The government of Upper Canada purchased the Beach Strip from the Mississauga Indians in 1795 for 100 pounds.

The Burlington Ship Canal was opened in 1826 making Hamilton a major port on the Great Lakes.  The channel was deepened and expanded steadily until twinned in 1931. 

The first lighthouse on the Beach Strip was built of wood in 1838.  When it was destroyed by fire in 1858, the present day limestone lighthouse was constructed.

The first bridge across the canal was built for the Grand Trunk Railway in 1878.  It was a giant swing bridge.

In 1894, the Hamilton, Grimsby and Beamsville Electric Radial Railway opened to carry passengers and farm products.  Its route ran through Ward 5 parralleling Lawrence Road and King Street with a stop at Mount Albion Road.  The Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville Radial Railway built in 1886 also ran through Ward 5 along the Beach Strip.

'Carrying Place' was the location at the south end of Long (Burlington) Beach which served as a portage for goods between Lake Ontario and Lake Macassa (Burlington Bay) as the natural outlet to the bay was too shallow to permit transport of goods for most of the year.

The first public house at the head of Lake Ontario built in 1794 was in Ward 5.  Constructed on the orders of Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, the King's Head Inn was located strategically on the route between Niagara and York (Toronto), near the present Hutch's Restaurant.  Used to store military supplies, the Inn was burned by the Americans in 1813, just prior to the Battle of Stoney Creek.

Ward 5 occupies most of the Red Hill Valley below the escarpment.  The large indentation in the Niagara Escarpment, which forms the Red Hill Valley, was caused by erosion pre-dating the ice age.

Born in 1757, Augustus Jones came to Canada in 1787 just as the land boom for the United Empire Loyalists began.  A trained surveyor, he mapped most of the townships in this area of Upper Canada.  He built a home on a lagoon beside the present day Wild Water Works in Confederation Park.  A statue in the middle of Stoney Creek honours his legacy.

The Red Hill Creek has been known by various names dating back to the earliest settlers - Clench's Creek and Lottridge Creek.  By 1812 it was known as Big Creek and by the end of the 19th Century as Red Hill Creek.  The valley was an indigenous route linking the lake to the Mohawk Trail on top of the escarpment.  It is only natural for it to be the route of the long-debated Red Hill Creek Parkway opened on November 3, 2007.  It may prove to be the catalyst for the future progress of the city.

The Dynes family was among the first settlers on the Beach Strip.  John Dynes opened a hotel in 1846.  It was rebuilt after a fire in 1886.  By 1890 it was famous for its wild duck dinners and entertainment.  Until its demolition in 2007, it was one of the oldest operating taverns in Ontario.

Henry Van Wagner setteld in a log cabin in Saltfleet in 1818.  As a millwright, he built many of the mills in the Hamilton area, and according to family legend gave the town of Waterdown its name.  Van Wagner's Beach takes its name from Peter Spohn Van Wagner, Henry's son.

For almost two hundred years, a beautiful Georgian Colonial style home built by William Gage for his daughter, Susan Gage Nash, stood on the corner of King Street and Nash Road.  In 1999 it was spared from the developer's wrecking ball by being moved to Battlefield Park.  There once were seven Nash families living along this section of King Street.  The family was synonymous for decades with fruit farming.

The first industries in Ward 5 were established on Red Hill Creek and Felker's Falls.  Allan McDougall built the first salt works in the valley in 1812.  The valley was intensely farmed.  Some of the prominent farming families were: Lottridge, Gage, Gray, Nash, Nugent, Pottruff, Spera, House, Harris, Peace, Jackson and Veevers.

Stoney Creek Cemetery is one of the oldest burial grounds in the city.  Located on the south west corner of King Street East and Centennial Parkway, it served as a landmark for British forces assembling to attack the American forces camped around the Gage homestead in June 1813.

the farm adjoining the Stoney Creek Cemetery belonged to the Webster family.  Webster's Side Road became Highway #20 in 1935 and is now called Centennial Parkway.

The Dieppe Memorial on Beach Boulevard is the finest monument of its kind in Canada commemorating the ill-fated 1942 raid on the coast of France.  The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry made up 10% of the raiding force.  Half of them were killed or captured.  The memorial was unveiled on August 19, 2003 through the efforts of Hamilton veterans.

In 1983, Hamilton City Council in cooperation with the Hamilton Conservation Authority established the Hamilton - Scourge Memorial Garden in Confederation Park.  Fifty-three headstones commemorate the loss of sailors from these two American schooners that capsized on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812.  These ships represent an archaeological treasure of international importance.  The garden also has a plaque to the memory of a Dundas man, Archie Hodge, captain of the research ship that discovered these war ships.

Two of the oldest Hamilton school sites are in Ward 5.  Shortly after the Common School Act was passed in 1816, a log school was built on the property of Peter Van Wagner.  The two early structures on the site were replaced in 1905 by a brick building that now houses Baranga's Restaurant.  Red Hill School on Mount Albion Road was established c. 1830.  A 1905 brick school still stands on the site.

(Special thank you to the Hamilton Historical Board who prepared the above information.)