Westdale is a residential neighbourhood in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is centred in the Westdale Village shopping district and located near McMaster University. It is bordered to the north by Cootes Paradise, an extensive nature reserve marking the western end of Lake Ontario, to the south by Main Street and Ainslie Wood, to the east by Highway 403, and to the west by McMaster University.
On 29 March 1923, real estate agents and politicians announced the winning name of a "Name the Neighbourhood" contest, at the Royal Connaught Hotel in downtown Hamilton. 6,170 people were gathered for the official announcement. Rev. Canon Percival Lawson Spencer won $200.00 for his submission of the "Westdale" name. Other names that were seriously considered for the neighbourhood include Westhome, Vimy Ridge, Bridgeton, Woodlands Park, Surrey Park and Bridgeview. [1]
Archeological surveys have shown that the land south of what is now Cootes Paradise was inhabited by successive Indigenous nations. In the early seventeenth-century, when the first French explorers and missionaries visited the western edge of Lake Ontario, they found the region populated by native people, who were referred to as the Neutral Nation because of their neutrality in the disputes between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Huron.
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Neutral Nation and the Hurons were defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. Eventually, Anishinaabe people from what is now northern Ontario began to push southwards and displace the Iroquois. In 1792 the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Crown negotiated the Between the Lakes Treaty No. 3, allowing colonists to settle the area under the provisions of the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
Following the creation of Upper Canada in 1791, the land upon which Westdale is now located was surveyed as part of the Township of Barton. Shortly afterward, the boundary was adjusted and the lots west of present-day Paradise Road were incorporated into the Township of Ancaster. This area of the township situated below the escarpment was commonly referred to as the Gore of Ancaster.
Following the transfer of the land from the Township of Barton to the Township of Ancaster, the land upon which Westdale is now located became lots 57 through 60 of Concession 1.
Early settlers of these lots include the Forsyths, Ashbaughs, Clines, Paisleys, Buttrums, Brambergers and Strouds. Land use was primarily devoted to agriculture.
The development that would become Westdale was an early Canadian implementation of the concepts of the Garden City Movement. In 1911 architect Robert Pope envisioned the area as a designed neighbourhood for 1,700 residents. That year J. J. McKittrick bought several hundred acres of land for the planned neighbourhood, first called Hamilton Gardens. [2]
Construction began in the early 1920s. Spearheaded by W.J. Westaway's development company Westdale Properties and a contingent of local investors on the Westaway Citizens Committee, the project aimed to stimulate an upscale Protestant environment. Established on what had been predominantly farmland, its shopping district was constructed on King Street, the western end of a major Hamilton route. The major housing developments branched from Sterling Street, a wide tree-lined lane that ends at McMaster's east campus gates. By 1927 McMittrick Properties was bankrupt. That year 377 acres of the development were sold to the City of Hamilton as the site of the Hamilton campus of McMaster University and the first lands of Royal Botanical Gardens (Ontario).
Westdale was envisioned as an exclusive white Protestant neighbourhood. [3] Specific groups such as blacks, Asians, Slavs, and Jews were unable to purchase homes; near the end of the Second World War restrictions upon Jewish home ownership were lifted whereupon many relocated from the central part of the city. However, legal loopholes allowed for discrimination to persist into the 1950s. Over time, Westdale has become increasingly diverse and vestiges of its former exclusivity have largely disappeared.
Although urban development has reduced the isolation once integral for Westdale's modelled environment, the Village persists as an established shopping destination for West Hamilton residents. The Westdale Village Business Improvement Association represents over 70 businesses located in the immediate Westdale area. The Westdale community is contained between Highway 403, Main Street and the areas east of McMaster. In addition to many small businesses, Westdale is also home to the Hamilton Aviary and Churchill Park, both situated on lands owned by Royal Botanical Gardens (Ontario), a grocery store, a branch of the Hamilton Public Library, and branches of three major banks. [4]
The increase of McMaster's student population in recent decades has resulted in many Westdale homes being rented out to students.
In 2006 a few Westdale homeowners calling themselves WADS (Westdale Against Drunk Students) staged a rally to protest the student population and called for the McMaster pub, Quarters, to be closed. [5] McMaster responded by setting up a mediation between surrounding homeowners and student residents, as well as clarifying that Quarters closing would not fix the problems residents were facing, as students would just go to other bars located in Westdale. Over 200 people attended the rally. After a sting operation the Ontario Provincial Police charged the Bar with liquor license violations alleging the Bar over-served its student patrons. Recently, the Court of Appeal for Ontario found the bar had violated the law by over-serving a patron who went on to run down a pedestrian with his truck. The case, McIntyre v. Grigg, made Canadian legal history when it awarded punitive damages against a drunk driver.
The Westdale Village BIA, the Ainslie Wood / Westdale Community Association (AWWCA) and McMaster University formed the Campus Town Association in late 2004. [6] The CTA was formed to address concerns facing both the community and the university.
In 2021, Hamilton City Council passed a Student Rental Bylaw designed to eliminate student rentals that exist in private dwellings. The bylaw is being rolled out in stages across the wards around McMaster University and Mohawk College. Although called a pilot designed to evaluate the effect of the bylaw, it does not have any presence in the Gibson neighbourhood where 60% of the residents live in rental units. There are also no criteria of what data is to be collected. The bylaw was taken from the Waterloo rental bylaw which was designed to provoke small landlords, such as senior citizens, from renting and thus into selling. Waterloo plans called for increased density around the university to handle student accommodation. Hamilton appears to want a return to a single family neighbourhood and lacks any plans for the needed replacement housing.
Westdale is currently part of the federal electoral district of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas and, since 2015, has been represented by Member of Parliament Filomena Tassi of the Liberal Party.
