The St. Catharines Library is a public library system that provides service to residents of St. Catharines, Ontario. The library has four branches. [1] Materials available for loan include books, films, musical instruments, and video games. [2]
The St. Catharines Library is a public library system that provides service to residents of St. Catharines, Ontario. The library has four branches. [1] Materials available for loan include books, films, musical instruments, and video games. [2]
As early as 1888, various locations were rented for library use, but there were no permanent structures. The first dedicated building for the library opened in 1905 in Downtown St. Catharines, where the Robert S.K. Welch Courthouse has since replaced it. [3] It was a Carnegie library. [4] This building was expanded in 1939, 1940, and 1965, as a result of the growing population in the city. When Port Dalhousie, Merritton, and Grantham were amalgamated into the city in 1961, there was even greater demand for better library infrastructure. This led to that building closing in 1971 and being replaced by the current central branch. [3] It was named the centennial branch to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the city's founding. [5] In 1976, the library also buried a time capsule to commemorate the occasion. There was also a sundial placed aboveground. In 2021, the sun dial was stolen from the premises. The time capsule is still intact and will be opened in 2076. [6]
In 2021, the central library branch installed barriers and gates around the library, with the intention of deterring homeless people and acts of vandalism. The City of St. Catharines budgeted 50,000 dollars for these renovations. [7]
As of 2023, further renovations are planned, with a budget of 4.8 million dollars. A particular focus of these renovations is expanding community areas within the library. More than 100,000 physical items have been removed to make room for these spaces, with a greater emphasis being placed on access to digital materials. 65,000 of the removed items were duplicate materials. Bookshelves will be reduced in height and aisles will be widened as accessibility features. [8] Local historians have criticized this weeding process as removing access to vital information in regards to their research. An estimated ten percent of materials have been removed from the library's special collections. Historians have also criticized the lack of public consultation in regards to these discarded materials. [9]
St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2017, St. Catharines has an area of 96.13 square kilometres (37.12 sq mi) and 140,370 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, 51 kilometres (32 mi) south of Toronto across Lake Ontario, and is 19 kilometres (12 mi) inland from the international boundary with the United States along the Niagara River. It is the northern entrance of the Welland Canal. Residents of St. Catharines are known as St. Catharinites. St. Catharines carries the official nickname "The Garden City" due to its 1,000 acres (4 km2) of parks, gardens, and trails.
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 on Lake Ontario, and Port Colborne on Lake Erie, and was erected because the Niagara River—the only natural waterway connecting the lakes—was unnavigable due to Niagara Falls. The Welland Canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment, and has followed four different routes since it opened.
St. Catharines is a federal electoral district in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968.
The Garden City Skyway is a major high-level bridge located in St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, that allows the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) to cross the Welland Canal without the interruption of a lift bridge. Six lanes of traffic are carried across the bridge, which is 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi) in length and 40 metres (130 ft) at its tallest point.
The Garden City Arena Complex was a sports complex in St. Catharines, Ontario. It was the main arena facility in that city from its construction in 1938 until the opening of the Meridian Centre in 2014.
The Welland House Hotel was a historic building located on 26-30 Ontario Street in Downtown St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The hotel spa resort was one of many in Upper Canada during the Victorian era. It closed in 1993. As of 2020, the site was in the process of being designated as a heritage site to prevent future demolition. Its last use was as a student residence, and then sat vacant. On July 12, 2021; it was destroyed in an early morning fire.
Richard Dykstra is a Canadian politician. He served as president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 2016 to 2018. He also served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the Ontario riding of St. Catharines from 2006 to 2015. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2006 federal election. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2011 but was defeated by Liberal candidate Chris Bittle in the 2015 federal election.
Downtown St. Catharines is the central business district of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the city as the area between Highway 406 on the west and south, Geneva Street on the east until it reaches St. Paul Street then Welland Avenue north until it meets Niagara Street.
The Thorold Blackhawks were a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Thorold, Ontario. They played in the Golden Horseshoe division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The Pen Centre is the largest shopping mall in the Niagara Region, located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Catharines is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Toronto in St. Catharines, Ontario. It covers the municipalities of Niagara Region and Haldimand County.
Welland Transit was a public transportation agency in Welland, Ontario, Canada from 1977 to 2022. Upon its inception in 1973 the bus service was operated by a private company, known as "Metro Niagara Transit," funded by the city of Welland, which assumed full operation of the transit system in 1977. On January 1, 2023, it was merged with St. Catharines Transit and Niagara Falls Transit to form Niagara Region Transit.
The Kilt and Clover is a restaurant and bar located at 17 Lock Street in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, a district within the City of St. Catharines, Ontario on the shores of Lake Ontario. It is known for its annual frozen chicken chucking competition. The act of chicken chucking consists of pitching or sliding frozen chickens along the ice covered Martindale Pond similar to curling and shuffleboard.
Montebello Park is a public park in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. It features a commemorative rose garden and an ornamental fountain. The focal point of the park is a historic band shell and pavilion used for festivals. The park and its pavillion are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The Meridian Centre is a 5,300 seat arena in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, located at 1 David S. Howes Way. The arena is the home of the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League and the Niagara River Lions of the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
Walter Sendzik is a Canadian politician who served as the mayor of St. Catharines from 2014 to 2022. As mayor, he sat on Niagara Regional Council. Sendzik did not run for a third term in the 2022 Niagara Region municipal elections, and was succeeded as mayor by Mat Siscoe.
Morningstar Mill is a 2.98-acre (1.21 ha) heritage site located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The site includes the Morningstar Mill, a sawmill, the home of the Morningstar family, a barn used for blacksmith demonstrations, and the Decew Falls gorge along the Niagara Escarpment.
Elections were held in the Niagara Region of Ontario on October 24, 2022, in conjunction with municipal elections across the province.
The Burgoyne Bridge is a bridge in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The original bridge was built in 1915 by the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation. In 2010, construction of a new Burgoyne Bridge was recommended by the Niagara Region. However, the project was not completed until 2016 due to the estimated cost. The new bridge is 333 meters long and features a 125-metre main span supported by a steel arch.
Mat Siscoe is a Canadian politician who is the current mayor of St. Catharines, Ontario. Previously Siscoe sat on St. Catharines City Council for twelve years, before being appointed to Niagara Regional Council to fill a vacancy left by the death of councillor Sandie Bellows.