Gage Avenue (Hamilton, Ontario)

Gage Avenue is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at Lawrence Road at the base of the Niagara Escarpment (mountain) at the south end of Gage Park. It is a two-way arterial road that extends north through the city's North End industrial neighbourhood and ends at Industrial Drive.

History

Gage Avenue and Upper Gage Avenue are named after the park of the same name whose western border is bounded by Gage Avenue. The park was on lands sold by Robert Russel Gage, a descendant of William Gage and named in honour of the Gage families that descended from James Gage, a lumber merchant and his uncle William Gage, a farmer. Together James and William had farms that were the site of the Battle of Stoney Creek during the War of 1812. The wounded were treated inside their homes and they were both awarded compensation for it by the government.^[1] Originally Gage Avenue was called Trolley Street.^[2]

Tim Horton's Field (2 blocks West of Gage Avenue) is the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. The stadium was originally known as Civic Stadium and was constructed in 1930 to host the 1930 British Empire Games; Canada's first major international athletic event, held in Hamilton from August 16 to 23, 1930. The stadium is now surrounded by residential housing in Hamilton's east side.^[3] The CFL's annual Eastern Division Labour Day Classic pits the Hamilton Tiger-Cats against perennial rivals the Toronto Argonauts. This particular weekend, typically the tenth or eleventh week in the season, is known for its fixtures that do not change from year to year. Oddly, for many years before his death, Harold Ballard owned both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise in rival city Toronto.^[4] The Hamilton A.A.A. Grounds, (Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association Grounds), is a park that was home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1872 to 1949. That Park is still there today and can be found at Queen Street South, right before Charlton Avenue West.^[5]

Festivals

Hamilton, Ontario has hosted several cultural and craft fairs since the 1960s, notably Festival of Friends, which made it a major tourist destination. The Festival of Friends, founded in 1975, is the largest annual free music event in Canada. Burton Cummings, Lighthouse, Finger Eleven, and Bruce Cockburn have been among the main stage headliners at the George R. Robinson Bandshell at Gage Park.^[6]

Landmarks

Note: Listing of Landmarks from North to South.

Pier 17
Steel Company of Canada (Stelco), Piers 16, 17, 18 Sherman Avenue North to Ottawa Street North
Canadian National railway tracks
Tim Hortons Field, home of the CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats, (2 blocks West of Gage Avenue on Cannon)
Gage Park
Hamilton Children's Museum (inside Gage Park)
Gage Park Bandshell (concert stage)
Gage Park fountain
Escarpment Rail Trail (abandoned railway path)
Bruce Trail
Mountain Face Park
Niagara Escarpment (mountain)

Communities

Neighbourhood snapshot, Gage Avenue South

Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir

Note: Listing of neighbourhoods from North to South^[7]

Northend - Everything north of the Canadian National Railway tracks
Stipeley/ Crown Point, Gage Avenue is the division between these two neighbourhoods.
Blakeley/ The Delta, Gage Avenue is the division between these two neighbourhoods.

Images

Gage Park Fountain prior to restoration
Gage Park Fountain and watercourse prior to restoration
Gage Park Waterfountain, turtle statuette
Railway Tracks, Gage Avenue North
Truck Lot, Gage Avenue North
Dofasco & North End industrial buildings

References

^ Bailey, Thomas Melville (1981). Dictionary of Hamilton Biography (Vol I, 1791-1875). W.L. Griffin Ltd.
^ Manson, Bill (2003). Footsteps In Time: Exploring Hamilton's heritage neighbourhoods. North Shore Publishing Inc. ISBN 1-896899-22-6.
^ Wilson, Paul. "Ivor Wynne Stadium". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
^ Beddoes, Dick (1989). Pal Hal: An uninhibited, no-holds-barred account of the life and times of Harold Ballard. Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 1-57243-390-6.
^ "A.A.A. Grounds: Canadian Football Timelines; Canadian Football web site". Archived from the original on 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
^ "The Hamilton Memory Project;" (Press release). The Hamilton Spectator- Tourism Hamilton page MP54. 2006-06-10.
^ "Hamilton Neighbourhood Boundaries, (map.hamilton.ca)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-11.