Designed by James, Mallory and Mallory and built by Wm. McCulla, this Italianate styled hall was officially opened in 1883. Built to reflect the aspirations of a small community it was preserved through local effort in 1977. — — Map (db m196187) HM
On Tuesday March 1st 1898, a 4-coach Toronto-bound passenger express train departed Hamilton Stuart Street Station. At Burlington Junction, a 24-car coal train was parked on the siding, north of the double-tracked main line, waiting for the express . . . — — Map (db m243803) HM
Ireland House on Oakridge Farm was built in 1837 by Joseph Ireland, an immigrant from Yorkshire, England.
Constructed of local fieldstone, this house was the home of four generations of the Ireland family. Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act . . . — — Map (db m243813) HM
St Luke's Church was built in 1834 on land originally patented by Chief Joseph Brant. Consecrated in 1838 by the Right Reverend C. J. Mountain, Anglican Bishop of Quebec, the church was a simple two-storey, frame building, with tower plain Gothic . . . — — Map (db m233233) HM
This important botanical garden is distinguished by its first class horticultural collection. Originating in the late 1920s, it developed as a series of discrete gardens and a wildlife conservation area within an urban context. Some of . . . — — Map (db m221298) HM
Erected by the Burlington
Horticultural Society
in honour and memory
of
Spencer Smith
for his outstanding contribution
and leadership in the
beautification of Burlington
25 years on the Executive
during . . . — — Map (db m243617) HM
Kilometre 3582
Burlington July 13, 1980
Terry Fox
Marathon of Hope
"Even if I don't finish, we need others to continue.
It's got to keep going without me"
Burlington may not have been the beginning or the end of the Marathon of Hope, . . . — — Map (db m243612) HM
The original house on this site was built about 1800 by the famous Mohawk chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea). Two years previously Captain Brant had been granted some 3500 acres of land in this area for his military services to the Crown during . . . — — Map (db m233215) HM
This is the site of the famous Brant Inn where top North American entertainers and Big Bands from the 1930s to the 1960s performed. Crowds of well over a thousand people would fill the dance floor on a typical night. Music from the Brant Inn was . . . — — Map (db m243616) HM
In 1798 Joseph Brant, the celebrated Mohawk War Chief, was given a Crown grant of 3,450 acres in this area. James Gage purchased land from the Brant Tract in 1810, and laid out a town site at the northern end of Burlington Beach from Brant Street . . . — — Map (db m221366) HM
Before cars, buses and the Queen Elizabeth Way, Burlington residents could get around using a futuristic intercity streetcar system! The Hamilton Radial Electric Railway (HRER) started operating in 1896, with service to Burlington beginning in . . . — — Map (db m243609) HM
At the 1954 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto,
William E. Breckon of Burlington won the World Wheat
Championship with grain grown on his Nelson Township farm
about two miles north-east of here. He led the white winter
wheat class seven . . . — — Map (db m243606) HM
The intersection of Plains Road, Waterdown Road and Lasalle Park Road has always been a hub of activity and enterprise. The area surrounding these corners is rich in history and fabled for its market gardens. The settlement of Burlington Plains was . . . — — Map (db m243820) HM
LA SALLE AT THE HEAD OF THE LAKE
In 1669 René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, intent on reaching the Ohio River in order "not to leave to another the honour of finding the way to the Southern Sea, and thereby the route to China”, set out on . . . — — Map (db m221304) HM
Built in 1917 by The City of Hamilton on the former Wabasso Park Lands acquired in 1913, as a combination dance and picnic Pavilion. Its form of open verandah set between two arcaded pavilions decorated with pilasters, is characteristic of the Art . . . — — Map (db m243825) HM
This granite post marked the 15 Mile point of the Hamilton
Herald "Around the Bay" Road Race, first run on Christmas Day 1894; it is the oldest footrace in North America. To this day runners pass this post on their way to the race finish in . . . — — Map (db m242275) HM
This building served as the Town Hall from September 1867 to June 1985.
Built by Joseph Martin in 1865 for a cost of $5,000, it was known as Milton Town Hall and Market House. — — Map (db m196185) HM
Trafalgar Township settlers lived in isolation during the early years. Travel was difficult, and there was no newspaper or postal service. But transportation and communication links were not long in coming.
