Seaside Rendezvous

Seaside Rendezvous

Tourism at Port Dalhousie Beach

Leo Bozek

Niagara - 2024

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many social, environmental, and cultural shifts occurred during the emergence and boom of tourism in Port Dalhousie. The famous attractions at the Port after 1902, such as the amusements and beach at Lakeside Park became popular places for tourists and locals alike to spend their free time.1 Steamships, including the famous Northumberland and Dalhousie City, would regularly ferry people to and from Toronto, providing Canadians with regular connections to Port Dalhousie, where they could unwind at Lakeside Park.2 This paper illustrates how the changing relationship between the cultural, social, environmental, and industrial aspects of life in British North America contributed to the development of tourism in Port Dalhousie during the early 20^th^ century.

There are three main considerations that will be explored in this study. First, the relationship between the cultural landscape and the changing social values of British North America in the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras will be examined to see how they contributed to the boom in Port Dalhousie tourism. Second, shifts in civil society will be analyzed, such as the new tourism workforce in Port Dalhousie, the introduction of labour laws, and the rise of workers\' rights in the Niagara region. These changes in employment and labour will be examined to show how they might have contributed to the success of the tourism industry. Finally, the amusements, amenities, and environment of Lakeside Park will be analyzed to show what made people flock to the park in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Canadian society in the late Victorian era was characterized by family connections, community, religion, and participating in public events as a means of social mobility.3 These social values and aspects of culture helped contribute to the development of Port Dalhousie's tourism industry as they were particularly important to the newly emerged middle class in Ontario. Many new middle-class families were given the means to experience more leisure time outside of work where they could travel as tourists through an increase in disposable income. New labor laws also emerged, which limited the number of days people could work and designated the Sabbath as a day of rest.4 The financial means to engage in tourism, as well as new labour laws are significant as they exhibit how the social and cultural values of Victorian Canada contributed to the changing and developing tourism industry in the country. The appeal of affordable tourism, traveling to public places where families could engage in a natural environment free from bleak working conditions, made seaside tourism a popular activity.^4^ The increasing desire and ability of working-class, middle, and upper-class individuals to take seaside vacations paired with the Victorian values of family and community made Port Dalhousie an opportune place for many Canadian families to unwind and socialize.

The culture of the Victorian era, however, did inhibit some ways families would spend their time in Port Dalhousie, particularly when it came to swimming and bathing off Lakeside Park beach. In 1863 strict bylaws on public decency made bathing and changing in public unlawful. Public notices from the time stated, "Persons caught walking on the streets of this village in bathing costume will be prosecuted according to the law."5 The laws and societal norms of the time on public decency and bathing heavily impacted what an average day may look like on the beach at Port Dalhousie, from the way people dressed to the activities people were engaging in. As shown in the Victorian Women\'s Fashion Magazine The Delineator in Figure 1, fashionable women\'s bathing costumes were heavily impacted by dress regulations and social standards, as the majority of a woman\'s body was expected to be covered.6 In mid-1800's Ontario many people spent their time at the beach in a similar, but less active way than people do today. Beachgoers would engage with their community and lounge with their family and friends as they "Yawn over silly novels, or 'dip into the sugared slough of sentimental poetry [...] or spend their time in flimsy chit-chat on the trivial topics of the hour."7 The many social values that created the conditions for a successful seaside tourism industry reflected a cultural shift that occurred with the emergence of the middle class and resulted in a larger body of tourists that sought a seaside holiday, despite the strict laws regarding bathing.

Figure 1: An illustration of a Victorian Era Bathing Costume, showing how covered-up Women needed to be while bathing, 1894.

The end of the Victorian era and the dawn of the Edwardian era at the beginning of the 1900's brought new changes to the cultural and social norms of Britain and its colonies. Changing beliefs in proper dress and appearance, and an overall loosening of public formalities, led to an increase in public bathing and swimming.^6^ This period oversaw significant changes in both the social values spreading through society and the cultural landscape. Scientific innovation, the secularization of morals in public and private life, and the emergence of an overall more progressive and modern society were taking place.8

In the more progressive, modern, and increasingly secular society emerging under King Edward VII, female suffragists emerged, many of whom were advocating for women\'s emancipation through participation in active recreation and sport.9 Under the changing social and cultural conditions that shaped Edwardian society, activity at Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie was impacted, as shifting social norms and secularization increased interest and participation in active pastimes such as swimming. In the early 1900's "The park was famed as having one of the best beaches on the Great Lakes and bathers, boaters, picnickers, and cottagers were drawn to the park to avail themselves of all it afforded."10 The popularity of Lakeside Park Beach and the increased number of bathers in the early 1900s was reflected in a souvenir postcard as shown in Figure 2 from 1910 depicting swimmers enjoying the water and a bustling pier with steam and sailboats in the background.11

Figure 2: A Postcard from Port Dalhousie Beach showing the increasing popularity of bathing and leisure along the coast of Port Dalhousie, c. 1910.

