page_title: James Street (Hamilton, Ontario)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: James Street (Hamilton, Ontario) / History
caption_attribution_description: James Street South, architecture, downtown Hamilton, Ontario
context_page_description: James Street is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at the base of the Niagara Escarpment from James Mountain Road, a mountain-access road in the city, originally was a one-way street going south throughout but now has sections of it that are two-way. It extends north to the city's waterfront at the North End where it ends at Guise Street West right in front of the Harbour West Marina Complex and the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club.
context_section_description: James Street was named after one of Nathaniel Hughson's sons. Hughson was one of the city founders of Hamilton along with George Hamilton and James Durand. Originally, James Street was called Lake Road because it was the road that led to Lake Ontario to the north. Then it was renamed to Jarvis Street after city founder George Hamilton's wife (Maria Jarvis) and then finally changed to its present-day James.
  George Hamilton, a settler and local politician, established a town site in the northern portion of Barton Township after the war in 1815. He kept several east–west roads which were originally Indian trails, but the north–south streets were on a regular grid pattern. Streets were designated "East" or "West" if they crossed James Street or Highway 6. Streets were designated "North" or "South" if they crossed King Street or Highway 8.
  James Street was the Lake Road and in 1835, James Street was extended south, but was interrupted by a bog at Hunter Street which eventually (1844) was drained out and graded.
  Hugh Cossart Baker Sr. established the first life insurance company in Canada 21 August 1847; the Canada Life Assurance Company. The firm was incorporated in 1849. The first head office was in Hamilton, Ontario on the top floor of the Mechanics' Institute on James Street near Merrick, where Hamilton City Centre now stands. The head office remained in Hamilton until 1900, when the new president George Cox moved it to Toronto.
  In 1872, the Bank of Hamilton was established. It had its head offices at the corner of King and James Streets and lasted until 1924. The Bank of Hamilton merged with The Commerce (later to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC) on January 2, 1924. It was one of the last surviving banks in Canada that was not headquartered in Toronto or Montreal.
  On June 20, 1877, the first commercial telephone service in Canada began in Hamilton, Ontario. Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. learned of Alexander Graham Bell's invention in 1877 at the Philadelphia International Exposition and from there decided to test the communication tool in Hamilton. Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. is credited with making the first telephone exchange in the British Empire from an office building at the corner of James and Main Street East which still stands there today (March 2007).
  In 1890, the first Bowling alley in the City opens at back of the J.W. MacDonald Tobacco shop, (66 James Street North).
caption: James Street South, architecture
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