The first stage-coach service began . . . — — Map (db m242234) HM
The oldest commercial buildings date mostly from the 1846-57 period, when Oakville grew from a village of 500 to a newly-incorporated town of 2,000.
Development of Old Oakville's commercial district started at Sixteen Mile Creek and grew east . . . — — Map (db m238571) HM
Oakvilles churches, schools and taverns knit the community together and created a social support network.
Taverns and inns were usually the first public buildings in Upper Canadian towns. They doubled as town halls, churches and courthouses. . . . — — Map (db m238672) HM
The founder of Oakville was born in Nova Scotia of
Loyalist parents who moved to Burlington Bay in 1793.
William served with distinction in the militia during the
War of 1812. He settled in Nelson Township in 1816 and
became a successful . . . — — Map (db m237075) HM
William Chisholm’s first priorities for Oakville’s economic development were developing the harbour, building a grist and sawmill, and setting up a shipyard.
This activity, along with the declaration of the harbour as a Port of Entry for . . . — — Map (db m238303) HM
Europeans first arrived in what is now southern
Ontario during the second decade of the 17th century. At the time, the area was populated by three major groups of Iroquoian-speaking people: Huron, Petun and Neutral.
By 1650 these aboriginal . . . — — Map (db m241925) HM
Oakville Heritage Trails
Old Oakville Loop
Early Leaders
In addition to the founder William Chisholm, strong
leadership from other citizens was important in developing
Oakville into a town by 1857. One such person was Merrick . . . — — Map (db m237951) HM
This region’s first farmers. mainly of British descent, established themselves on lots of 200
acres after the Mississauga purchase of 1805. As they cleared their land, their first products for sale were timber and potash (from the burning of trees . . . — — Map (db m242254) HM
As Oakville’s population and
prosperity increased, stately homes were built near George's Square. These houses represent different architectural styles and designs from various periods in the town's development.
19th Century Heritage Homes . . . — — Map (db m238721) HM
History
The Battle of the Atlantic (September 1939 - May 1945)
The Second World War began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Britain, France, and Canada were quick to declare war, but the enemy was strong and well equipped. By the fall of . . . — — Map (db m237096) HM
After the ice melted away from southern Ontario, Paleo-Indians moved into the
region. Southern Ontario was a treeless tundra then, like today's Arctic.
The Paleo-Indians travelled widely, hunting caribou with spear points made of chert, a type . . . — — Map (db m241978) HM
Water power from the Sixteen enabled the first industries to be established in Oakville.
The first sawmill on the Sixteen was built near Upper Middle Road around 1810. William Chisholm built the first gristmill near the Speers Road bridge in 1833. . . . — — Map (db m242238) HM
In Oakville, as in most of the area villages, the first public building to be erected was the tavern. Necessary way-stations in a land of arduous travel, taverns also provided meeting places for the new settlers to conduct business and enjoy . . . — — Map (db m241808) HM
Lakeside Park Bandstand
- Original structure circa 1908 -
The Lakeside Park Bandstand was originally located
in Trafalgar Park (then known as Oakville Fair
Grounds). The Bandstand was moved to Lakeside
Park in the early 1950's. It . . . — — Map (db m237087) HM
Oakville’s early businessmen realized their success depended on the prosperity and attractiveness of the larger community. Many of them made civic affairs their business. Parks, sidewalks, road improvements, street lighting, public health and safety . . . — — Map (db m241701) HM
Tannery Park
Life "Over the Creek"
West Harbors history as a working class neighborhood began in the 1830s with William Chisholm's need to raise money for his ill-fated Oakville Hydraulic Company, which was to construct a dam on the . . . — — Map (db m237434) HM
The area that is present day Oakville was first settled by Europeans in 1806, after the land was purchased from the Mississauga tribe and Trafalgar Township was surveyed.
Twenty-one years later, in 1827, William Chisholm bought 960 acres at . . . — — Map (db m238670) HM
Industry prospered in Oakville during the 1840s to 1860s, with the establishment of foundries, tanneries and carriage works.
