1.
Hamilton, Ontario
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Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Residents of the old city are known as Hamiltonians, since 1981, the metropolitan area has been listed as the ninth largest in Canada and the third largest in Ontario. Hamilton is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, McMaster University is ranked 4th in Canada and 94th in the world by Times Higher Education Rankings 2015-16 and has a well-known medical school. Possibly because of its environment, numerous TV and film productions have been filmed in Hamilton, regulated by the Hamilton Film. A growing arts and culture community garnered media attention in 2006 when the Globe and Mail published an article called Go West, the article highlighted local art galleries, recording studios and independent film production. In pre-colonial times, the Neutral Indians used much of the land but were driven out by the Five Nations who were allied with the British against the Huron. A member of the Iroquois Confederacy provided the route and name for Mohawk Road, which originally included King Street in the lower city. In 1784, about 10,000 United Empire Loyalists settled in Upper Canada, chiefly in Niagara, around the Bay of Quinte, and along the St. Lawrence River between Lake Ontario and Montreal. They were soon followed by many more Americans, some of not so much ardent loyalists but attracted nonetheless by the availability of inexpensive. At the same time, large numbers of Iroquois loyal to Britain arrived from the United States and were settled on reserves west of Lake Ontario. The town of Hamilton was conceived by George Hamilton, when he purchased farm holdings of James Durand, nathaniel Hughson, a property owner to the north, cooperated with George Hamilton to prepare a proposal for a courthouse and jail on Hamiltons property. Hamilton offered the land to the crown for the future site, Durand was empowered by Hughson and Hamilton to sell property holdings which later became the site of the town. As he had instructed, Durand circulated the offers at York during a session of the Legislative Assembly. Initially, this town was not the most important centre of the Gore District, a permanent jail was not constructed until 1832 when a cut-stone design was completed on one of the two squares created in 1816, Princes Square. Subsequently, the first police board and the limits were defined by statute on February 13,1833. Official City status was achieved on June 9,1846, by an act of Parliament,9 Victoria Chapter 73, the city had several interurban electric street railways and two inclines, all powered by the Cataract Power Co. Though suffering through the Hamilton Street Railway strike of 1906, with industrial businesses expanding, allan Skyway in 1958, and the first Tim Hortons store in 1964. Since then, many of the industries have moved or shut down operations and the economy has shifted more toward the service sector, such as transportation, education
2.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
3.
Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr.
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Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. Businessman, telephone pioneer. On June 20,1877, Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. started up the first commercial service in Canada in the city of Hamilton. Then in 1878, he made the first telephone exchange in the British Empire and this was also the second telephone exchange in all of North America. The following season on 15 May 1879 he made Hamilton the site of the first commercial long distance telephone line in the British Empire, in 1880, Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. received a charter to build a national telephone company in Hamilton, Ontario. It was called the Hamilton Telephone Company and this was the charter that enabled the creation of the Bell Telephone Company in Canada, Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. became the manager of the Ontario division until he retired in 1909. The first telephone had been leased to Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie in September 1877, Baker learned of Alexander Graham Bells invention in 1877 at the Philadelphia International Exposition and from there decided to test the communication tool in Hamilton. He leased four telephones for himself and his chess partners and on August 29,1877 and his father, Hugh Cossart Baker, Sr. established the first life insurance company in Canada on 21 August 1847, the Canada Life Assurance Company. Hamilton Gallery of Distinction, Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr, Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. at Find a Grave
4.
Alexander Graham Bell
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Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. Bells father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech and his research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U. S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his work as a scientist. Many other inventions marked Bells later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Although Bell was not one of the 33 founders of the National Geographic Society, he had a influence on the magazine while serving as the second president from January 7,1898. Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 3,1847, the family home was at 16 South Charlotte Street, and has a stone inscription marking it as Alexander Graham Bells birthplace. He had two brothers, Melville James Bell and Edward Charles Bell, both of whom would die of tuberculosis and his father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, a phonetician, and his mother was Eliza Grace. Born as just Alexander Bell, at age 10, he made a plea to his father to have a name like his two brothers. To close relatives and friends he remained Aleck, as a child, young Bell displayed a natural curiosity about his world, resulting in gathering botanical specimens as well as experimenting even at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbour whose family operated a flour mill, young Bell asked what needed to be done at the mill. In return, Bens father John Herdman gave both boys the run of a workshop in which to invent. From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry, with no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the familys pianist. Despite being normally quiet and introspective, he revelled in mimicry and he also developed a technique of speaking in clear, modulated tones directly into his mothers forehead wherein she would hear him with reasonable clarity. Bells preoccupation with his mothers deafness led him to study acoustics and his family was long associated with the teaching of elocution, his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are well known, especially his The Standard Elocutionist. The Standard Elocutionist appeared in 168 British editions and sold over a quarter of a million copies in the United States alone, in this treatise, his father explains his methods of how to instruct deaf-mutes to articulate words and read other peoples lip movements to decipher meaning. Bells father taught him and his brothers not only to write Visible Speech but to any symbol. Bell became so proficient that he became a part of his fathers public demonstrations, as a young child, Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father
5.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
6.
