Below is a timeline of events in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Before 1800 According to all records from local historians, this district was inhabited by the Neutral Indians who called it ATTIWANDARONIA. 1616 – Like most of the Americas south of the tree line, the original inhabitants of the Hamilton area were Indigenous peoples. The first European to visit what is now Hamilton was probably Étienne Brûlé in 1616. Lasalle also visited the area, a fact commemorated at a park in nearby Burlington. 1650 – The Iroquois Indians fought the Neutrals in a great battle on the foot of present-day Emerald Street. This area was the end of an old Indian trail that led to the Dundas Valley. The Iroquois landed from canoes and won the battle because they had obtained guns from the Dutch, and the Neutrals refused to trade with the whites. So many Neutrals were slain that the mound where they were buried could still be seen after 250 years (1900). 1780 – About the year that both Robert Land and Richard Beasley arrived. 1784 – About 10,000 United Empire Loyalists are settled in what is now southern Ontario, chiefly in Niagara, around the Bay of Quinte, and along the St. Lawrence River between Lake Ontario and Montreal. They are soon followed by many more Americans, some of them not so much ardent loyalists but attracted nonetheless by the availability of cheap, arable land. At the same time large numbers of Iroquois loyal to Britain arrive from the United States and are settled on reserves west of Lake Ontario. Kingston and Hamilton became important settlements as a result of the influx of Loyalists. 1788 – (1788–1793) The townships at the Head-of-the-Lake were surveyed and named. The area was first known as The Head-of-the-Lake for its location at the western end of Lake Ontario. 1790 – Richard Beasley occupied Burlington Heights (now the site of Dundurn and Harvey Parks) in 1790 & was granted land by the Crown in 1799. A local entrepreneur, Beasley's business ventures included fur trading, land acquisition and establishment of a grist mill in Ancaster. He was a member of the legislative assembly of Upper Canada from 1791 to 1804 and was appointed colonel of the 2nd regiment of the York militia in 1809. Financial difficulties forced Beasley to sell lands at Burlington Heights, but it was purchased in 1832 by Sir Allan Napier MacNab who built Dundurn Castle on the foundations of Beasley's brick home. 1791 – Barton township established originally in Lincoln township. Eventually becomes part of Wentworth County in 1816. 1791 – a total of 31 families are recorded as having settled at the Head-of-the-Lake (present day Hamilton). 1791 – Like British North America itself, the Six Nations confederacy was torn apart by the American Revolution. Indians loyal to the Crown, under their leader Captain Joseph Brant, were settled in several nearby areas of what became Upper Canada in 1791 and ultimately Ontario in 1867. 1792 – Administratively, the whole area was part of the Nassau District, which was renamed the Home District in 1792. Additionally, parts of the area were separately incorporated into the West Riding of York County and First Riding of Lincoln County. In 1798, most of the future Hamilton became part of Niagara District while remaining in Lincoln County. 1795 – First lodge of Free Masons, Barton Lodge. (November 20)
1800–1829 1801 – Concession 2 lot 14, Barton Township was part of the original Crown Grant to John Askin on July 10, 1801. He sold to Nathaniel Hughson senior who sold to James Durand around 1806. 1801 – First log court house. 1801 – First documented murder case in Hamilton. The victim's name was Bartholomew London. The murderer, Mary Osborn, became the first woman hanged in Upper Canada. 1803 – John Ryckman, born in Barton township, described the area in 1803 as he remembered it: "The city in 1803 was all forest. The shores of the bay were difficult to reach or see because they were hidden by a thick, almost impenetrable mass of trees and undergrowth...Bears ate pigs, so settlers warred on bears. Wolves gobbled sheep and geese, so they hunted and trapped wolves. They also held organized raids on rattlesnakes on the mountainside. There was plenty of game. Many a time have I seen a deer jump the fence into my back yard, and there were millions of pigeons which we clubbed as they flew low." 1809 – Talk of creating a townsite at what is now the intersection of John and Main Streets arose as early as 1809, but the war delayed the scheme until 1816 when George Hamilton and Nathaniel Hughson successfully promoted Hamilton as the judicial centre for the counties of Halton and Wentworth (the Gore District). 1812 – The town of Hamilton was conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812. 1813 – Two American schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, capsized in Lake Ontario in 1813. 1813 – June 5–6 – British win Battle of Stoney Creek. 1813 – Eleven men hanged for treason right across the street from where Dundurn Castle eventually is built. 1813 – Hamilton laid out as a village. 1814 – Wm. Sheldon opened the first store at the corner of King Street and John Street. 1815 – A chopping mill is the first industry in Hamilton, Ontario. 1815 – George Hamilton, a settler and local politician, established a town site in the northern portion Barton Township after the war in 1815. He kept several east–west roads which were originally Indian trails, but the north–south streets were on a regular grid pattern. Streets were designated "East" or "West" if they crossed James Street or Highway 6. Streets were designated "North" or "South" if they crossed King Street or Highway 8. 1816 – Barton township population is 668. 1816 – Hamilton becomes a village. 1817 – Barton township population is 800. 1817 – First common school on land now occupied by city. It was on King Street, east of Wellington Street. 1821 – First Hamilton School opened. A private school with John Law as master. 1824 – First Methodist church, Now First United. 1827 – Growth was aided in 1827 by a channel cut to link Burlington Bay directly with Lake Ontario, thus improving its marine transportation. 1829 – First newspaper, Gore Balance, published by Bartimus Ferguson.