In 1851 machinists John Doty and Ashley Hibberd built a foundry to manufacture sawmill equipment and steam engines. . . . — — Map (db m242252) HM
On this site in 1827 Oakville's meeting hall was built,
which also was used as a church on Sundays and a
school on weekdays. Oakville's first library was
established here when William Tassie, the town's first
schoolmaster, opened a reading room. . . . — — Map (db m237948) HM
The early settlers of Oakville, while full of optimism lacked formal training- there were few master builders or architects at the time. In fact, the shipbuilders who came to work for Chisholm in the shipyard also built many of the first houses . . . — — Map (db m238338) HM
Period Homes
For the greater part of the nineteenth century, the centre hall Georgian plan remained popular. In the early homes, this basic form was embellished with door and window surrounds and cornice treatments. The degree of decorative . . . — — Map (db m238341) HM
In the Late Woodland period (AD 500-1000) people of the Princess Point Complex introduced corn into southern Ontario. Evidence of their culture has been found at Cootes Paradise in Hamilton and along the Credit River.
The Princess Point . . . — — Map (db m242013) HM
An Act to incorporate the Town of Oakville was assented to on May 27th, 1857. The first council members were:
Mayor G.K. Chisholm Farmer & Landowner
Ward 1 R.K. Chisholm Customs Agent & Postmaster
W.E. Hagaman General Merchant
Ward . . . — — Map (db m238339) HM
Dedicated to the soldiers of
The Lorne Scots
(Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment)
In honour of their 150th anniversary
1866-2016
And for their continuing service
to our community and country
Defence of Canada, 1812-1815 . . . — — Map (db m238723) HM WM
The manufacture of baskets, Oakville's longest lived industry, grew out of the area's flourishing fruit industry.
Pioneer strawberry grower John Cross manufactured the first wooden berry baskets of his own design in the 1860s. John A. . . . — — Map (db m242253) HM
During the 1830s, Oakville entered a prosperous era. Shipments of wheat and lumber made the harbour a busy focus of commercial activity. Steamships and stagecoaches carried passengers, mail and freight to and from Hamilton and York.
William . . . — — Map (db m238668) HM
Oakville Heritage Trails
Tannery Park
Few enterprises influenced the lives of ordinary Oakville
residents like the Marlatt & Armstrong Leather Co. did at the turn of the 20th Century. If you didn't work for the tannery, you smelled its . . . — — Map (db m237297) HM
Oakville Heritage Trails
Tannery Park
The Temperance Movement
Oakville was a hotbed of temperance activity in the 1800s. In 1889, West Harbour found itself at the centre of it as the site of what was to that point the largest temperance . . . — — Map (db m237726) HM
Under the Royal Proclamation of 1763, European settlement could not proceed without a formal treaty with the aboriginal proprietors of the land. In 1806 the Mississauga signed the treaty surrendering all the lands from Etobicoke River to Burlington . . . — — Map (db m241812) HM
The Underground Railroad secretly transported fugitive slaves from the
southern United States across the border to freedom in Canada. From 1820 to 1865 thousands of black slaves escaped into Canada.
Although Oakville was a small terminus . . . — — Map (db m238720) HM
Once, everyone from farmers to dowagers met and mingled on "Main Street." People knew all the merchants by their first names. Today, the friendliness remains, as well as much of the small-town charm, as Downtown Oakville develops its own blend of . . . — — Map (db m242154) HM
The first town survey was completed in 1833, enclosing an area bounded on the west by Brock Street, on the north by Rebecca and Randall Streets, and on the east by Allan Street.
Road allowances were laid out in the standard grid pattern . . . — — Map (db m238336) HM
Oakville Heritage Trails
Tannery Park
Oakville founder William Chisholm's 1827 grant of land included about 300 acres of land west of Sixteen Mile Creek. By buying a parcel owned by James and Susannah Brock, he was able to extend the . . . — — Map (db m237941) HM
Sovereign House (circa 1825)
Officially opened September 23, 1995
by Her Worship Mayor Ann Mulvale
The Sovereign House was the residence of Charles Sovereign; a founding father of Bronte Village. From 1911-1914, the home became the . . . — — Map (db m243012) HM
