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
First Welland Canal along the same route four days later. As mentioned before, the route to Lake Erie afforded by the canal, following the Welland and Niagara Rivers, was difficult and slow. The Feeder connected directly to Lake Erie, but it was long, and, not intended as a ship canal, of insufficient capacity. Over the course of the canal's first full navigation season in 1830, it became evident that a more direct route was necessary. In March 1831, a location called Gravelly Bay (now Port Colborne) was chosen as the new Lake Erie terminus for the canal. It was one of the closest