Welland Welland Welland (2016 population 52,293) is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. The city is in the centre of Niagara. Within a half-hour, residents can travel to Niagara Falls, Niagara-On-The-Lake, St. Catharines and Port Colborne. It has been traditionally known as the place "where rails and water meet", referring to the railways from Buffalo to Toronto and Southwestern Ontario, and the waterways of Welland Canal and Welland River, which played a great role in the city's development. The city has developed on both sides of the Welland River and Welland Canal, which connect Lake
Welland the area became known as simply Aqueduct. A lock to cross from the canal to the river and vice versa was also built. A small shantytown soon developed around the facility, providing essential services in what was a convenient stop-over location for travelers and workers on the canal. The growing town was later named Merrittsville, after William Hamilton Merritt, the initiator of the Welland Canal project. This name is reflected in the name of the Merrittville Highway (Niagara Road 50), which served as the primary north-south route in central Niagara before the construction of Highway 406. Welland gained its present