From 1879 until 1950, St. Catharines, like most other cities in Ontario, was serviced by streetcars. With an increasingly urbanized […]
14th Annual Guided Spirit Walks – Historical Profiles
The challenge, which I always enjoy, is simultaneously selecting historic persons to include on the tour whose burials are located on an enjoyable walking tour route that also fit into the theme of that year’s tour, and whose life story can appropriately carry a relevant historical narrative.
Artifact of the Week: Ship Adze
This week’s artifact is a shipwright’s adze used in the Niagara region. It was tool used for smoothing decks and […]
Artifact of the Week: Staffordshire Blue Transferware Soup Tureen
This week’s artifact is a soup tureen from the early 19th century. The artifact belonged to Jacob Keefer, who was […]
Artifact of the Week: Taylor and Bate Ltd. Ale Beer Bottle
This week’s artifact is a Taylor and Bate beer bottle. This bottle used to contain beer produced by a local […]
Museum Chat Live! E1003 – Supercut 1: Canal Crossings
Throughout our 10th season, we will be including several “supercut” episodes which revisit clips from some of favourite episodes, themes, […]
Museum Chat Live! E906 – Merritt’s Speech, November 30th, 1824
Today’s episode of Museum Chat Live! brings a reading of an excerpt of Merritt’s speech from 200 years ago to our ears. Edited and read by museum volunteer Des Corran, you can hear the optimism with which Merritt would cling to over some very challenging years of construction ahead.
What Happened to the Old Canals? Part 4: Change Management
In part four of our series about what happened to the old canals, we discover the complexity of managing change against a sense of place.
What Happened to the Old Canals? Part 3: The Dumping Ground
In part three of our blog series about the old canals, we look at how and why the old canals have been abandoned and slowly erased from the landscape.
What Happened to the Old Canals? Part 2: The Modern City
In part two of our blog series about what happened to the old canals, we look at the establishment of the modern city and its impatience for the old canals.
History from Here: Yale & Towne Lock Factory
The early Welland Canals had helped set St. Catharines up as a manufacturing powerhouse in the mid 1800s. But by […]
What Happened to the Old Canals? Part 1: Apathy and Indifference
In part one of a new series examining the fate of the old canals, we look at the centuries of “apathy and indifference” stuck to the Welland Canal.
Pre-Order Know Your Ships 2024
Know Your Ships 2024 is available for pre-order. Please come speak to a Hospitality Associate about reserving your copy.
VMLS via Podcast – Upper Canada’s Black Defenders take on Niagara’s Wild West
On today’s episode of VMLS via Podcast we’re sharing about the Coloured Corps and the construction of the Second Welland Canal with a lecture presented by yours truly titled “Upper Canada’s Black Defenders take on Niagara’s Wild West.” This lecture was originally presented on February 15, 2022.
One Hour in the Past E603 – Newspapers
Extra, extra! On today’s episode of One Hour in the Past Kathleen and Adrian discuss the transitional and ever-changing nature of news media and the conservator’s nightmare: newsprint/paper!
VMLS via Podcast – Canada’s Game in the Garden City
On today’s episode of VMLS via Podcast our Visitor Services Coordinator Adrian Petry gives a lecture about the rich and exciting history of hockey in our city. Hear stories from the early days of pick-up on a frozen Welland Canal to Stan Mikita and the big-league games here at the Garden City Arena.
VMLS via Podcast: The Busiest Piece of Railway in Canada
On today’s episode of VMLS via Podcast special guest Andy Panko explores the Welland Canal Construction Railway, a railway built specifically to service the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. His lecture is titled “The busiest piece of railway in Canada” and was originally presented on October 5, 2021.
Life in the Year Books: Historical Records After the Underground Railroad
As a source, high school yearbooks certainly bring light to the achievements of Black students through the decades of the 20th century, but beyond this, they also offer unique insight into how these students navigated such a formative period of their lives. Though the Black student population in St. Catharines’ high school was small through most of the 20th century, students of colour made considerable impact in their school communities, from their academic successes to contributing their talents to clubs and sports teams. Black experiences, visible on the pages of local yearbooks, shows us all aspects of student life: friendship, school spirit, team participation, and aspirations.
Stories From the Front: St Catharines’ Wartime Sources Part Three
Within days of Canada declared war on Germany in 1914 the 19th Lincoln Regiment and the 44th Lincoln and Welland Regiment were placed on active duty. The men from these regiments were charged with protecting potential targets in Niagara including the hydroelectric sites, bridges, railways and the canal.
VMLS via Podcast – Historic Welland Canals Mapping Project
Today’s lecture, originally presented on March 30, 2021, was presented by special guest Colleen Beard, map librarian emeritus at Brock University. Colleen’s Historic Welland Canals Mapping Project has mapped the routes of the three early Welland Canals and her presentation takes us through her website.
Tapping into Spiritualism in the 2022 Guided Spirit Walks
This year’s Guided Spirit Walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery roar loudly into the tumultuous era of the 1920s. The spirits on this year’s tour come from all walks of life; we hear from new immigrants arriving to St. Catharines to work on the construction of the Welland Ship Canal, a wealthy female philanthropist, an architectural visionary, a grieving widow, a proud wife, an unstoppable industrialist, and a journalist with a guilty conscience. While each may have little in common, the spirits are brought together, and connect to the audience, through our guide, the renowned spiritualist Jenny O’Hara Pincock.
