Port Dalhousie: An Intimate History

Port Dalhousie started out as a farming and fishing settlement at the mouth of Twelve Mile Creek at what would become the northern terminus of the First Welland Canal. Throughout the 19th century, it prospered and grew into a village and then a town, but fell into a gradual decline due to: the opening of the Fourth Welland Canal in Port Weller three miles to the east in 1932; the end of passenger ship service in 1950; and the closing of the popular Lakeside Park in 1971. In 1961 it was incorporated into the City of St. Catharines and, in 1974, woke up to a resurgence of pride in a community that discovered its incredible history. Many of those residents who had lived through the earliest of these times, were still alive when the interviews herein were first being recorded. Though the forty-some interviews contained within add personal colour, humour and passion to the story that is Port Dalhousie, the historical account would not be complete without a narrative that defines the eras that this settlement, village and town passed through on the way to becoming what it is today. This history begins at the close of the 18th century and carries on to the early 1960s when it ceased being a town and became a suburb of the City of St. Catharines. The many who remember the days prior to amalgamation, and even many newcomers, identify with living in Port Dalhousie; or as the old-timers would say “Pordaloozie”