Before 1961, Merritton was an independent municipality, separate from St. Catharines. Merritton developed around the Welland Canal’s most aggressive escarpment climb, uniquely situating it at a point of seemingly endless waterpower. This village became an industrial powerhouse with a strong sense of identity and an ambitious local government. Sean heads to the former Merritton Town Hall – and the former St. Catharines Historical Museum – to get a look at an impressive piece of this community’s legacy. This is History from Here: a video series presented by the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre.  

The former Merritton Town Hall was built in 1879. Merritton had incorporated as a village five years prior and municipal business was being conducted temporarily in a local one-room schoolhouse. The young but mighty community wanted a statement piece and soon ordered a grand Victorian structure from architect William B. Allen. Allen was a big name in Niagara, working on many large public buildings, as well as Ontario’s first purpose-built museum – Memorial Hall in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Stonework on the new town hall was completed by local contractor John Walker, whose family is still a big name in stone and aggregates today. 

In addition to being the workplace of reeves and councillors, the town hall building, at various times, also housed a community library, a mechanics institute, a post office, a school board office, and the police station, complete with holding cells in the basement. The second story of the building included a sizeable auditorium which was Merritton’s only real meeting hall at the time. It was used for local theatre productions, variety shows, parties, and dances. In the 1920s, movies were sometimes shown in the auditorium, making it Merritton’s first and only cinema until Famous Players opened the Pen Centre Cinemas in 1966. 

Perhaps most memorably, the town hall building also contained Merritton’s fire brigade, with the rear section reserved for this purpose from 1888 until 2013. Ironically, on April 23^rd, 1929, the building suffered a serious fire that started in the fire hall section. An electrical device used to charge the town’s fire alarm system triggered the blaze, and improperly stored chemicals quickly made matters worse. The firefighting equipment was consumed almost immediately so the brigade had to borrow hoses from nearby factories. Secretary Elizabeth Darling stayed in the building to make telephone calls for help and ultimately had to be assisted out due to weakness from smoke inhalation. The fire was finally doused when assistance arrived from Thorold and St. Catharines, thanks to Elizabeth’s calls.  

The 1929 fire largely destroyed the fire hall and second level of the town hall building, including a Neo-Romanesque columned bell tower that had served as a stately cap to the front entrance. Rather than rebuild the tower, the roofline was instead capped at a lower point, creating the distinct profile that remains today. The building had originally been constructed with a more Victorian-style tower, but this was replaced sometime around the turn of the 20^th century for unknown reasons. Other notable architectural features include contrasting quoins, a stone belt course, and radiating arches over the windows and doors. The bell tower features detailed stonework and a decorative hip roofline, trimmed with a boxed cornice with a frieze and brackets. The front double doors have a fan transom and are inset in the centre of the bell tower. 

On January 1^st, 1961, Merritton, Port Dalhousie, and Grantham were officially amalgamated with the city of St. Catharines. With the four municipalities closely linked historically, geographically, and economically, the union was largely considered a political inevitability. The proud citizens of Merritton nevertheless made sure their stance on the matter was known when, in a mainly symbolic 1960 plebiscite, they voted 2578-33 against amalgamation! The process moved forward anyway, and 343 Merritt Street was soon out of a job. 

With Canada’s Centennial on the horizon, appetite and funding for heritage preservation was high, and, in 1965, the St. Catharines Historical Museum Board was granted use of the building. The museum officially opened here two years later. Original director and one-time St. Catharines mayor, John Smith, was also a carpenter, and he personally constructed most of the museum’s walls, models, and displays. The small exhibit space was soon expanded to include both floors and, in 1972, the first Welland Canal display was added. By the mid-1980s, it was becoming clear that the museum needed larger and more modern facilities. Several solutions were considered, including a move to a disused building on Welland Avenue and even a move-in with the Public Library. In 1987, the decision was finally made to build a new structure at Lock 3 to tap into tourist traffic at the already existing viewing centre there. 

Since this building’s construction in 1879, Merritton’s political, industrial, and commercial cores, and even the canal itself have moved to new locations. Though no longer housing municipal offices, emergency services, or the city museum, the Former Merritton Town Hall continues to stand as a proud architectural testament to this community’s early boom years and a symbol of Merritton’s distinct identity