As images of people enjoying the water were being mailed throughout North America, Port Dalhousie's reputation as a recreational port improved, and the flow of tourists into the port increased. In 1911 the steamship Dalhousie City was built to accommodate the growing number of tourists and would regularly ferry people to and from Port Dalhousie and Toronto.12 The innovation and proliferation of steamships during the Victorian age shaped transportation and led to increased tourism in British North America. Steamships and railways became central to tourism by the Edwardian era and provided scheduled services for passengers to travel to their destinations.13 A ferry schedule from 1920 as shown in Figure 3 for the steamships Dalhousie City and the new steamer, Northumberland (see Figure 3) built in 1920, indicated that the ships would travel to Port Dalhousie three times a day, six days a week, emphasizing the crucial role of steamships to supporting local tourism destinations.14

Figure 3: A ferry schedule showing the frequent trips Northumberland and Port Dalhousie would make between Toronto and Port Dalhousie, June 16, 1920.

Lakeside Park witnessed a large shift in social values towards equality and freedom with the organization of the first Emancipation Day picnic in 1924. Planned by Black Lawyer B.J. Spencer-Pitt, it was hosted annually and commemorated the freeing of slaves throughout the British Empire in 1833.15 The picnic was a huge draw for tourists and locals to celebrate and enjoy the day by the seaside at Port Dalhousie, with visitors coming from Toronto and Rochester, it was recorded that around 6000-8000 people attended each picnic.16 The Emancipation Day picnic is a strong examples of how the changing social values and cultural landscape in North America led to a significant rise in tourists. Events such as the Emancipation Day picnic affirmed the idea that Port Dalhousie and Lakeside Park were places for people from all walks of life to come and enjoy the day.

Ultimately, the changing cultural landscape and social values of British North America in the late Victorian and early Edwardian era contributed to the development of Port Dalhousie as a tourist destination in five key ways. First, this period oversaw the emergence of the middle class. Second, the formation of social values that encouraged spending leisure time with family became the norm. Third, changes took place within the cultural landscape that produced a more secular and progressive society culminating in the general loosening of public bylaws that prevented things such as public bathing. Fourth, progresses in industrial development with steam engines facilitated increased movement of people for vacation and leisure activities. Fifth, changes in equality and inclusivity occurred through events such as the annual Emancipation Day picnic, affirming that Port Dalhousie was a place for everyone to vacation.

The creation of the working class and their ability to vacation began with important legal changes for labour practices. The introduction of the Trade Union Act which legalized and protected unions in British North America took place in 1872.17 The establishment of unions and labor laws meant that middle and working-class people had the potential to earn higher wages and spend more time outside of work doing recreational activities, thus creating opportunities for the average family to go on vacation. By the time construction on the Third Welland Canal began workers across Niagara region experienced improvements in wages and workers\' rights. In particular, labour wages in Niagara region experienced a significant increase due to the establishment of several new workers 'unions and reduction in the number of available labour workers throughout the 1880s.18 Such factors created conditions that transformed Niagara into a region of industrial prosperity that contained a body of working-class people with more time and money to spend in their local communities.

The emergence of a new service-focused workforce that specifically established tourism services as a professional career field was instrumental to the development of a local tourism industry. The growth of tourism as a profession in Port Dalhousie blossomed shortly after the Niagara, St. Catharines, & Toronto Railway Company (NS & T) began to lay railway tracks down to the port. Witnessing the popularity of the beach, the company leased land on the west side of the canal for vendors and businesses to build beachside amusements, games, and concessions.19 The creation of an industry and economy based on tourism had clear benefits to places like Port Dalhousie, as tourist industries offer the potential to grow local economies, and "the creation of tourism-related jobs allows for other industries to flourish", namely, manufacturing.20 An example of how the tourism industry in Port Dalhousie contributed to the success of manufacturing is through the Muir Brothers dry dock, a shipbuilding and ship-repairing business owned by Scottish immigrant Alexander Muir. Heralded as the most important manufacturing industry by the Port Dalhousie directory in 1881, the dry dock was mostly used to rebuild and repair vessels that frequented the port.21 The high demand for passenger steamers to travel between Toronto and Port Dalhousie meant that several of these ships were regulars at the Muir Brothers dry dock, receiving repairs.22 This highlights how the development of the tourist industry in Port Dalhousie led to economic prosperity through the growth in employment opportunities it created, as well as through supporting other areas of the local economy like manufacturing.

