This is the third post in a short series of reflections from participants of the 2025 Canadian History and Environment Summer Symposium on Contamination and Rebirth in Hamilton, Ontario, organized by Jessica van Horssen at McMaster University.
At CHESS 2025, the organizers of the event arranged for the group to take a series of tours around the host city of Hamilton, Ontario, particularly focusing on the waterfront area, to elucidate the city’s unique environment and its relationship to nature. This tour, of which I was a participant, perfectly captured the spirit of Hamilton, both as it was and as it is. Each speaker gave a perspective which painted a full picture of stark opposites coming together, of an industrial city both trying to hold onto its old ways and trying to move on to the new.
Our day began at the waterfront, with a tour led by Andrea Smith, the City of Hamilton’s Manager of Municipal Land Development. This was the perfect place to start. With the backdrop of Stelco’s steel-rolling plant and the white plumes from its coke ovens, Smith explained to us the plans for development along the waterfront. Looking in two opposite directions, one could see the contrast between Hamilton’s industrial past and its post-industrial future. Development at the waterfront has been a slow process, but the plans for development are measured in years, and we were assured of the City’s plans to change the barren landscape of the infill waterfront into a proper part of Hamilton’s metropolis.
Next, we headed to the Cotton Factory for a lunch-and-learn session. Due to unexpected delays, McMaster University’s Ken Cruikshank gave an impromptu bus tour of Hamilton’s industrial sector. As we rode past each plant, he explained what each site manufactured, which companies own the plants, how long they had been there, and other interesting facts about the area. This was a helpful window into days gone by, as one could see acres and acres of unused industrial land left behind by various companies over the years alongside the still-operational job sites. The idea of intangible plans for unused land recurred in this unexpected treat of a tour which gave the group a good idea of Hamilton’s industrial climate.
The lunch-and-learn session itself was hosted in a post-industrial building: the Cotton Factory was once the factory complex of the Imperial Cotton Company, one of Hamilton’s many industrial titans. Amid the repurposed workrooms, York University’s Jennifer Bonnell spoke about beekeeping and its history in the Great Lakes region, and how beekeepers had their own role to play in environmental activism. This was a fascinating look at an oft-overlooked facet of environmental activism, and one with a history in Hamilton as well. The beekeeping scene in Hamilton is a look at what the city could become in its post-industrial phase, as honey is taken from bees all over the city by beekeepers both amateur and professional, each no less dedicated than the other.
The next stop on the tour took us to Bayfront Park, another location on Hamilton’s waterfront where industry and post-industry meet. Another product of infilling, Bayfront Park stands as a testament to environmental repurposing and what can happen when efforts are made from both above and below to make the world a cleaner place. Much of this was explained by McMaster’s Jessica van Horssen, our fearless leader of the day and the presenter of this leg of the tour. Going back thousands of years, Dr. van Horssen detailed the importance of Bayfront Park as a nexus for environmental development in the city, and what can happen when contaminated land is remediated. This, too, shows Hamilton’s spirit of industrial grit and the pride thereof, contrasted with the spirit of a city struggling to reinvent itself in the post-industrial vision.
I was also given the opportunity to give an account of Hamilton’s labour history. I felt rather nervous as a humble graduate student among such a star-studded roster of speakers across the weekend, my own supervisor among them, but I did my best to impart the importance of Bayfront Park in Hamilton’s labour movement-affiliated traditions, particularly in its annual Labour Day parade, which has been a staple of Hamilton life for over a hundred years. When I finished my talk, Dr. van Horssen, in her last act as the Acting Director of McMaster’s Wilson Institute for Canadian History, presented the institute’s Viv Nelles Essay Prize to a most unexpected winner: me. I was thrilled; surely up against such talented graduate students, and I was the one chosen for this incredible honour? It seemed impossible, and yet, there I was, now a prize-winning essayist. My essay, “Spirit Tracks: Uncovering the Effects of Hamilton’s Railways on Hamiltonian Infrastructure,” was chosen for best essay that places Canada in a transnational context. With an award like this to show for my efforts, I now felt like I belonged amongst my fellow speakers.
The last proper leg of the tour was held at the storefront of the Humble Bee, a local beekeeping supply store which also sells the products of its labours in the form of honey and beeswax. Its founder, fourth-generation Hamiltonian and first-generation farmer Luc Peters, spoke to us about his mission to promote biodiversity, as well as the twists and turns that come with beekeeping at the waterfront, including a 90-acre site on the grounds of the busy steelworks industrial port. A leader in urban beekeeping, Luc’s mission to “put the bees first” (as their website says) is the focus of his efforts to support both urban beekeeping and the bees themselves. He was generous enough to allow us a sample of honey, and left us with some complimentary “bee seeds” to plant about, allowing us to do our part in sustaining the local bee population.
The end of the day saw us heading to Grain and Grit, a local restaurant in a formerly industrial part of Hamilton with some remnants of industry, notably the Mondelez candy factory near the brewery. This western part of Hamilton, at the base of the Niagara Escarpment, was once the city limit, and it was a fitting place to end the day by showing us a place where industry was and still is, but not nearly to the extent of its previous presence. This stop capped off the day with some great pizza, courtesy of Red Door Cucina.
Hamilton is a city that is currently changing right before our very eyes. As a lifetime resident myself, I can say that Hamiltonians are proud of the authenticity of our dirty industrial city (ask a local, and they’ll tell you it keeps Toronto at bay), but many of us must soon face the truth that this city is not what it once was. Sure, industry is still around, but nothing stays the same forever. Hamilton has its own thriving scene of arts, traditions, and cuisine that is part of the selfsame Hamiltonian spirit, industrial pride, and working-class solidarity which the city once embodied. I, for one, am happy to see the city leave the past in the past, but holding on to what makes us who we are will keep the city’s spirit alive in a time when people need a sense of community more than they ever have.
Feature image: A view of Hamilton steelworks from the waterfront. Note the white smoke released from quenching coke. Photo courtesy of Andrew Watson.
