Dain City is a small

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

at the southernmost part of

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on ...

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. At one time, it was a mostly self-contained rural community at the junction of two significant rail lines, part of the Township of Humberstone, and was called Welland Junction. The name was changed to Dain City after it was annexed to the city of

in the mid-1950s. Dain City was built for, and by, the Marshall Dain Manufacturing Company (Now known as

John Deere Deere & Company, Trade name, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, Transmission (mechanical device), transmi ...

), the area's main employer, as a "company town". In September 2008, John Deere announced it would be close its plant with a loss of 800 jobs and relocate to Wisconsin and Mexico by the end of 2009. The geography and character of Dain City is largely a factor of its proximity to the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, and part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. The canal traverses the Niagara Peninsula between Port Weller, Ontario, Port Weller on Lake Ontario, and Port Colborne on Lak ...

, the only shipping channel between

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 ...

and

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) 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 also has the shortest avera ...

in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

system. For many years, the canal ran along Dain City's western side and through the city of

itself, with numerous bends and bridges along the way. Those included two lift bridges in Dain City, However, in April 2019, The Forks Road Bridge (Bridge 18.) was removed, Only the Train Bridge (Bridge 17) Remains. The completion of the

Welland By-Pass The Welland By-pass, completed in 1973, was a massive construction project on the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada. A new channel long was constructed, providing a shorter, more direct alignment between Port Robinson and Port Colborne and by-pa ...

in 1973, a massive six-year excavation project to by-pass the whole city of Welland with a wider and straighter channel, significantly altered and isolated Dain City, turning it into a peninsula with the new canal on its eastern side and the old and new canals meeting at its southern tip. Dain City's lift bridge's lift capabilities were removed in the 1980s, although it is still in use by vehicular traffic. Notably, Dain City was once home to a large

drive-in theater A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

, the Welland Drive-In, located on the south side of Forks Road between the old rail line and the new canal, constructed in 1954 and torn down in 1981. Dain City contains four housing subdivisions: "Glennwood Park", "Regatta Park", "Seaway Village", and "Welland Junction". The old canal, renamed the

Welland Recreational Waterway The Welland Recreational Waterway is a water channel in the city of Welland, Ontario, Canada. It is an old alignment of the Welland Ship Canal that was abandoned after the construction of the Welland By-Pass in the 1970s. The Waterway is now ma ...

, hosts international

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

s and

dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

races annually, and also the South Niagara Rowing Club, which is affiliated with area high schools.

Geography

Dain City, in the south of the city of

where the

and the

meet, is separated by the massive approaches to the

Townline Tunnel The Townline Tunnel is an underwater tunnel in Welland, Ontario, Canada carrying Ontario Highway 58A, Highway 58A as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway under the Welland Canal. The tunnel The Townline Tunnel is a two-cell reinforced concre ...

required to provide the low grade for the rail lines that use the tunnel. Technically, both the east side of Welland and Dain City are peninsulas, surrounded by the waters of the old and new channels of the

and connected to "solid" ground only by the relatively small plug in the old canal along the

approaches.

References

External links

Dain City
at Geographical Names of Canada

{{RegionalNiagara Neighbourhoods in Welland