Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a city with half a million inhabitants located in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is the 10th largest city in Canada.

Economy and environment

Industrial economy and environment

By the 1940s, the ecological cost of pollution had taken its toll on Hamilton: heavy metals made fish from the Bay inedible, air pollution made breathing difficult and industrial dumps (notably the Lax lands) contaminated land. People recognized there was a problem, but two decades of economic depression and war left them with no stomach to face the costly investments and social changes to fix it.

Related Topics:
1940s - Pollution - Economic depression - War

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Veterans returned to the factories just in time to see the founding strike of Local 1005 of the United Steelworkers of America at Stelco, one of four major ones in 1946. Labour peace ensured by the Rand formula, established by Mr. Justice Ivan Rand when he settled the Ford strike in Windsor, allowed the industrial economy to grow. Studebaker set up shop in Hamilton, shutting down in 1966 as its last car factory.

Related Topics:
United Steelworkers of America - Stelco - 1946 - Rand formula - Ford - Windsor - Studebaker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite the promise shown in the booming 1960s, signs of trouble were beginning to show. The Harbour dredging scheme (including its associated political scandal) and reports by the International Joint Commission revealed that a few more decades of pollution had all but destroyed the marine environment.

Related Topics:
1960s - International Joint Commission

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the early 1980s. Hamilton had entered the economic downturn common to most steel towns in the developed world, such as Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, but survived relatively well. But a couple of bitter strikes at Stelco did not help matters. The days of heavy industry were numbered.

Related Topics:
1980s - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - Stelco

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the last decade, Hamilton's heavy industry continued to decline — a fact highlighted when Stelco recently filed for bankruptcy protection, though Stelco has returned to profitability in more recent quarters. Non-unionized Dofasco is doing only somewhat better. However, decreased industrial activity and increased pollution control measures have combined to dramatically increase water and air quality, and to allow Hamilton to showcase its fine natural attributes in a better light. For those employed in or relying on the industrial sector, it is grim news indeed.

Related Topics:
Stelco - Bankruptcy - Dofasco

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cultural economy

As the industrial economy has faltered, the local economy by necessity became much more diversified. However, this process was made possible by decisions taken as early as the 1930s as discussed above.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Attempts at nourishing and spreading cultural economic activities paid off. Dundurn Castle was refurbished as Centennial project. Local TV station CHCH introduced Canadians to Smith & Smith, which featured Steve and Morag Smith (the former better known from his stint as Red Green). Hamilton became a moderately important film and television adjunct of the Toronto film market.

Related Topics:
Dundurn Castle - Smith & Smith - Steve - Red Green - Toronto

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although never entirely out of the music eye, Hamilton gave birth or havens to a number of successful musicians of various genres over the years. Jazz-blues musicians The Washingtons were popular in the 1940s, and brother Jackie Washington continues to perform. Folksinger Stan Rogers was born in Dundas, where he lived until his death in 1982. The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra under Boris Brott, although often troubled financially, achieved wide renown.

Related Topics:
Blues - Jackie Washington - Folksinger - Stan Rogers - Dundas - Boris Brott

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Among the rock-pop acts formed in Hamilton or by Hamiltonians were: Teenage Head, Forgotten Rebels, Junkhouse, and Appleton. Furthermore, Daniel Lanois, a solo artist in his own right and producer for U2, lived in Hamilton and recorded at Grant Avenue Studios. The Sonic Unyon label started fostered the Hamilton sound in the early 1990s.

Related Topics:
Teenage Head - Forgotten Rebels - Junkhouse - Appleton - Daniel Lanois - U2

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hamilton hosted several cultural and craft fairs since the 1970s, notably Festival of Friends and Earthsong, which made it a major tourist destination. Unfortunately, these fair trade venues and celebrators of world music declined in quality and ultimately disappeared, and their replacements have yet to find their niches.

Related Topics:
Fair trade - World music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other economy

The growth of post-secondary education — heralded by the arrival of McMaster University from Toronto in 1930 and the foundation of Mohawk College in 1967 — led to numerous direct and indirect jobs in education and research. The addition of a medical school at McMaster in the late 1960s built upon local health care strengths to such an extent that health care has outstripped industry as the region's primary employer.

Related Topics:
McMaster University - Toronto - Mohawk College

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A business collaboration between a Canadian hockey player and a retired Hamilton policeman began quietly in 1965 at 64 Ottawa Street North. After the player's untimely death, an ambitious expansion scheme of the retiree's led Tim Hortons Donuts to become an enormously successful food retailer selling doughnuts, coffee and light snacks. Founder Ron Joyce sold the business to the Wendys fast food empire, but not before bestowing his name on Hamilton Place.

Related Topics:
Tim Hortons - Doughnuts - Coffee - Ron Joyce - Wendys

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An enthusiasm for urban renewal gripped Hamilton, as it did most other cities in North America, in the 1960s and early 1970s. Historic buildings, including Old City Hall and the original farmers market, were destroyed to make way for wider streets, more parking and large shopping centres. Hamilton's penchant for one-way streets and synchronized traffic lights, only recently reconsidered and slightly modified, date from just before this period.

Related Topics:
Urban renewal - 1960s - 1970s - Shopping centres

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Outside the industrial sector, a brutal recession from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, combined with the accelerated tendency to relocate commercial activity in the cheaper suburbs, devastated the downtown core, and many small businesses. Qualified or failed attempts at reviving the central business district included the restoration of the Gore Park fountain, the proposed conversion of vacant office space into condominium apartments and allowing two-way traffic on certain downtown streets for the first time in half a century.

Related Topics:
1990s - Central business district - Condominium

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More dramatic and successful have been the greening projects of Hamilton undertaken since the 1990s: The Lax lands on Bay Street North were capped with clay and landscaped into a beautiful park, remediation began at Cootes Paradise in west Hamilton, a waterfront trail linking these two places was built, abandoned railway right-of-ways in both the east end and west end were converted to multi-use paths.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~