Dundas an Urban Study

Abstract

The Town of Dundas located at the extreme west end of Lake Ontario in the township of West Flamborough in the County of Wentworth, (Figure l) is an interesting study both in regard to its historical aspect and to its present day situation. It is my purpose to explain in the following chapters, why Dundas with its numerous natural advantages has not become a larger centre than it is today. Naturally the physical location of any urban centre is of great importance. This is especially true in the case of Dundas where the presence of the gap formed by the Dundas Valley is of great economic and commercial significance. Importance attaches to this valley because it determines the location of the chief road and rail routes from Lake Ontario to south-western Ontario, including the Guelph line of the C.N.R. which climbs its walls. the Physiographic basis of the town itself is important as it is restricted in the north and south by escarpment, in the east by the marsh, and in the west by the uneven nature of moraine. I have emphasized the historical background of Dundas as it offers the key to Dundas of today and explains many of the fathers not at first evident. As it was transportation that gave Dundas its early pre-eminence and which later relegates it to a minor position in relation to Hamilton, I have based the historical divisions primarily on the predominance of the various types of transportation facilities: the route into the interior superimposed upon the old Indian trails, the coming of more adequate road systems, the era of canal prosperity, and finally the advent of the railways. Each had a definite and distinct effect on Dundas, its functions and its physic appearance.