Brick Archways

The two brick archways at the Niagara Street entrance to the Parkway sidewalks were constructed in 1913 as part of a gated entryway to a new subdivision called Parkway Heights. Constructed of tapestry brick in a pattern of varying colours, each archway consists of two square brick pillars supporting a hipped roof that covers the sidewalk below. The archways were once lighted and supported an iron entrance gate across the street.

During this time, the first large multinational industries, such as Plymouth Cordage, Electric Steel and Metals, Page Hersey Iron Tubes, and Union Carbide, established themselves in the city. These industries would shape Welland’s economic life for nearly 100 years.

Parkway Heights was an elite subdivision where many of Welland’s prominent industrialists, business people, and merchants lived. When the subdivision was first built, Parkway was the only street in Welland to have a treed boulevard down its centre.