Westdale, Ontario

Westdale is a residential neighbourhood in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is centred in the Westdale Village shopping district and located near McMaster University. It is bordered to the north by Cootes Paradise, an extensive nature reserve marking the western end of Lake Ontario, to the south by Main Street and Ainslie Wood, to the east by Highway 403, and to the west by McMaster University.

On 29 March 1923, real estate agents and politicians announced the winning name of a "Name the Neighbourhood" contest, at the Royal Connaught Hotel in downtown Hamilton. 6,170 people were gathered for the official announcement. Rev. Canon Percival Lawson Spencer won $200.00 for his submission of the "Westdale" name. Other names that were seriously considered for the neighbourhood include Westhome, Vimy Ridge, Bridgeton, Woodlands Park, Surrey Park and Bridgeview.

Archeological surveys have shown that the land south of what is now Cootes Paradise was inhabited by successive aboriginal nations. In the early seventeenth-century, when the first French explorers and missionaries visited the western edge of Lake Ontario, they found the region populated by native people, who were referred to as the Neutral Nation because of their neutrality in the disputes between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Huron.

In the mid-seventeenth century, the Neutral Nation and the Hurons were defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. Eventually, Ojibway from what is now northern Ontario began to push southwards and displace the Iroquois and occupied the land until they themselves were displaced by European pioneers.

Following the creation of Upper Canada in 1791, the land upon which Westdale is now located was surveyed as part of the Township of Barton. Shortly afterward, the boundary was adjusted and the lots west of present-day Paradise Road were incorporated into the Township of Ancaster. This area of the township situated below the escarpment was commonly referred to as the Gore of Ancaster.

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