Catharine Street (Hamilton, Ontario)

Catharine Street is a Lower City collector road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at Charlton Avenue East at Woolverton Park in the Corktown neighbourhood as a one-way street (southbound), tunnels underneath the Hunter Street Railway bridge and stretches up to Barton Street East where it then turns two-way and cutoff by the CN Railway lines that cut through Strachan Street Park one block north past Barton. Catharine Street then resumes again on Strachan Street East, north of the Park again as a two-way road for 3 blocks and interrupted again at Picton Street East, the site of St. Lawrence Elementary School and resumes again north of this property on Macauley Street East, again as a two-way street for another 3 blocks where it's interrupted for a third time at Brock Street, the site of Eastwood Park and Eastwood Arena. Catherine Street resumes again north of Eastwood Park on Guise Street East and ends at the city's North End waterfront, the site of a Royal Canadian Navy base and Pier 9.

Catharine Street was named after Nathaniel Hughson's daughter. Hughson was one of the city founders of Hamilton. Other streets in the city were named after him and his family members, Hughson Street, Rebecca Street (wife) and James Street (son).

In 1898, The "Five Johns", (John Patterson, John Dickenson, John Morison Gibson, John Moodie, Sr. and John Sutherland), form The Cataract Power Co. Ltd. introducing electric power to Hamilton in 1898. On August 25, 1898, power was sent twenty seven miles from DeCew Falls, St. Catharines, using water from the old Welland Canal. New industries, such as the forerunners of the Steel Co. of Canada (Stelco) and Canadian Westinghouse, were attracted here by the cheaper, more efficient power. One time this Company controlled hydro power from Brantford to St. Catharines, including the Hamilton Street Railway and the area's radial lines. Back then the city's nickname was "The Electric City." Then in 1907 they erected The Terminal Station building on the southeast corner of Catharine and King Streets, where the present day Terminal Towers stand. Prior to this, in 1868, the Wanzer Sewing Machine Company was based here employing more than 250 workers.

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