WELLANDPORT: Busy Shipping Centre of a Bygone Era

[Niagara Farmers’ Monthly, August 1992]

By Margaret Comfort

Much of Wellandport’s history may be gleaned from physical evidence, dating back even to prehistoric times. Skeletal remains of two elephant-like mastodons were discovered in the area, indicating that it was once covered with evergreens, the mainstay of their vegetation diet.

The Welland River(Chippawa Creek) was a direct artery in shipping lumber and grain to the United States, narrowly separated from Beaver Creek by a former Indian path. That two-mile long strip of land was called The Narrows by United Empire Loyalists (UEL) who began settling there in the late 1700s.

The two waterways made the location an ideal one for transportation, livestock and personal use, as well as power for the saw and grist mills so vital to progress.

As the community matured, the water source took on a new significance, in combating two major fires within the village itself. Effects of those fires and more recent growth may be traced by comparing the architecture of the buildings along today’s Canborough Road and Highway 57 junction.

Road signs reveal the names of many Loyalist settlers, descendants of whom remain in the area today. However, community businesses and neighbouring farms are now predominantly owned by people of Dutch origin. A wave of the later immigrated following World War 11, so that by 1960, Wellandport’s Riverside Christian Reformed Church boasted a membership of 900. It was built just eight years earlier.

The township’s first school house was built of logs on “Dils” Lane, a mile west of the village. William B. Wilson, later referred to as “Napperetandy”, was the first teacher at the then Niagara District. Upper Canada School. Based on the number of their children attending, parents contributed towards the costs of education.

“The first female teacher employed in Wellandport school in 1860, was Miss Miller, having from 75 to 80 pupils, salary $300.” wrote Dilly Coleman Holmes, former postmaster and great grandfather of local dairyman Gerald Freure, in memoirs that were published in 1899.

“The trustees debated the question of having a female teacher. The opinion was that a woman could never control a school. One trustee said,”Let us give her a trial. The British Empire is ruled by a woman and cannot a woman rule a school?”

By that time, the school house was located further south, another log structure having replaced the original one. That too was replaced, by a frame building, and finally, a brick one in1893. Miss Miller had more than your average enrolment in her “trial”, for, most of the time, 55 to 60 students were on the roll call.

S.S. No. 11 was one of the few buildings to survive the Wellandport fire of 1910. Located behind Wellandport Home Hardware, it is now used as a warehouse.

In recent years, local children have attended Wellandport’s Calvinistic Christian School, opened in 1958, and Gainsborough Central School, opened in 1965.

The first church, “The Log Jail” was built on Lot 2 Consc 1 Gainsboro.

With an eye toward more self sufficiency, ships or scows were built at Wellandport, to transport lumber, grain, and other goods. One scow could carry 200 to 250 cords of wood.

On October 23, 1856, 4167 bushels were transported aboard the boat Mar Alice, while one receipt dated June 30, 1873 declares that 3,105 bushels of wheat were received of Samuel Holmes for Sylvester Neelson of St Catharines and shipped in good order on the scow Victoria.

Named Wellandport in 1841

It took a day for the mail to be delivered on horseback to each of the villages, from Port Robinson to Canboro, Welland Port received its name officially n 1841, with the opening of the post office in its unique location, at the back of the bar room in Luke Cavers’ hotel. To this day, direct descendants of that first postmaster deliver mail.

Another descendant, Elma (Cavers) Krick and her husband, John, live on an original Cavers homestead, just west of the village, on Canborough Road.

John’s family, too were among the original settlers. Sunday Krick immigrated from Germany in early 1800s, and a century Far, is still in the Krick name on Elcho Road.

The Kricks provide more valuable insight into Wellandport’s past, along with some rare photos. One grist mill “Went up in a day and came down overnight” on the banks of the Chippewa southeast of the Canborough Rd. and hwy 57 intersection, according to Elma.

Samuel Holmes succeeded Cavers as postmaster, from 1853 until 1879.