Merritton is both a distinct community within and a

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

ward of

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. It was named after

William Hamilton Merritt William Hamilton Merritt (July 3, 1793July 5, 1862) was a businessman and politician in the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada in the early 19th century. Although he was born in the United States, his family was Loyalist and eventually settle ...

, a prominent local entrepreneur and founder of the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller, Ontario, Port Weller i ...

Company. Until 1858, Merritton was named Welland City, but exchanged names that year with Merrittsville (Today's Welland City), when that town became the "seat" of Welland county. Merritton was also previously known as Slabtown and Centreville. It became part of the city of St. Catharines in 1961. Prior to amalgamation which saw the original city of St. Catharines absorb several satellite towns, Merritton was a separate entity (along with

Port Dalhousie Port Dalhousie is a community in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Known for its waterfront appeal, it is home to the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and is historically significant as the terminus for the first three (19th century) routes of the ...

). This led to the population of St. Catharines becoming more than twice as large. To this day, residents maintain a sense of distinct community identity. The original town hall, on Merritt St., once the City of St. Catharines Museum, is now home to the St. Catharines Senior's Centre. As a former industrial centre on the Welland Canal, Merritton contains various heritage sites. Among them are the Merritton Tunnel (under the third Welland Canal), remnants of the three previous

s and several early industrial ruins, and

The Keg The Keg is a Canadian-owned chain of steakhouse restaurants and bars located in Canada and the United States. The original "The Keg and Cleaver" restaurant was founded by George Tidball, in 1971, at a location in North Vancouver, British Colu ...

restaurant, which is housed in the former Independent Rubber Company / Merritton Cotton Mills Annex. The Stone Mill Inn and Ballroom, Johnny Rocco's Italian Grill, and several other businesses are housed in the old Lybster Mill building which was built in 1860. The area has undergone a major infrastructure facelift involving the re-alignment of Glendale Avenue, the replacement of the Merritt Street Bridge. Two commercial plazas were built in the 2000s on opposite sides of Glendale Avenue near Merritt Street with a

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales o ...

grocery store,

LCBO The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Canadian province of Ontario. It is accountable to the Legislative Assembly through the minister of finance. It wa ...

liquor store,

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 ...

Swiss Chalet Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

, as well as several other restaurants, and branches of the Royal Bank and Scotia Bank. A new fire hall was built in 2013. Merritton is also experiencing a significant increase in residential construction, especially on property designated as

brownfield In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

by the city.

References

External links

The Merritton WebsiteMerritton community website
Neighbourhoods in St. Catharines {{GoldenHorseshoe-geo-stub