Office of the City Clerk, St. Catharines Records, 1928-1974, n.d.

The site of present-day St. Catharines was settled by 3000 United Empire Loyalists at the end of the 18th century. From 1790, the settlement (then known as "The Twelve") grew as an agricultural community. St. Catharines was once referred to Shipman's Corners after Paul Shipman, owner of a tavern that was an important stagecoach transfer point. In 1815, leading businessman William Hamilton Merritt abandoned his wharf at Queenston and set up another at Shipman's Corners. He became involved in the construction and operation of several lumber and gristmills along Twelve Mile Creek. Shipman's Corners soon became the principal milling site of the eastern Niagara Peninsula. At about the same time, Merritt began to develop the salt springs that were discovered along the river which subsequently gave the village a reputation as a health resort. By this time St. Catharines was the official name of the village; the origin of the name remains obscure, but is thought to be named after Catharine Askin Robertson Hamilton, wife of the Hon. Robert Hamilton, a prominent businessman. Merritt devised a canal scheme from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario that would provide a more reliable water supply for the mills while at the same time function as a canal. He formed the Welland Canal Company, and construction took place from 1824 to 1829. The canal and the mills made St. Catharines the most important industrial centre in Niagara. By 1845, St. Catharines was incorporated as a town, with the town limits extending in 1854. Administrative and political functions were added to St. Catharines in 1862 when it became the county seat of Lincoln. In 1871, construction began on the third Welland Canal, which attracted additional population to the town. As a consequence of continual growth, the town limits were again extended. St. Catharines attained city status in 1876 with its larger population and area. Manufacturing became increasingly important in St. Catharines in the early 1900s with the abundance of hydro-electric power, and its location on important land and water routes. The large increase in population after the 1900s was mainly due to the continued industrialization and urbanization of the northern part of the city and the related expansion of business activity. The fourth Welland Canal was opened in 1932 as the third canal could no longer accommodate the larger ships. The post war years and the automobile brought great change to the urban form of St. Catharines. St. Catharines began to spread its boundaries in all directions with land being added five times during the 1950s. The Town of Merritton, Village of Port Dalhousie and Grantham Township were all incorporated as part of St. Catharines in 1961. In 1970 the Province of Ontario implemented a regional approach to deal with such issues as planning, pollution, transportation and services. As a result, Louth Township on the west side of the city was amalgamated, extending the city's boundary to Fifteen Mile Creek. With its current population of 131,989, St. Catharines has become the dominant centre of the Niagara region. Source: City of St. Catharines website http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/governin/HistoryOfTheCity.asp (January 27, 2011)

William B. Rollason fonds, 1930-1934, 1936, 1941-1947, 1950-1952, 1956-1958.

William B. Rollason was a businessman from St. Catharines. His business interests included insurance sales, real estate and housing development. He was an active Rotarian, serving as president from 1945 to 1946. He served on the Niagara Parks Commission Board from 1944 until his death in 1959. Mr. Rollason was the president of the St. Catharines Chamber of Commerce, president of the Lincoln County Conservative Association, a member of the Navy Island Peace Capital Group, vice chairman of the War Savings Committee and part owner of the Welland House Hotel in St. Catharines.

Article - St. Catharines Standard post race, 7 July 1952

A photograph and brief comment about the race results for Dorothy Rungeling. She is photographed next to George Belfry of Thompson Products (sponsor), Alice Little (co-pilot) and radio broadcaster Rex Stimers.

Indenture between George Hill Field and Jacob M. Field

Indenture of single deed between George Hill Field of the Township of Grimsby and Jacob M. Field of the Township of Grimsby regarding Lot no. 5 in Core A in the Town of Grimsby - instrument no. 3130, November 4, 1863.

Indenture between George Rykert and Cornelius Stovin

Indenture between George Rykert, surveyor of Grantham, and Cornelius Stovin, manager of the Welland Railway of St. Catharines, for a pew in St. George’s Church, Jan. 1863.

Dr. George Nogradi

Professor of Rec and Leisure Studies.

Is technology a threat to education? : the contribution of George Parkin Grant

Thesis (M.Ed.)-- Brock University, 1995.

Oath of Allegiance to King George III

Transcript (original spelling and grammar retained): We the Commissioned Officers belonging to the Second Regiment of Lincoln Militia - Do sincerely promise and swear that we will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George, and heirs will defend to the utmost of our power against all traitorous conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his Person, Crown or Dignity; and we will do our utmost endeavours to disclose and make them known to his Majesty, His Heirs and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies and attempts, which we shall know to be against Him or them. So help us God. Thomas Clark - Lt. Col. David Secord - Major John Crysler - Capt James Macklin - Capt John [Ross] - [Captain] [Abraham] Bowman - Lieut Gilbert McMicking - Quartmaster John [Misiner] - Ensign Robert Campbell - Capt John [Couke] - Ensign Nicholas Smith - Lieut I certify that the officers who have here [subscribed] the oath took it before me at Chippawa 4 Sept 1812 Thomas Dickson JP

Letter from George W. Campbell, esq., late Secretary of the Treasury, to the Chairman of the Committee appointed to inquire into the causes and particulars of the invasion of the City of Washington, and the neighboring town of Alexandria, in the month of August last. --

Laid before the House by the Chairman of the said Committee, and ordered to be printed January 2, 1815.

