Welland City Overview
(Go to the Welland Sport Hotels Section)

The City of Welland is located on the Welland Ship Canal, almost midway between Lakes Ontario and Erie.  It is served by the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo; Norfolk and Western; Canadian National and Consolidated Rail Corporation Railroads.  It also has an excellent dockage facility of the Welland Canal.

With existing transportation facilities, together with availability of electrical power, Welland is a manufacturing centre of note with large iron and steel, textile, rubber and electrical equipment industries.  With miles of paved streets, fine business section, parks and well-organized education facilities, including the Niagara College of Applied Arts & Technology, its advantages for the visitor are numerous and attractive.

In 1829, when a wooden aqueduct was built to carry the Welland Canal over the Welland River, the settlement was called Aqueduct.  In 1842, when the wooden aqueduct was replaced by one of stone, the name was changed to Merrittsville in honour of the Honourable William Merritt.  The settlement was incorporated as the Village of Welland on July 24th, 1858.  Incorporation as a town took place on January 1st, 1878, and as a City on July 1st, 1917.

Welland is located in the heart of the Niagara District, whose fruit orchards, vineyards and vegetable gardens have given the area the title of "Garden of Canada".  There are 350 acres of fine parks and one of the finest Rose Gardens in the Province.  This garden with others privately-owned, has earned for Welland the appellation of "Rose City" a title officially confirmed by resolution of City Council on October 18th, 1921.

For recreation to go with its parks, Welland has public and private tennis courts, three outdoor swimming pools, one YMCA - YWCA indoor pool, five wading splash pools, lighted and unlighted baseball grounds, two artificial ice arenas with a main arena capacity of 4,200 and a seating capacity of 2,400, an 18-hole golf course, 8-sheet artificial ice curling rink and seven motion picture theaters.

On June 9th, 1967, a sod-turning ceremony marked the start of construction of an 8.3 mile channel to relocate the Welland Ship Canal from the City's core, easterly a distance of approximately 1 1/2 miles.  On December 15th, 1972, the bridges over the Welland Ship Canal in the city of Welland came down permanently as navigation on this channel closed forever.

The new channel which opened for shipping on April 1st, 1973, and officially opened with appropriate ceremonies on July 14th, 1973, has had a dramatic effect upon all aspects of Welland's continued growth and expansion.

1988 also saw the commencement of construction of a $2.9 million Community Sports Complex located on Welland's north side adjacent to the Niagara Regional Exhibition Grounds.  The complex features 2 slow-pitch diamonds and a 2,500 seat capacity stadium and baseball diamond.

In 1990, the City constructed the Rose City Seniors Centre which brought together into one modern facility various senior organizations for common pursuits.  With program assistance from the City's Recreation Department this facility is a constant bustle of activity and the envy of many communities.

1993 saw an anchor attraction come to downtown Welland when the City constructed the Welland Transit Terminal.  This facility is the connecting focus for local, regional and transcontinental public transportation.  The success of this facility was immediate as links between Niagara College and Brock University emerged; as well, major transcontinental public transit carriers began using Welland as a transfer point.

Economic resurgence continued throughout the mid 1990ıs both in the private and public sector as Wellandıs strength and resources in the emerging technology of call centres brought a competitive edge to the City for enticing new businesses to Welland.  In 1998, there are seven (7) major call centres located within the City, creating with them a total of 640 new jobs.  As well, there are state of the art training labs at local high schools and Niagara College to provide employment training. 

Meanwhile, in the public sector in 1998, Niagara College opened a 117 unit student residence complex at its Welland Campus.  The Welland Arena also saw major renovations adding administrative offices and meeting room facilities to the front of the Welland Arena.

The year 2000 saw significant expansion in the Cityıs industrial sector with John Deere adding some 88,000 square feet of new space, GDX (Gencor) adding some 18,000 sq. feet of new space and Premier Refractories / Vesuvius consolidating its operations to Welland and adding some 30,000 square feet of space to its Prince Charles location.  The additions to John Deere and GDX (Gencor) were the first capital expansions to these plants in over 25 years.

The 2001 Municipal Elections made local history when the City of Welland elected its first female Mayor.  Mayor Cindy Forster was sworn into office December 1, 2000.

The 2003 population of Welland was 47,161. The city has some great sport facilities and is an great place to host tournaments for a wide range of sporting activities.

Welland Ontario has great opportunities for sport tournaments of all kinds. Sport tourism is a part of Welland Ontario and it features a wide variety of sport tournament opportunities.