McMaster University
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McMaster University is a public research university located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on 121 hectares of land near the neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale. The university operates six academic faculties, the DeGroote School of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Science and it is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada. The university bears the name of Honourable William McMaster, a prominent Canadian Senator, McMaster University was incorporated under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887, merging the Toronto Baptist College with Woodstock College. It opened in Toronto in 1890, inadequate facilities and the gift of land in Hamilton prompted the institution to relocate in 1930. McMaster was controlled by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec until it became a privately chartered, the university is co-educational, and has over 25,000 undergraduate and over 4,000 post-graduate students. Alumni and former students of the university can be found all across Canada, notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders, one Rhodes Scholar, and two Nobel laureates. The McMaster athletic teams are known as the Marauders, and are members of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, McMaster University resulted from the outgrowth of educational initiatives undertaken by Baptists as early as the 1830s. It was founded in 1881 as Toronto Baptist College, in 1887 the Act to unite Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College was granted royal assent, and McMaster University was officially incorporated. Woodstock College, Woodstock, and Moulton Ladies College, Toronto, were maintained in close connection, the new university, housed in McMaster Hall in Toronto, was sponsored by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec as a sectarian undergraduate institution for its clergy and adherents. The first courses—initially limited to arts and theology leading to a BA degree—were taught in 1890, as the university grew, McMaster Hall started to become overcrowded. By the 1920s, after previous proposals between various university staff, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign to bring McMaster University to Hamilton, as the issue of space at McMaster Hall became more acute, the university administration debated the future of the university. The university nearly became federated with the University of Toronto, as had been the case with Trinity College, instead, in 1927, the university administration decided to transfer the university to Hamilton. The Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec secured $1.5 million, the lands for the university and new buildings were secured through gifts from graduates. Lands were transferred from Royal Botanical Gardens to establish the campus area, the first academic session on the new Hamilton campus began in 1930. McMasters property in Toronto was sold to the University of Toronto when McMaster moved to Hamilton in 1930, McMaster Hall is now home to the Royal Conservatory of Music. Professional programs during the period were limited to just theology. By the 1940s the McMaster administration was under pressure to modernize, during the Second World War and post-war periods the demand for technological expertise, particularly in the sciences, increased
7.
Bloor Street
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Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, east of the viaduct, Danforth Avenue continues along the same right-of-way. The street, approximately 25 kilometres long, contains a significant cross-sample of Torontos ethnic communities and it is also home to Torontos famous shopping street, the Mink Mile. The street is named after Joseph Bloore, a brewer and land speculator of this area in the 19th century who founded the Village of Yorkville in 1830 and he is buried at Necropolis Cemetery on Bayview Avenue and Rosedale Valley Road. A portion of Line 2 of the Bloor-Danforth subway line runs along Bloor from Kipling Avenue to Yonge Street, and then continues east along Danforth Avenue. Originally surveyed as the first concession road north of the baseline, it was known by names, including the Tollgate Road, then St. Pauls Road. Although Bloore had an e at the end of his surname, Bloor Street was never spelled with it, the idea of installing bicycle lanes on Bloor had been debated since at least the early 1970s. On 4 May 2016, city council voted 38-3 to implement physically separated bike lanes along a 2. 6-km stretch of the street. Mayor John Tory stated, in support of the project, that if council sought to make Toronto a 21st century city, Bloor street begins at the eastern edge of the Prince Edward Viaduct, which passes over the ravine holding the Don River. The street continues through to the Rosedale Ravine, marking the border of the affluent community of Rosedale. West of Parliament Street, the passes just to the north of the large St. James Town housing project. On the northern side of section of Bloor are the forested slopes of the Rosedale Ravine. Between Sherbourne and Church Streets the street is lined by large office towers and this area has long been the centre of the insurance industry in Canada. West of Church the street becomes commercial and is an important shopping district. In downtown, especially around the intersection with Bay Street, Bloor is one of the most exclusive stretches of real estate in Canada. Rents on the upscale Bloor Street have doubled in 4 years, ranking as the 22nd most expensive location in the world in 2006. Nationally, Vancouvers upscale Robson Street tied with Bloor Street West as the most expensive street in Canada, under the intersection of Yonge and Bloor Streets is the Bloor-Yonge subway station, which is the busiest in the city, serving approximately 368,800 people a day. Above ground, the intersection encompasses commercial stores and condominiums and it generally retains its commercial character, and serves as the main shopping area for most of these communities
8.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
9.
