Bay Street (Hamilton, Ontario)
Bay Street is a lower city arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts at Inglewood Drive, just South of Aberdeen Avenue, as a collector road with only two lanes, then eventually becomes a six lane thoroughfare at its peak. Bay Street also passes through downtown Hamilton, where many high-rise buildings are found. Bay Street is a one-way street from Aberdeen Avenue to Cannon Street West. Bay Street continues as an arterial route to Strachan Street, where it is downgraded to a neighbourhood collector and eventually ends at a curb at Pier 4 Park at Burlington Street in the city's North End.
History
Bay Street derives its name from its proximity to Hamilton Harbour, which was Burlington Bay until 1919.The Bay Street Urban Renewal was completed in 2006. This project was made possible through investments by the Governments of Canada, Government of Ontario and the City of Hamilton.
Jackson Square, is a mall and is part of Hamilton's "Super Block", which includes the Hamilton Public Library, 100 King Street West, TD Coliseum, Sheraton Hamilton, the Hamilton Farmer's Market, 120 King Street West and the former Eaton's Centre now known as the Hamilton City Centre. It is also known as an "indoor core connector" to the Hamilton Convention Centre/Ellen Fairclough Building), Art Gallery of Hamilton and FirstOntario Concert Hall across the street: all three downtown landmarks are connected to the mall by a skywalk that crosses over King to Jackson Square.
TD Coliseum, is a sports and entertainment arena with a capacity of up to 19,000 on the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard. It was named after the former Hamilton mayor, Victor K. Copps. Construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1985 at a cost of $33.5 million, and an addition $2.3 million for a parking garage. The construction was overseen by local Hamiltonian, Joseph Pigott. In 1987, #99 Wayne Gretzky and #66 Mario Lemieux combined forces to capture the Canada Cup at TD Coliseum as Team Canada defeated the Russians. Canada wins series 2 games to one. All three games ended in 6-to-5 scores. In 1999, Detroit Rock City was filmed at the TD Coliseum starring the Rock group Kiss. In 2004, TD Coliseum was used again to film Meg Ryan's Against the Ropes.
Herkimer Apartments, on the corner of Bay Street South and Herkimer Street, was the first Hamilton apartment installed with an elevator, which ran from the basement to the fifth floor. A New York-style structure was built of fireproof reinforced concrete dressed in rug brick with white, glazed terracotta trim. The building today looks much as it did when it opened in July 1915, minus a wooden pergola that once graced the roof.