Glanbrook, Ontario

Glanbrook is the south-western district of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It was first created as an independent township in 1974 through the amalgamation of Mount Hope, Binbrook, Glanford, and other nearby communities. In 2001, Glanbrook became a dissolved municipality after it was amalgamated with the rest of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth to become the present city of Hamilton.

The population of Glanbrook as of the 2006 census was 15,293, a 25% increase from the 2001 census figure of 12,145, and making it the fastest growing part of Hamilton. It contains the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.

Glanford and Binbrook Townships were surveyed as part of Upper Canada in the 1790s, and originally formed part of Lincoln County. They became part of Wentworth County when the latter was created in 1816. After being deforested by pioneer settlers, Glanbrook was suitable for grain cultivation and mixed agriculture. However, its harsher climate did not make it nearly as suitable for growing fruit as its counterparts on the Niagara Peninsula.

A local married couple gained fame in a popular song in the 19th century. Margaret “Maggie” Clark was born in Glanford Township in 1841. She was taught at public school by George W. Johnson, who was born in Binbrook Township in 1839. They married in 1864, but she died shortly after of typhus. In 1866, Johnson had his friend J.C. Butterfield and a poem about his now deceased wife he published around the time of his marriage to music. "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" was debuted by his sister-in-law, and became popular worldwide. Johnson remarried twice and died in 1917.

Due to the barrier presented by the Niagara Escarpment, settlement was slower and sparser than that of its neighbours to the north in Saltfleet and Barton Townships (later Stoney Creek and Hamilton). Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the townships remained placid agrarian backwaters, far removed from the bustling heavy industry growing only a dozen miles away in Hamilton.

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