Hamilton Beach vs Burlington Beach
Sorry, guys, that I didn't notice this earlier, but I've been pretty busy this summer.
North of Willow Avenue was Nelson Township, Halton County, and South of it was Saltfleet Township, Wentworth County. (Willow Avenue was the site of the old original outlet for the water to get out of what we later called the bay into Lake Ontario, and that was the original southern boundary of Joseph Brant's Grant.)
Before Hamilton finally annexed the Beach south of the canal, that section south of Willow was officially called Burlington Beach by the Province of Ontario, (remember the Burlington Beach Commission?) but Hamilton Beach by the Federal Government, at least for the purpose of mail delivery.
Annexation of the section south of the canal by Hamilton, and north of the canal by Burlington, was effective on January 1st, 1957.
Going farther back, long before the Burlington Beach Commission began in 1907, Hamilton had effective control of the Beach up to Willow Avenue, and the right to lease lots to cottagers (taxes, however, were still paid to Saltfleet Township!), and it was usually called Hamilton Beach, or often just Beach in the newspapers. That goes back to something like 1873 when Hamilton was granted that right. I'm not sure of that date, because I can't find my notes on that at the moment, and it was an on again off again process with Hamilton trying again and again to annex the Beach and Beach residents trying to get incorporated as a village.
Of course, back in the 1790's, it was Long Beach, the Western End of the Lake was called Burlington Bay, Hamilton Harbour was called Little Lake (how it came to be Burlington Bay I don't know! How many lakes named Bay can you name?). Burlington Heights was the ridge of land where the old Hamilton cemetary and the High Level Bridge is. Joseph Brant's Land was Brant's Block, and then Wellington Square, and not Burlington until 1873 when it combined with Nelson to form the Village of Burlington. Long Beach was called Burlington Beach, all the way from Brant's Block to the King's Head Inn (and maybe farther - Van Wagner wasn't here yet!) early in the 1800's.
Regardless of all this, the name of a place on a postcard is probably one of the least reliable sources of history. I've seen some terrible mistakes, but that's another story.