One of the key reasons working-class people flocked to Port Dalhousie Beach is due to the affordable attractions, accommodations, and easy access to the seaside. There was no cost of admission to the beach and Lakeside Park\'s attractions were cost-friendly, with amusements such as the famous carousel costing as little as a nickel; which to the day is the same price.23 Several other attractions at the Port Dalhousie beach that amused people of all ages were the baseball diamond, a dance pavilion, a band stage, a picnic pavilion, an archery range, bingo, and a large waterslide off the beach shore.24 The maximum price for these activities never exceeded ten cents, further increasing their appeal.25 Cottages built at the beginning of the twentieth century along the beach at Port Dalhousie further enticed tourists to stay at the port for longer periods.26 As shown in Figure 4, the layout of Lakeside Park primarily focused its attractions on the beach shore and its proximity to residential streets made the environment convenient for entertainment at the beach and relaxation.27 The beach was a short walk away for locals and renters who lived in the coastal residential neighborhoods in Port Dalhousie as shown in Figure 4, and the Lakeside Park Inn on the opposite end of the beach displayed in Figure 5 made the park more attractive to those looking to stay and enjoy the activities for several days.28

Figure 4: A map of Port Dalhousie Harbor and the neighboring residential areas and Lakeside Park, 1935.

The layout of Lakeside Park as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 provide insight to the amusements, amenities, and delicacies that kept people from all walks of life flocking to the park for years. A benefit of having the majority of amusements such as the rentable bathhouses and the dance pavilion close to the beach was that the further inland portion of the park was largely unoccupied, leaving spacious open areas where firework shows and regular softball games would take place.29 The food and dining options at Lakeside Park were versatile and could accommodate the budget of people from either low or high economic status. The Lakeside Inn offered a full-course dinner for 85 cents in the 1920s, or eleven dollars and fifty-five cents today. For truly affordable food options, burger, hotdog, sandwich, and french fry stands populated the beach. Similarly, local sweets and delicacies on the beach stands included hand-made sugar candy, popcorn, and taffy apples.30 This illustrates that by providing several options for food and amusements, people were encouraged to become tourists at Port Dalhousie beach throughout the early twentieth century.

In terms of the environment, the widening of the canal and changing its entry point to be on the eastern end of the harbor were key shifts in the environment that allowed tourism to thrive. The widening of the Canal allowed more space for tourist boats at the mouth of it, such as the Northumberland and Dalhousie City.31 The two tourist steamers would utilize this new space in the harbor as they would first moor on the east side of the harbor to allow passengers who wanted to take the NS & T railway to come ashore and then moor on the west side to offload tourists at Lakeside Park.32 The extra space for the tourist steamers to dock at Lakeside Park was significant as it made the park a crossroads and central hub for tourists, locals, and workers to converge and spend time being entertained.

Figure 5: Dorothy Turcotte, "Map of Lakeside Park After 1925 Renovations", 1925.

The fall of tourism at Lakeside Park gradually came about in 1950, after Northumberland was ravaged by a fire and Dalhousie City was sold to a company in Montreal. The Canadian National Railway which funded the park in the past decided to focus more on transportation, rather than amusement parks, and put the park up for sale the same year the two steamers were lost.33 The park was still operational for several years afterward, but the popularity of the park dwindled and the final year the amusements were operated was 1969.34 While the loss of the tourist steamers was a substantial blow to the flow of tourists to the park, there have been some differing opinions on whether that was the sole cause of the loss of business. In 1970 the Park's final manager Sid Brookson sued the City of St. Catharine's and contested that the pollution on the beach and the dumping of raw sewage into the Port Dalhousie harbour was the main reason for the park's loss of popularity.35 Overall, the fall of tourism at Lakeside Park was spurred by the lack of support it was provided by its parent company, the Canadian National Railway as it shifted away from creating amusement parks to focusing on railways. Without the CNR's support, the park was unable to maintain the Dalhousie City, the pollution, the amusements, and ultimately, Tourists.