1830–1839 1830 – Last man to stand in pillory. 1832 – First bound book, Samuel Thomson's New Guide to Health published by Smith and Hackstaff. 1832 – Cholera swept the city. 1833 – George Hamilton's settlement was incorporated as a police village in 1833. On January 8, 1833, the Legislature passed a further act "To define the limits of the Town of Hamilton, in the District of Gore, and to establish a police station and public market therein." 1833 – When the Town of Hamilton was incorporated in 1833, one of the first orders of business, after a closely fought election where 3 out of the 4 candidates had no opposition, was to find a suitable place for the town board to meet. For the first few years they made do with meeting in local taverns such as Thomas Wilson's inn on the corner of John and Jackson Streets. 1833 – The Garland, a local newspaper, publishes a synopsis, Hamilton contained "about one hundred and twenty dwelling houses and upwards of one thousand inhabitants" and then went on to list 4 public buildings, 7 taverns, 16 stores, 2 watchmakers, 2 saddlers, 4 merchant tailors, 4 cabinet makers, 4 boot and shoe makers, 2 bakers, 4 newspapers, 1 druggist, 1 tin and sheet iron manufactory, 1 hatter and 3 millineries. (February 16, 1833) 1834 – Beach Canal opens and population now at 2000. 1835 – James Street was the Lake Road and in 1835, James Street was extended south, but was interrupted by a bog at Hunter Street which eventually (1844) was drained out and graded. 1835 – Sir Allan MacNab completed Dundurn Castle, his stately home, in 1835. 1835 – Hamilton's first Bank was the Gore Bank of Hamilton. Chartered in 1835 and opened on Monday May 2, 1836. 1835 – One of Hamilton's early newspapers is published by George Perkins Boothesby Bull; The Hamilton Gazette, and General Advertiser. Newspaper lasts until 1856. 1836 – George Hamilton, the city's founder, died on February 20, 1836. His body was buried at the family burial plot on the family's own farm. It is now part of Mountain Side Park. The monument (tombstone) at the Hamilton cemetery wasn't put there until 1894. (George Hamilton's body was not buried at the Hamilton cemetery). 1836 – Hamilton's growth continues. City's boundaries now include The Bay to the north, The mountain (Niagara Escarpment) to the south, Queen Street to the west and Wellington Street to the east. 1836 – Hamilton Waterworks Company incorporated. 1837 – Sir Allan MacNab, a boy soldier in the War of 1812, he led Gore militia to crush insurgents in the Rebellion of 1837 for which he was knighted the following year. 1838 – Sir Allan MacNab, is knighted. 1838 – St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church on Park Street is completed.
1840–1849 1842 – First municipal council. The first elections are held and 26 people are chosen to represent the townships of Gore. 1843 – First city owned fire engines. 1846 – Hamilton received its city charter in June-9, 1846 by an act of Parliament, 9 Victoria Chapter 73. 3 newspapers, 2 lending libraries, 3 bookstores, 5 common schools, all rented; 2 boys' schools, 3 ladies' seminaries. 1846 – The first telegraph wire in Canada is strung between Hamilton and Toronto in December 1846. 1846 – The Hamilton Spectator newspaper is born. (still going strong today). 1847 – Colin Campbell Ferrie becomes Hamilton's first mayor. 1847 – Hugh Cossart Baker Sr. establishes the first life insurance company in Canada (21 August 1847); the Canada Life Assurance Company, with Baker as its president, manager and actuary. (Father of Hamilton telephone pioneer; Hugh Cossart Baker Jr.) 1848 – King and James Streets macadamized. 1849 – 92 deaths recorded from cholera. 1849 – Sir William Osler, "Father of Modern Medicine" (born: July 12, 1849). Raised largely in Dundas, Ontario.
1850–1859 1850 – First lighting of streets by gas. 1851 – First land bought by the Board of Education. 1852 – First orphanage asylum. Population now at 10,300. 1853 – First union-journeymen carpenters formed a union and went on strike. First street numbers on buildings. 1854 – the newly renamed Great Western Railway (Ontario) became Hamilton's first functioning railway in 1854. Completion of this railway and the Niagara Suspension Bridge transforms Hamilton into a major centre and part of the American immigration route from New York City or Boston to Chicago or Milwaukee. 1854 – September 11, Sir Allan Napier MacNab becomes the Premier of Canada West, the only Prime Minister of Canada that Hamilton has ever produced. (The Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada, who were the heads of government of the Province of Canada from the 1841 unification of Upper Canada and Lower Canada until Confederation in 1867. Each administration was led by two men, one from Canada West (now Ontario) and one from Canada East (now Quebec). Officially, one of them at any given time had the title of Premier while the other had the title of deputy. 1854 – Cholera epidemic – more than 600 deaths. 1855 – Hamilton's core boasted a sewer system, graded streets and planked sidewalks. Stumps, boulders, and rocks were finally removed from the streets, animals were banned from wandering freely on the new thoroughfares. 1855 – Grand Lodge of Canada is formed in Hamilton, Ontario (10 November 1855). The National Office of the Supreme Council 33° of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada whose Grand Orient is in Hamilton, Ontario, is located adjacent to this historic Scottish Rite building. 1856 – First use of chloroform in Hamilton. 1856 – Daniel C. Gunn engine shop on Wellington Street North, Hamilton, Ontario, produces first Canadian-built locomotives.