) is a Canadian rower. She was part of the Canadian team at the 2012 Summer Olympics that won a silver medal in the Women's eight. She attended St. Alexander School in Pelham, Ontario and ...

, 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) was 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 known for its fruit orchards, nature trails, and neighbourly attitude. As a bedroom community, most residents co ...

*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 currentl ...

is from Pelham.

Government

The Town is divided into three

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, 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 Additionally, since 2003, a regional councillor is elected to represent Pelham at the Regional Municipality of Niagara. ''Regional Councillors of the Town of Pelham:'' 2003-2018: Brian Baty 2018-2022: Diana Huson

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 ...

, 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: Merdian Community Centre - Pelham, ON

* Pelham Panthers

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 freezing ...

(

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

: ''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: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

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, ...

(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