The Forty: Lake Ontario

The town I grew up in is located near Lake Ontario in a quickly growing town, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Grimsby was founded in 1790 and was originally called “Number 6” and then “The Forty”. The name “The Forty” was made by United Empire Loyalists who set up camp at the centre of Forty Mile Creek who traveled from New Jersey to Canada for a better life. Their camp was set up at the centre of Grimsby which later on became a part of the downtown core. Waterfalls were the power source for mills to saw wood and grind wheat. A large pond at the end of the creek served as a harbour. The city did not become industrialized until the mid 1800’s, by the 1900’s most of the town consisted of farm equipment factories, carriage builders, hospital furniture
The local economy can manage their money in big-chain banks in town such as Scotia Bank, CIBC and TD bank. Grimsby is becoming more and more globalized every year, I believe it started when the Travel Centre was added to the heart of Grimsby for tourists taking the QEW highway on their travels. This building has Tim Hortons, KFC, New York Fries, Wendy’s and Taco Bell. The town keeps adding more and more big chain businesses such as a Starbucks and A&W opening in the spring. Condo development in town has become more common in the past few years, all of the baron spaces near or on the beach strip has been built over with towering condos and businesses. Condo development has increased more than ever with luxury condos with man-made beaches. For “small” town it seems to keep getting bigger and
The house I live in is located on the outskirts of town which is very baron but within the last year Grimsby wanted to tear down the entire forest that is behind my backyard to create another main road and maybe even surveys. Therefore from a personal and a geographer’s point of view the town of Grimsby is quickly globalizing and expanding even though they have a local business attitude this is quickly fading no matter how hard the townships