Navigating to Niagara Ports and Beyond

Expansion of the PortCities Project

Kimberly Monk

Port2Port - 2024

Now in its third year, the PortCities project shares student research from Brock University's HIST 2F00 Great Lakes Maritime and Coastal History. Students previously explored Toronto and Hamilton's port and maritime history, examining the wide-ranging themes that connect our waterways and shape coastal urban development. This year's release of the Niagara PortCities extends our reach to Lake Erie and provides new borderland connections for the project.

While the project continues to focus on student research essays, a new student section has been created within the Port2Port blog. These brief histories and reflections cover a more comprehensive range of Great Lakes topics. Notably, the blog assignment provides a short introduction to research and writing for these students — to differentiate between primary and secondary resources and learn how to reference historical writing. This way, the teaching team can provide relevant feedback to students before they embark on their PortCities projects.

This year, we have added the PortCities web map. To visualize the essay and blog content while connecting industries and themes across time and space. The web map offers a geographic component to the project, which helps teach students about the connections across Great Lakes ports and for public understanding and engagement—positioning the locations of ports and other maritime spaces that have laid the foundations for our modern port cities. Another new section, located in further resources, is the infographics. These digest some of the essay content into timeline histories relating to the ports of Hamilton and Toronto — a quick reference for those who want to understand a few key developments detailed in the projects. We hope to expand this section along with our mapping project in future years, bridging student contributions across visual products.

The Niagara PortCities Project

The 18 research essays from the 2023-2024 project on Niagara's ports document its remarkable maritime legacy. Several of these students have explored projects connected with their professional experience or interests, and it was a pleasure to see their passion for these topics - projects that explore the people and places shaping Niagara's health, industrial and leisure histories. Moreover, several essays highlight the Welland Canal's remarkable history and heritage - providing timely content as we begin bicentennial celebrations.

In the Niagara region, we live within an ever-changing maritime cultural landscape. Our human history begins over 11,000 years ago with Indigenous Peoples who set up hunting and fishing camps along Niagara's extensive shorelines. By the late 18th century, English settlers used the creeks to transship agricultural products for export. The rapid growth in manufacturing and shipping coincided with the construction and expansion of the 19th century Welland Canals. In the 20th century, Fort Erie and Welland constructed ships for global conflict, and marine tourism became a key economic driver across the region. Recreational boating and boatbuilding in Niagara-on-the-Lake reconnected communities with the water as a social pastime while creating new job opportunities. Waterways continue to play a central role in Niagara's economic development for the communities living and working here today.

Project Support

The 2023-2024 essays were reviewed by teaching assistant Ms. Dinah Nichol, who supported students with honing their writing and referencing. Ms. Rebecca Nickerson provided editorial assistance for the Niagara projects and applied her outstanding GIS skills in developing the PortCities web map. Ms. Emily Haus has designed infographics for the Port of Toronto and Hamilton projects, balancing aesthetics and timeline content. While Mr. Manan Patel has continued to manage the website, adding new content and integrating the additional sections. This project is a team effort, and I am grateful to the teaching and research assistants for their brilliant work.

PortCities, 2024-2025

Current HIST 2F00 students are researching the Port of Buffalo and the smaller ports and harbours along the Niagara River in New York State. This is our first year exploring a US Great Lakes port, and this connection is timely. Buffalo was selected to commemorate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal in 2025. Several topics address the canal's impacts and how it shaped Buffalo, providing the opportunity to reflect on the importance of another canal system and how it has impacted the Great Lakes region.

In addition to our Buffalo research essays, we will release additional student-authored public history blogs — bridging historical and current events across the Great Lakes. Students have explored various topics, including the historic Welland Canals, the Niagara Scow, Great Lakes lighthouses, the recent emergency on Lake Superior aboard the S.S. Michipicoten, and naval strategy on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812.

In autumn 2025, a new group of HIST 2F00 students will begin researching Kingston, Ontario, the earliest Great Lakes port. Exploring its fur trade history, marine technological advances, and role as a forwarding port will provide a range of exciting new topics. The project will also link developments in eastern Ontario and Quebec through the St. Lawrence and Trent Rivers and the Rideau Canal. We look forward to connecting with the excellent digital collections, museums, and research facilities to document its remarkable port and maritime history.