Lakeside Park Beach in Port Dalhousie established a legacy as a successful, thriving tourist destination that offered amusements and access to the beach. The beach's success depended on three factors that allowed tourism to develop and prosper. First, the cultural landscape and the changing social values that occurred in Britain and North America during the latter part of the Victorian and Edwardian eras helped create the desire for seaside tourism with family, public bathing, and inclusivity movements with the Emancipation Day Picnic. During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the means for people to be tourists was also created through the emergence of the middle class. More transportation options were also available with the proliferation of steamships and railways. Second, the societal shifts towards the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also helped support tourism in Port Dalhousie. New workforces emerged geared towards tourism that supported amusements and concessions. A large industrial workforce with labour laws, protection through unions, higher wages, and streamlined working hours. These factors shaped the tourist industry and gave working-class people the time and financial means to experience tourism and recreation. Finally, the amusements such as the waterslide, carousel, and regular shows, accommodations such as the beachside rentals and Lakeside Inn, and food that could be found on stands across the beach and the Lakeside Inn drew tourists in with their beachside location, affordable prices, and opportunity for family fun and rest.


  1. Dorothy Turcotte, "Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax." Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986, 31. 

  2. Toronto Daily Star "Page 21.", Toronto Daily Star Jun 16, 1920. 

  3. Andrew C. Holman, "A Sense of Their Duty Middle-Class Formation in Victorian Ontario Towns." Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000. 97-98. 

  4. Dorothy Turcotte, "Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax." Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986, 9. 

  5. Ibid., 12. 

  6. Figure 1: Butterick Publishing Co. "Summer and Its Recreations" The Delineator, July, 1892, 69. 

  7. Silvia Granata. "'Let Us Hasten to the Beach': Victorian Tourism and Seaside Collecting." Literature, Interpretation, Theory 27, no. 2 (2016): 94. 

  8. Naomi Carle, Samuel Shaw, and Sarah Shaw, eds. Edwardian Culture : Beyond the Garden Party. (New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018), 5. 

  9. Joyce, Kay. "'No Time for Recreations till the Vote Is Won'? Suffrage Activists and Leisure in Edwardian Britain." Women's History Review 16, no. 4 (2007): 539. 

  10. Christine Aloian-Robertson. A History Outline of Port Dalhousie, 1650-1960. (St. Catharines: Port Dalhousie Quorum Inc. 1978), 24. 

  11. Figure 2: Ramsey & Co. "The Beach, Port Dalhousie, Canada." Postcard. St. Catharines Public Library Archives. C.1910 

  12. Christine Aloian-Robertson. A History Outline of Port Dalhousie, 1650-1960. (St. Catharines: Port Dalhousie Quorum Inc. 1978), 21. 

  13. Patricia Jasen, "Wild Things : Nature, Culture, and Tourism in Ontario, 1790-1914." (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995), 62. 

  14. Figure 3: Toronto Daily Star "Page 21.\", Toronto Daily Star Jun 16, 1920. 

  15. Dorothy Turcotte, Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax. (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986), 36. 

  16. Christine Aloian-Robertson and David Serafino. A Nickel a Ride: A Folk History of Port Dalhousie during the Past Century. (St. Catharines : Dalpeer Productions, 1999), 61-62. 

  17. "A Timeline of Canada's Labour Movement" CAUT Bulletin 66, no. 3 (2019): 4--4. 

  18. Roberta M. Styran, and Robert R. Taylor. This Great National Object : Building the Nineteenth-Century Welland Canals. (Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012), 271. 

  19. Dorothy Turcotte, Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax. (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986), 31. 

  20. Elahi Fazeel, "Economic Revitalization or the Creative Destruction of Heritage: A Case Study of Port Dalhousie at a Cusp" University of Waterloo, 2008. 

  21. Christine Aloian-Robertson. A History Outline of Port Dalhousie, 1650-1960. (St. Catharines: Port Dalhousie Quorum Inc. 1978), 32. 

  22. Ibid., 17-18. 

  23. Ibid., 24. 

  24. Dorothy Turcotte, Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax. (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986), 34-35. 

  25. Ibid., 36. 

  26. Naismith, Catherine. "Port Dalhousie Commercial Core and Harbour Area Heritage Conservation District Plan." City of St. Catharines. Published December 2017., 50. 

  27. Figure 4: Plan of Welland Canal at Port Dalhousie, "Brock University Map, Data & GIS Library Collection." 1935. Accessed January 13th, 2024. 

  28. Figure 5: Dorothy Turcotte, "Map of Lakeside Park After 1925 Renovations", 1925. 

  29. Dorothy Turcotte, Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax. (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986), 38. 

  30. Ibid., 36. 

  31. Roberta M. Styran, and Robert R. Taylor. This Great National Object : Building the Nineteenth-Century Welland Canals. (Montreal): McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012), 253. 

  32. Dorothy Turcotte, Port Dalhousie : Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax. (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986), 33. 

  33. Ibid., 46. 

  34. Ibid., 49 

  35. Ibid.