James Street (Hamilton, Ontario)

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Hamilton Street Railway Bus crossing King and James Streets.
Hamilton Street Railway Bus crossing King and James Streets.
A GO Train F59PH.
A GO Train F59PH.

James Street is a street in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at the base of the Niagara Escarpment from James Mountain Road, a mountain-access road in the city, originally was a one-way street going south throughout but now has sections of it that are two-way. It extends north to the city's waterfront at the North End where it ends at Guise Street West right in front of the Harbour West Marina Complex and the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club.

Contents

[edit] History

James Street was named after one of Nathaniel Hughson's sons. Hughson was one of the City founders of Hamilton along with George Hamilton and James Durand. [1]

George Hamilton, a settler and local politician, established a town site in the northern portion Barton Township after the war in 1815. He kept several east-west roads which were originally Indian Trails, but the north-south streets were on a regular grid pattern. Streets were designated "East" or "West" if they crossed James Street or King’s Highway No. 6. Streets were designated "North" or "South" if they crossed King Street or King’s Highway No. 8.[1]

Hugh Cossart Baker, Sr. established the first life insurance company in Canada 21 August, 1847; the Canada Life Assurance Company. [1] [2] The firm was incorporated in 1849. The first head office was in Hamilton, Ontario on the top floor of the Mechanics' Institute on James Street near Merrick, where Hamilton City Centre now stands. The head office remained in Hamilton until 1900, when the new president George Cox moved it to Toronto. [1]

In 1872, the Bank of Hamilton was established. It had it's head offices at the corner of King and James Streets and lasted until 1924. The Bank of Hamilton merged with The Commerce (later to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC) on January 2, 1924. It was one of the last surviving banks in Canada that was not headquartered in Toronto or Montreal.[3]

On June 20, 1877, the first commercial telephone service in Canada began in Hamilton, Ontario. [2] Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. learned of Alexander Graham Bell's invention in 1877 at the Philadelphia International Exposition and from there decided to test the communication tool in Hamilton. [4] Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. is credited with making the first telephone exchange in the British Empire from a building on the corner of James and Main Street East which still stands there today (March 2007) and is the current home of the Canadian Clubs of Canada. [4]

James Street, at the base of the Niagara Escarpment (mountain) was the site of the city's first Incline railway (1892-1932). Back then, the Incline railway on James Street was known as the Hamilton & Barton Incline Railway. [5][6] The city's second Incline railway on Wentworth Street South, (1895-1936), was known as the Eastend Incline Railway but was often called, The Mount Hamilton Incline Railway. [5][6]

Architectural history includes Hamilton's first large department store opened up in 1893, The Right House on James Street North. It was Hamilton's first large department store. [7] In 1929, the Pigott Building was built for $1,000,000. Known as Hamilton's first skyscraper, it has 18-floors and stands at 210-feet. Originally an office building, the Pigott Building is now used for condominiums. [8] The Lister Block building on the corner of James and King William Street was the first indoor commercial mall in Canada. [9] In 1961, the Old city hall, with its 38-metre clock tower was demolished to allow expansion of Eaton's department store. The clock and bell went into the tower of the 1990 Eaton Centre, now known as the Hamilton City Centre. [10] In 1973, The Birks Building, at King and James, was demolished to make room for a modernist law office, was once described by Oscar Wilde as "the most beautiful building in all of North America."[11] In 2000, LIUNA Station reopened the James Street North Canadian National rail station as a banquet hall.

[edit] Landmarks

  • Harbour West Marina Complex
  • Royal Hamilton Yacht Club
  • Hamilton Harbour Commission Building
  • LIUNA Station
  • Jamesville, which is shared by the Italian & Portuguese communities of Hamilton.
    • You Me Gallery
    • Gallery 252
    • Hamilton Artist's Inc.
    • Blue Angel Gallery
    • Mixed Media Gallery
    • Under the Moon
    • The Print Studio
    • Loose Canon
    • The Factory: Hamilton Media Arts Centre
    • The Hammertheatre Company
    • Downtown Arts Centre
    • James Street North Merchant Association
  • John Weir Foote VC Armouries
  • Hamilton City Centre (Mall, formerly the Eaton's Centre)
  • Lloyd D. Jackson Square (Mall)
  • Gore Park including Queen Victoria statue [1]
  • Commerce Place I (part of a twin tower complex with Commerce Place II)
  • Pigott Building
  • Bank of Montreal Building (Hamilton) (converted to a National Law firm office)
  • Downtown YMCA
  • James Street South Shopping district
  • Hamilton GO Transit station, Original site of the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (1892-1987)
  • Chateau Royal (condo)
  • Medical Arts Building
  • St. Joseph's Hospital
  • James Street Stairway (Access to the Upper City, "Mountain"), old site of the James Street Incline railway, (1892-1932)
  • Bruce Trail
  • Niagara Escarpment (mountain)

[edit] Communities

  • North End - Everything north of the Canadian National Railway tracks
  • Central- The financial center of Hamilton, Ontario
  • Durand/ Corktown, James Street is the division between these two neighbourhoods.

[edit] Major roads that cross James Street

  • Burlington Street
  • Barton Street West/East
  • Cannon Street West/East - One way street (Westbound only)
  • Wilson Street - One way street (Eastbound Only)
  • King William Street - One way street (Eastbound Only), Starts off at James Street North.
  • King Street West/East - One way street (Westbound Only)
  • Main Street West/East - One way street (Eastbound Only)
  • Jackson Street East
  • Hunter Street West/East - One way street (Westbound Only)
  • Charlton Avenue West/East - One way street (Westbound Only)

[edit] Roads that are parallel with James Street

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Bailey, Thomas Melville (1981). Dictionary of Hamilton Biography (Vol I, 1791-1875). W.L. Griffin Ltd. 
  2. ^ a b Chronolgy of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Ontario. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  3. ^ CIBC Mergers and Amalgamations, The Canadian Bank of Commerce. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  4. ^ a b Houghton, Margaret (2003). The Hamiltonians, 100 Fascinating Lives. James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers Toronto. ISBN 1-55028-804-0. 
  5. ^ a b Hamilton Street Railway History. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  6. ^ a b Hamilton Transit History. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  7. ^ Fast Facts from Hamilton's Past. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  8. ^ The Pigott Building- 1929. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  9. ^ The Hamilton Spectator- Souvenir Edition page MP38 (Saturday June 10, 2006). The Hamilton Memory Project;. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  10. ^ Johnston, Bill. Hamilton Spectator article: "Lament for a Downtown". Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  11. ^ Birk's Building demolished-1973. (www.raisethehammer.org). Retrieved on 2007-03-26.



v • d • e
Roads in Hamilton, Ontario
Lower City Arteries (Primary Roads): Bay • Burlington • Cootes • Dundurn • James • John • Queen • Victoria • Wellington • Wentworth
Lower City Collectors (Secondary): Catharine • Ferguson • Hess • Hughson • Locke • MacNab
Municipal Expressways: The Linc • Red Hill Valley
Provincial Highways: 2 • 5 • 6 (By-Pass) • 8 • Chedoke Parkway • QEW
Other Canadian cities: Toronto · York Region · Markham · Essex County · Windsor · Mississauga


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