A BRIEF FORECAST OF GROWTH FOR 1912

[Welland Telegraph, 20 February 1912]

Welland this year will not only sustain its reputation as the fastest growing town in Ontario, but it will also set a new record for industrial development in the Dominion. This is a very broad statement but present indications are that at the close of 1912 will see its full justification.

Negotiations are on for the location of several new factories here early in the spring. A two hundred thousand dollar hotel will be erected by the Henrietta Hotel Company and a street railway system will be placed in operation about the first of March.

WILL PAVE

Early in the spring the Council will commence the paving of the Main Streets. All eyes are now beginning to be turned on this town and this year it will be “Watch Welland Grow!”

The plant of the Automatic Transportation Company will be placed in operation in a few weeks and within a short time the Page-Hersey Iron, Tube & Lead Company will be taking on several hundred additional hands.

MANY RAILROADS-MORE COMING

Although Welland at the present time has more railroads than any other town in Canada, the prospects are that it will have more. In the very near future the C.P.R., and the C.N.R., will build branches to Welland. The statement is authoritive as the respective companies have admitted that such is their intention. At the present time Welland has seven railroads and forty-six passenger trains run through the town every day. The city is within easy access, therefore, to all the principal commercial centres of America.

HOW WE HAVE GROWN

A brief word of the past growth of the town will serve to show what has been going on here. Five years ago the town had a population of less than 1800. Today, with the people living on the outskirts, it is over 6000.

NEW BUSINESS BLOCKS

Immediately after the opening of spring a number of new business blocks will be erected. H.A. Rose will put up a three storey block on East Main Street, and A.J.J. Brennan will add another storey to his block. S.P. Gourlay has plans out for a new block on Cross Street and A.J. Morris of Guelph will build a new two storey business block on East Main Street, east of the G.T.R. S.L. Lambert will erect a new block on North Main St., for which plans have been gotten out.

The County Council are considering the enlargement of the Registry Office, or the erection of a new building, and it is very likely that this will be gone on with this spring.

JOHN DEERE

One of the biggest booms Welland  will receive will be the erection of an immense plant for the John Deere Manufacturing Company. According to the original plans of the company, they will put up a plant here that will cost in the neighborhood of $1,000,000.

OUR ADVANTAGES

Welland’s unequalled advantages are almost too well known to need elucidation. The town has cheap gas, cheap electricity, unequalled  rail transportation and it is on the banks of the great Welland canal.

Should the Welland canal be enlarged it would mean that Welland will be the centre of the great industrial development which is bound to follow such a project.

HOTELS

The Dexter House is now being remodelled and when completed will present a very attractive appearance and will be thoroughly modern in every detail. Welland has long been in need of better hotel accommodation.

NEW WATERWORKS PLANT

By the first of May a splendid new waterworks plant will be completed and in operation. This plant is erected on The Island, and water power is secured from the canal. It is one of the best contracted waterworks plants in Ontario and it will provide water for the city for many years.

AN EXTENTION

The street railway is to be extended next spring. A west side line is to be built to connect with the east side line and to meet all cars on the N.S.& T. Work on the laying of the track will be started early in the spring.

CARNEGIE LIBRARY

Municipal improvements area also planned and will undoubtedly be carried out. A new Carnegie Library is to be erected and a new central fire hall may be built.

President D. Ross of the Board of Trade may erect a new brick block on Muir Street, but he has not decided definitely concerning this matter.

AN ARMORY

Local military men are making an effort to have a handsome new armory erected in Welland this spring, and a meeting of local officers will be held to consider the matter.

MORE PARKS

Welland’s Park Commission has been active in the beautification of the town and will make further improvements to the park next year. They may also acquire additional property for park purposes.

CHURCHES

Both the Episcopalians and the Catholics are preparing to build handsome edifices in the spring.

The Salvation Army will erect a new barracks in the spring They have secured a site on the corner of Hellems Avenue and Cross Streets.