Following a redistribution of provincial constituencies, Westdale shifted from being part of the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale riding into the newly created constituency of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas. In the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election, this seat was won by current New Democrat Member of Provincial Parliament Sandy Shaw.
On the Municipal level, Westdale is part of Hamilton's Ward 1 and has been represented by Maureen Wilson as city councillor since 2018. [7] At the public school board level Westdale is represented by Elizabeth Wong as Ward 1 trustee. On Hamilton's Catholic school board, Westdale is represented by Wards 1, 2, and 15 trustee Mark Valvasori.
Aside from McMaster University, four public schools are located in Westdale: Westdale Secondary School, École secondaire Georges-P.-Vanier, Dalewood Middle School, and George R. Allan Elementary School (1927–2014). The latter school has recently undergone an expansion in order to accommodate students from Ainslie Wood's Prince Philip Elementary School. As a result of the merger, the new school was named Cootes Paradise Elementary School in September 2014.
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Toronto in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).
Ancaster is a historic town in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. Founded as a town in 1793, it immediately developed itself into one of the first important and influential early British Upper Canada communities established during the late 18th century eventually amalgamating with the city of Hamilton in 2001. By 1823, due in large part to its easily accessible water power and location at the juncture of prehistoric indigenous trading routes, Ancaster had become Upper Canada's largest industrial and commercial centre. Additionally, Ancaster had at that time attracted the 2nd largest populace (1,681) in Upper Canada trailing only Kingston, but surpassing the populations of nearby Toronto (1,376) and Hamilton (1,000). After this initial period of prosperity beginning in the late 18th century, sudden significant water and rail transportation advancements of the early 19th century would soon better benefit Ancaster's neighbouring towns situated closer to the Lake Ontario waterfront. Stationary steam engines for industries that had rapidly developed in the 19th century would eventually make Ancaster's water-powered industries less vital. As a result, after the 1820s, Ancaster's influence during the remainder of the 19th century would begin to wane.
Dundas is a community and town in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is nicknamed the Valley Town because of its topographical location at the bottom of the Niagara Escarpment on the western edge of Lake Ontario. The population has been stable for decades at about 20,000, largely because it has not annexed rural land from the protected Dundas Valley Conservation Area.
Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 until the electoral boundaries were redrawn for the 2015 election.
Flamborough is a district and former municipality in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. For most of its existence before amalgamation with Hamilton in 2001, Flamborough comprised the former townships of East Flamborough, West Flamborough, and Beverly, as well as the village of Waterdown. The largest suburban community is the former village of Waterdown containing perhaps one third of its thirty thousand or so inhabitants. Other Flamborough communities include Carlisle, Christie's Corners, Clappison's Corners, Copetown, Freelton, Greensville, Lynden, Kirkwall, Millgrove, Mountsberg, Orkney, Peters Corners, Rockton, Troy, Sheffield, Valens, Strabane and Westover.
Ted McMeekin is politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the Ward 15 Councillor, for the City of Hamilton. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2000 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale and Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot. He served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.
Glanbrook is the south-western district of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It was first created as an independent township in 1974 through the amalgamation of Mount Hope, Binbrook, Glanford, and other nearby communities. In 2001, Glanbrook became a dissolved municipality after it was amalgamated with Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Dundas, Ancaster and Flamborough to become the present city of Hamilton.
Hamilton West was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 2004.
Russ Powers is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the House of Commons in Canada's 38th Parliament, representing the riding of Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale for the Liberal Party from 2004 to 2006.
Cootes Drive, formerly known as the Dundas Diversion, is a city street in Hamilton, Ontario. The route connects York Road and King Street in Dundas with Main Street to the southeast, and is considered one of the first divided highways in Canada. Originally constructed as the Dundas Diversion, the route served to bypass several sharp turns along the nearby Highway 8, as well as to demonstrate the new dual highway concept that would soon thereafter evolve into the 400-series highway network. Construction began in 1936, and the route opened on the weekend of September 11, 1937.
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 21 prior to 1999, is the public school board for the city of Hamilton. Established on January 1, 1998, via the amalgamation of the Hamilton and Wentworth County school boards, the board currently operates 93 elementary and secondary schools.
Westdale may refer to:
Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of the Lake Ontario. Most of the city including the downtown section lies along the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe, it lies roughly midway between Toronto and Buffalo. The two major physical features are Hamilton Harbour marking the northern limit of the city and the Niagara Escarpment running through the middle of the city across its entire breadth, bisecting the city into 'upper' and 'lower' parts.
Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale was a provincial electoral district in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was created for the 2007 provincial election. 82.9% of the riding came from Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot while 17.1% came from Hamilton West.
Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot was a provincial electoral district in southwestern Ontario, Canada that elected one Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was created in 1999 from Wentworth North, Burlington South and Halton Centre. It was abolished in 2007 into Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, Burlington, Hamilton Centre, Hamilton Mountain and Niagara West—Glanbrook.
King Street starts off as a collector road in the east-end of town in Dundas, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada beside Cootes Paradise and the Desjardins Canal at Olympic Drive and switches to an arterial road at York Street and cuts through the town of Dundas where it ends in the west-end by the CN railway tracks at the base of the Niagara Escarpment. It is a two-way street throughout.
Ainslie Wood is a residential neighbourhood in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is centered on Alexander Park and located near McMaster University. It is bordered to the north by Main Street, Cootes Drive and Dundas, to the south and east by Highway 403, and to the west by Dundas and Ancaster.
Tinawatawa, also called Quinaouatoua, was an Iroquois village of the Seneca people on the western end of the Niagara corridor, described as "a fertile flat belt of land stretching from western New York to the head waters of the Thames River". It was located on the western end of Lake Ontario.
