First Welland Canal was let into the Feeder and Welland Canals in November 1829. As with other locations in the peninsula, shantytowns sprung up along the Feeder Canal. These later developed into places like Dunnville, Wainfleet and Welland, among others. The Welland Canal was officially opened on November 30, 1829, exactly five years after the first turning of the sod. Two schooners, "Annie and Jane" from York, Upper Canada and "R.H. Broughton" from Youngstown, New York, left Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario and arrived in Buffalo on the eastern end of Lake Erie two days later. "Annie and Jane" returned to Lake Ontario
Welland name when it was incorporated on 25 July 1858. It became a city in 1917. One of the few railway crossings across the canal was near Welland. Together with the canal, these two factors attracted the development of heavy industry in Welland. In 1906 the Plymouth Cordage Company was the first major industrial company to open a plant in Welland. By the 1930s, Welland was an important industrial city in the region and was developing rapidly. In the 1960s, the city was starting to outgrow the canal passing through its core. The Welland By-Pass project, started in 1967 and finished