Museum Classroom: The Welland Canal and Lock Building (Secondary)
Student will develop an understanding of the engineering required to build the current Welland Canal. It also see the equipment that the workers had to work with.
VMLS via Podcast – Lost and Forgotten: the Third Welland Canal
Today’s lecture explores the hidden history of the Third Welland Canal. As one of the first major infrastructure projects following Confederation, the canal was a huge success but today is mostly forgotten. Please enjoy “Lost and Forgotten: the Third Welland Canal” originally presented on October 27, 2020.
Top #StCMuseum Social Media Moments of 2021
I like to think our ever-growing contributions to the world wide web offer engaging, albeit a bit quirky, historical fun for everyone. Quirky is part of the fun, right?! If I’ve piqued your interest, you don’t have to suffer from FOMO any longer – find and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and right here on the blog to be the first to catch new releases of video series, online lectures, podcast episodes, blog posts, and so much more!
How the Story Goes: Reexamining the Story of the First Welland Canal Part 4
The whole point of reexamining the story then is to show that the reduction of the narrative undervalues significant contributions and struggles and is an injustice to the memory of the people who built the canal. Can you imagine the labourers hearing the story as it is traditionally told and rightly crying out ‘what about us!? We dug the darn thing!” Or Merritt himself admitting “woah, woah, it was not that easy.” The simplified version risks undervaluing the accomplishments they all spent their lives (literally and figuratively) working for.
How the Story Goes: Reexamining the Story of the First Welland Canal Part 3
There is no such thing as an easy infrastructure project. But when it comes to the First Welland Canal, it seems the project was plagued with bad luck.
How the Story Goes: Reexamining the Story of the First Welland Canal Part 2
Requesting a private company charter was the smartest move Merritt made in his entire career and pushed his competition out of the way, but it didn’t make him popular and it didn’t make the project easy.
How the Story Goes: Reexamining the Story of the First Welland Canal Part 1
The story of the First Welland Canal has been told over and over again by historians and canal buffs so that the story has shifted and changed over time. Facts, of course, mostly have remained the same, but the way the narrative is harnessed for others, and the way the story is constructed and relayed has changed. In my study of the historiography and the public’s perception of the narrative, I have discovered a few challenges with the telling of the history of the First Welland Canal.
2021-2022 Educational Programs
Ready for 2021-2022! We are thrilled to announce our 2021-2022 educational program offering. We have an exciting line-up of safe, […]
VMLS via Podcast – Open for Business: The Welland Canal in 1830
The story of the first full operating season of the Welland Canal in 1830 is interesting because it challenges the dominant narrative of a well organized, well financed, well run, and generally successful endeavour, when in actuality, it was plagued with problems and failures.
Eureka! Inventive Moments from our History
For Museum Week’s “Eureka Moments” theme, we’re counting down the top 5 Eureka Moments in St. Catharines history.
There are definitely more than 5 eureka moments in St. Catharines history, so if we left one out that you feel MUST be included, add it in the comments!
History from Here: Twelve Mile Creek at Downtown St. Catharines
A guiding pathway and a food source for Indigenous peoples, waterpower for the mills of early European settlers, a shipping route for the First and Second Welland Canals, the waters of Twelve Mile Creek have sustained communities for thousands of years
Where’s the Pig? – Episode 6: Industry on the Welland Canal
In Episode 6 of Where’s the Pig, the missing pig leads Sara to the grounds of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts, where she learns about the history of the Canada Hair Cloth Company and industry on the Welland Canal.
Sara also finds the last clue to complete the puzzle, revealing the location of the mischievous pig! Do you know where the pig could be?
Museum Chat Live! E508 – Canal Crossings: Lifting Us Up
We end the Canal Crossings miniseries on a lighter note, to “lift us up” if you will, and explore a few community stories involving canal crossings in our history. We hope that these stories give you a smile, probably a head shake, and ideally a reminder that our community would not be same without these canal crossings.
Museum Chat Live! E505 – Canal Crossings Miniseries: The Crossings Today
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, your co-host Sara chats with special guest, Des Corran, about the canal crossings in-use today.
We explore not only the surviving bridges from when the Welland Canal opened in 1932, but also the construction of the underwater tunnels and the Garden City Skyway.
Museum Classroom: Maritime Flag Journey
Students will explore the methods of communication used on ships that pass through
the Welland Canal. Students will explore the verbal and non-verbal challenges and
benefits of communication.
Museum Chat Live! E504 – Canal Crossings Miniseries: The Bridges
Most of the time, when we think of the bridges on the Welland Canal, we think of being stuck at them. The many bridges that cross the canal from Port Weller to Port Colborne are often just thought of as part of the infrastructure that gets us from Point A to Point B- with sometimes a wait in between. But, when you are stuck at a bridge, waiting for a ship to pass, have you ever really thought about what that bridge represents? We can actually tell so many stories and explore our history in new ways by talking about the crossing points on the Welland Canal.
Museum Classroom: Timeline of the Welland Canal
Explore the history of the Welland Canals and St. Catharines community through this interactive timeline activity.
Museum Classroom: Welland Canal Colouring Page
Complete the Welland Canal colouring page and learn all about the diver job on this world renowned enigneering marvel.
Museum Classroom: William Hamilton Merritt Biography Mobile
An interactive biographic activity on William Hamilton Merritt, one of the founding fathers of the Welland Canal.