Collective Labour Agreement between the Public Utilities Commission of the City of St. Catharines and Local 556, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 1952

In 1952, Local 556 of The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers negotiated a contract with The Public Utilities Commission of the City of St. Catharines. The contract was to be in effect from July 1952 to September 1953. The document is unsigned.

Edward Mirynech fonds, 1913-1914, 1946, 1952-1957, 1959-1960, 1965-1982, n.d.

Edward Mirynech joined the faculty at Brock University in 1964 as assistant professor of Geology. Edward Mirynech, the son of John and Katherine Mirynech, grew up in St. Catharines, attended Connaught Public School and received his formal education at the University of Toronto. Dr. Mirynech played several critical roles in the early development of the University. In addition to teaching, Dr. Mirynech was also the acting director of the athletics department, a coach for many of the early rowing, hockey and basketball teams and served the University as marshall for the sod turning ceremony for the new DeCew campus in 1965. Dr. Mirynech was instrumental in the founding of the physical education, geography and geological sciences programs. He served as acting chairman in 1968 when the department of geological sciences enrolled its first students. Part of the unique teaching program was the annual field trips to locations such as the Belleville area, extended summer teaching programs held in Trinidad-Tobago and the following year in Iceland. In 1972, the first graduation ceremony ever to be held in the Arctic, at Pond Inlet, NWT, made national news. Three geology students, on a study trip to the Arctic, received their degrees during a special ceremony. Dr. Mirynech was among the faculty team in Pond Inlet, NWT, representing Brock University. Dr. Mirynech retired from teaching in 1985, and passed away in 2004.

Gideon Sundback fonds, 1942, 1952, 1985-1986, 1991, 2004, n.d.

Gideon Sundback was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1880. He was educated as an engineer and settled in the United States in 1905. While working for the Universal Fastener Company, New Jersey in 1913 he developed and patented a “separable fastener”, which improved on an earlier version of what today is known as the zipper. He later moved his family to Meadville, Pennsylvania and sought a Canadian location for the production of his new invention. He settled on St. Catharines as it was an easy commute from his Pennsylvania home and opened The Lightning Fastener Company on Niagara Street. Sundback died on June 21, 1954 and is interred in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The plant continued to operate, but with increased foreign competition the manufacture of the zipper declined. The plant closed in 1981. Source: The St. Catharines Standard, July 3, 2004 Harold Fox was a noted lawyer, academic, businessman, author and a leading authority on intellectual property. He was engaged by Gideon Sunback and the Lightening Fastening Company to combat patent infringements by Colonial Fastener in the 1930s. The relationship continued when Fox was asked to become the managing director of the company, which he did until 1949. Fox lived in St. Catharines at his home “Foxcroft” until his death in 1969. Source: http://thefoxfund.com/harold.htm (November 2, 2009)

Robert George Malcomson Papers, 1790s-2009 (non-inclusive)

Materials related to military and naval operations of the 1812 era, research of the late Robert Malcomson, Canadian author and historian. Materials include photocopies of materials relating to the War of 1812, photographs and detailed research notes Malcomson made regarding his approach to research (mainly found in Series VIII). Materials were originally arranged in binders relating to an area of research or a certain publication. Articles were removed from the binders and placed in folders using original titles from the binders as series or sub-series titles. Articles within the binders were separated by tabs indicating what the article related to in the publication or topic of interest. In order to avoid repetition, the writing on the tab was used for folder titles, as each folder would be a part of the Series under which it was grouped. The tab names could be authors, events, accounts etc. of the War. Series and sub-series titles were derived from the original titles on the binders. Original intellectual order was retained, grouping similar subjects into Series and Sub-series. Dates recorded were the publication dates of the articles; however, if no publication date was present the date of retrieval was used if from an academic database (ex. JSTOR). The black and white photos from various repositories are reproductions of paintings, microfilm etc. on photographic paper. The colour photographs from various repositories are actual photographs. All books donated by Malcomson were integrated into the University’s Special Collections book collection. These volumes are noted at the end of the finding aid under separated materials.

George H. Cornish Fonds

George Henry Cornish (1834-1912) was a Methodist minister whose circuits included Clinton, Ont. (1859), Newcastle, Ont. (1861), and Caledonia/Binbrook/Glanford, Ont. (1864- 1865). He wrote several books on the Methodist Church in Canada, including the Cyclopaedia of Methodism in Canada (1881) and the Handbook of Canadian Methodism (1867).