Westdale Secondary School
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Westdale Secondary School is a public high school founded in 1931 in Hamilton, Ontario. It is the second oldest high school in the city of Hamilton and is located in Westdale Village and it is administered by the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Westdale celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 2006, Westdale is also the most populated public high school in Hamilton, Ontario. Westdale was founded as a collegiate school—housing three collegiates under one roof—and was, at a time, the largest school in the British Commonwealth, the original building was referred to as Westdale Composite School, or Westdale Tripartite School, because it housed three separate schools. The collegiate, technical and commercial schools were housed on the left, middle, the architects Prack and Prack designed the building with arched doorways and pseudo-buttresses of the school gothic architectural style. Constructed by J. M. Piggott Construction Company at an initial cost of $1,306,521, Westdale Secondary school has also become an IB school as of 2008, and has been the home of the Westdale Latin Programme since 1931. Westdale regularly participates in and plays host to numerous fundraisers and awareness rallies, each year the students organise such events as Keep the Beat, Coffee House, and the 30 Hour Famine. Westdale makes annual contributions to the Stephen Lewis Foundation through crêpe sales, in 2005, Westdale students were part of the effort to keep the Victoria Cross of Frederick George Topham in Canada, as it was being auctioned off by his family. Westdale also runs an annual canned food drive for the banks in Hamilton. Westdale annually hosts the Haiti Run, a charity event held on a Saturday in the fall to raise money to schools and nurseries. Participants walk, run, or jog through Westdale Village having secured pledges in the leading up to the run. Westdale regularly raises money for War Child Canada through an event called Keep the Beat, in the period of 2003-2006, Westdale raised $34,000 for War Child Canada. As a show of their appreciation, War Child asked Sum 41 members Cone, as a direct result of Westdales effort, a school in the village of Makobola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, is being rebuilt after being destroyed in war. Westdale Secondary also raises money for cancer research every year in the Terry Fox Run, Westdale students collect pledges in the weeks before the run, then they may choose to walk, jog, or run through Westdale Village. Over 2 million people around the world participate in the Terry Fox Run every year, in 2008, Westdale Secondary Schools student council held the Red Ribbon Rock, a coffee house aimed at raising funds and awareness for the fight against the spread of AIDS in Africa. Raising over $1500 between the house and crepe sale, hosted by the Grade 12 French Immersion class. Westdale Helps is an organization formed through Westdale Secondary School in 2006 and it was originally proposed by a chemistry teacher new to Westdale, Dr. Orton at a student club meeting. The first and most notable initiative of this organization was the Honduras Initiative, the group raised funds for building materials in order to help families build homes through Habitat for Humanity
10.
George Elias Tuckett
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George Elias Tuckett was mayor of Hamilton, Ontario in 1896. Tuckett built a fortune during the American Civil War, cornering a chunk of the tobacco market and he also founded the Tuckett Tobacco Company in 1857. It was acquired by Imperial Tobacco in 1930 and he is buried in the Tuckett family crypt, located in Hamilton Cemetery. In 2005, a Bursary, The George Elias Tuckett Bursaries was established in his memory, Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 1896 - George Elias Tuckett Resting comfortably- The Hamilton Spectator Archived September 27,2007, at the Wayback Machine. George Elias Tuckett at Find a Grave
; Rymal Road, West/East
Chedoke Parkway, (passes underneath King Street West bridge)
