Where the road meets the canal
From time immemorial there has been some tension in this part of Niagara between the needs of eastwest land travel (from the Niagara River at Queenston westward to Hamilton) and the need for unimpeded navigation along Twelve Mile Creek through St. Catharines.
There has always had to be some way for the east-west road traffic to continue unimpeded without being a barrier to others navigating the river
Lacking any extensive records until the early 19th century, we can only speculate about how that was done in early days. But with increased European settlement in the area, and especially with the establishment of the waterway as a full-fledged shipping route between lakes Ontario and Erie, establishing a reliable crossing point for both land- and water-borne traffic became crucial.
It is believed that at least by the time the new Welland Canal opened in 1829 there was a swing bridge there. Newspaper records note that first bridge was replaced by another in 1878. That bridge, often referred to as the lower level bridge, remained in place until the early 1940s.
All the while there was a clamour on the part of ordinary citizens and of commercial interests for the construction of a high level bridge that would stretch across the valley of the old canal and allow traffic passing through the St. Paul and Ontario streets intersection to continue on a level across the valley to Western Hill and beyond without having to make the difficult descent down into the valley.
That wish was achieved late in 1915 with the opening of the new high level bridge — the Burgoyne Bridge. Nonetheless, traffic across the lower level bridge continued, with the swing bridge there remaining in use until the early 1940s. At that point the increased needs of local war-related industries required that the hydro generating capacity of Decew Falls be increased. That resulted in increased water passing through the Decew generators, and that required the widening and deepening of the river’s channel, which meant major changes at road crossings like the one at the lower level bridge.
Consequently, in about 1942 the old 1878-era swing bridge was removed, the river channel widened, and a new wooden fixed bridge built in its place.
Our old photo this week shows the scene there in February 1946. A steam shovel on the south bank of the creek is preparing the concrete footings of the steel truss bridge that later that year would replace the 1942 fixed wooden bridge. For the next 20-some years that new bridge would continue to accommodate traffic winding down St. Paul Crescent from downtown, crossing the creek and climbing the opposite slope to the centre of Western Hill.
This week’s today photo shows all of that changed. In the late 1970s construction of Highway 406 forever cut that link. Traffic across the steel lower level bridge today is limited to hikers exploring the valley of the old Welland Canal.